UTEP researchers using virtual reality to conduct stress tests

A new research program at the University of Texas at El Paso is using virtual-reality (VR) technology to understand how natural environments affect health and well-being. Those involved in the program are currently conducting a pilot study on the effects these environments have on stress in men.

Since June, 80 men have participated in the study, which also involves a health assessment and social stress test. Using a VR headset, participants are immersed in 3D video showing either green or brown spaces, like parks and deserts. The study uses video from Memorial Park, the Sunland Park desert and a university office setting. The participants’ saliva is tested for levels of the hormone cortisol to indicate rising and falling stress levels.

“It helps us as a research tool to understand how exposure, psychological exposure to different environments effects our health, but it also provides an avenue for interventions,” said Hector Olvera Alvarez, Director of Research at UTEP School of Nursing, who is running the program. “So we could bring virtual reality into hospitals, nursing homes, even take it into outer space and expose astronauts to different environments and help them with their psychological well-being.”

Olvera said virtual reality has the potential to have wide-reaching impacts on health care.

“Imagine if we could if we could plant trees in a housing community and that would help us lower fasting glucose levels in the residents. Or imagine if we could figure how to orient beds in hospitals, so we could improve the outcomes of the patients. Or imagine if we could design nursing break rooms to lower the stress of nurses or law enforcement officers, so we could improve their performance and health in that way. All of these opportunities for application come from research we’re doing with virtual reality.”