Students often experience high levels of daily academic pressure, spending extended periods within indoor classroom environments. Windows, as a medium of proximity to nature, play an important role in relieving stress. However, the broader implications of the Window Green View Index (WGVI) on individual well-being remain underexplored. This study aims to assess the effects of WGVI on stress recovery in college students by utilizing virtual reality technology to create five classroom environments with varying WGVI levels: 0%, 25%, 50%, 75%, and 100%. Twenty-four participants were subjected to the Trier Social Stress Test before engaging with the different WGVI scenarios for stress recovery. Both subjective assessments and objective physiological indicators were evaluated. Results indicated that participants exhibited the lowest Profile of Mood States (POMS) score (−4.50) and significantly improved systolic blood pressure recovery at a 25% WGVI level. The examination of EEG data revealed that the O2 channel in the occipital region exhibited the highest level of activity in the alpha frequency range during the experiment. Additionally, a significant association was observed between the EEG measurements and the subjective rating of stress. This study underscores the significance of incorporating WGVI into the design and planning of college buildings to promote mental health and well-being among students.

As a connection to the outdoor environment, windows can relieve the stress, emotional, and cognitive fatigue that building users face from long hours of study. It provides restorative function for building users between study and work, thus reducing task load and improving learning performance. To investigate the effects of different window:wall ratios (WWRs) on task load and learning performance, virtual reality (VR) technology was used to build virtual classrooms with WWRs of 25%, 40%, 55%, 70%, and 85%. The task performances, physiological data, and subjective evaluations of 34 college studies were analyzed. It was found that the highest subjective psychological loads were in classrooms with a 25% WWR and were lowest when the WWR was 55%. Participants performed best in classrooms with a WWR of 55%. Further multiobjective optimization with particle swarm optimization found that 58.41–62.24% WWR not only contributed to the users’ physical and mental happiness but also improved their learning efficiency. In addition, the participant’s HRV-LF/HF and EEG β wave values were significantly correlated with their performance on the task test. These findings provide a reference for the spatial design of school classrooms and a foundation for further research into the relationship between HRV and EEG physiological indicators and learning efficiency.