Even if we’re not big fans of the “getting in touch with nature” idea, it’s hard to argue against plants brightening up our homes and places of work. What’s interesting is that there’s a growing body of evidence that plants can actually improve our health in significant and specific ways. Here are five reasons to put plants back into our living and work spaces.

1. Plants Can Improve Our Productivity

New research from a team at the University of Exeter in the UK finds that, while stripping our offices of unneeded furnishings might be beneficial, keeping plants in the office to create so-called green spaces can boost worker productivity by as much as 15 percent. The reasons for this aren’t certain but plants appear to improve general well being, something that’s been established by other research, and also might help people to better engage with their environment — obviously, a more engaged worker will probably be more focused and efficient.

2. A Pot Plant in Our Homes Can Improve Our Mood  and Lower Anxiety

3. Indoor Plants Improve Our Air Quality

NASA research shows that having plants indoors can help to improve air and water quality in our living spaces. That research was done on sealed units but there is some evidence that this translates to normal houses and buildings, at least to some degree. Obviously, for people with asthma and other breathing conditions this would be important, but for the rest of us cleaner air can also affect us in positive ways, such as improving the quality of our sleep.

Through a process known as photosynthesis, plants create their own food by absorbing carbon dioxide (the bad stuff we breathe out) from the atmosphere and then transforms it into oxygen, whilst simultaneously creating their own food source! How self-sufficient!
This oxygen then becomes the air we breathe, and so the cycle continues. Without an abundance of plants, oxygen concentration in the air around us drops, and we don’t receive our daily requirements!

Plants not only provide us with oxygen but also have the ability to remove pollutants from the air. Research has indicated that certain types of plants have the ability to reduce nasty pollutants like formaldehyde, toluene and benzene. For this reason, ‘green roofs’, which involves growing plants and greenery on rooftops, are being investigated as a possible future tool to help alleviate the negative effects of air pollution.

4. Plants Can Reduce Stress for People Recovering from Illness

Hospital stays can be very stressful, but Dutch researchers have found that one way of helping patients feel more relaxed is to incorporate unobtrusive plants into their hospital rooms. The researchers found that plants are particularly good at improving the perceived attractiveness of a room and that this, it seems, can help improve the patient’s hospital stay experience. Other research has also indicated a similar, wellbeing boosting effect, possibly down to what is known as biophilia, an hypothesis that we have a natural inclination towards greener, plant-filled spaces.

5. Caring for Plants Can Improve Our Quality of Life

Research published in the journal Hort Technology showed that when senior citizens living in low-income assisted-living facilities had plants to care for and cultivate, they were more likely to self-report better health than those who didn’t have plants to look after. The reasons for this marked upturn in positive health perceptions appears to be that the plants give the elderly something to care for and thus a sense of being needed, things that they might not have experienced very much in their later years. Renewing this sense of responsibility and purpose led to improved well being which, while perhaps not improving physical ailments, may give a new perspective and more resilience.

References

1. Relf, PD & Lohr, VI 2003, ‘Human issues in Horticulture’, Horticultural Science, vol. 38, no. 5, pp. 984-993
2. Rowe, DB 2011, ‘Green roofs as a means of pollution abatement’, Environmental Pollution, vol. 159, no. 8-9, pp. 2100-2110
3. Victorian Government 2016, ‘Fibre in Food’, Better Health Channel, <https://www.betterhealth.vic.gov.au/health/healthyliving/fibre-in-food>
4. Raskin, I, Ribnicky, DM, Komarnytsky, S, Ilic, N et al. 2002, ‘Plants and human health in the twenty-first century’, Trends in Biotechnology, vol. 20, no. 12, pp. 522-531.
5. Arvidson, K 2016, ‘Biodiversity, Nature and Human Health’, Natural Medicine Journal, vol. 8, no. 10, n.p.
6. Organic gardening Tips 2012, ‘Improving Soil Quality’, Organic Gardening Tips, <http://www.organicgardeningtips.info/improving-soil-quality/>