Do indoor plants have health benefits?
A large body of research ties access to nature and green spaces to improvements in mental and physical health, but evidence that indoor plants confer similar benefits is scanty, and any effects that might exist "are probably weaker than those we find with outdoor forms of nature," said Frances E. Kuo, an associate professor of natural resources and environmental sciences at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
Plants absorb carbon dioxide and release oxygen, and a 1989 NASA study suggested houseplants and their root systems, soil and bacteria absorb indoor pollutants like benzene, trichloroethylene and formaldehyde. But having houseplants is unlikely to lead to significant improvements in indoor air quality, and there is a potential downside since plants produce allergens that can elicit immune responses that can be severe, said Thomas Whitlow, an urban ecologist at Cornell University.
Several small studies have found health benefits associated with indoor plants. A small Norwegian study reported in 1998 that workers had fewer complaints of fatigue, cough, dry throat and itching when they had plants in the office, and experiments in England and the Netherlands found that employees in buildings with plants were more productive, had better concentration and greater work satisfaction than those in bare offices.
Two randomized controlled trials reported that surgical patients placed in rooms with plants reported less pain, anxiety, stress and fatigue than patients without plants. Overall, they had lower systolic blood pressure, were more satisfied about their rooms and felt more positive feelings toward hospital workers.
One of the studies reported that patients who had their appendix removed used fewer painkillers if they had plants in their rooms.
ActiveStyle on 11/30/2015