Happy and healthy with houseplants

By Austin Clark

Indoor plants brighten up homes and workplaces by bringing colour, shape and sometimes even fragrance to a living space. While those mood lifters are all very tangible, did you know that plants can also brighten your day by making you feel better?

Over the years, plenty of research has looked into the health benefits of plants, with organisations ranging from Harvard to NASA investigating how indoor plants can improve health and wellbeing. Every piece of research reaches similar conclusions – that living and working with plants in a room reduces headaches, fatigue, heart and circulation problems and decreases the amount of common colds suffered. That's why space shuttles often took off with plants on board.

A recent study completed by the researchers from the Agricultural University of Norway found that indoor plants can improve the health of office workers. The research confirmed that plants reduce stress, thus reducing the number of sick days workers take. Tina Bringslimark, expert in environmental psychology, analysed 305 office workers in 3 offices, each of which had differing amounts of greenery.

"We investigated the amount of self-reported sick leave and compared it with the amount of plants they could see from their desk. The more plants they could see, then the less self-reported sick leave there was," said Bringslimark.

Performing the study at the Norwegian institution, it also showed that plants were able to lower fatigue, prevent dry throats, headaches, coughs and dry skin amongst the office workers.

Bringslimark’s fellow researcher, Professor Grete Patil, outlined that there might be several explanations to these beneficial effects of the planted rooms: “Possibly the most straightforward is that plants and the microbes in their soil are good at removing volatile organic compounds found in the air and that can affect health. There could also be a psychological explanation in that people believe plants are healthier and are likely to evaluate their own health more optimistically.”

This research follows on from earlier research by Prof Tove Fjeld at the Agricultural University of Norway. Over 4 studies – in an office, schools and a hospital – Fjeld found that plants in the workplace reduced minor symptoms as detailed above. She also found that the air was cleaner in the planted rooms and that planting could have a very positive effect on sick leave. Meanwhile, the study in the hospital x-ray department revealed that sickness was reduced by more than 60 per cent.

Indoor air quality is important to our general health, so the NASA discovery that houseplants remove up to a staggering 87 per cent of toxins from the air in the space of just 24 hours, is one to keep in mind. Mind you, to achieve these sorts of results it would take plenty of green-fingered dedication, with 15 to 18 plants in 15cm diameter pots to keep a house free from toxins including carbon monoxide and benzene. A few plants here and there will help though. Plus, of course, some plants are 'healthier' than others. The top ones to look out for include:

Areca palm
Boston fern
Dracaena
Dwarf date palm
English ivy
Peace Lily
Reed palm
Rubber plant
Sword fern
Weeping fig

For health while we sleep, it’s worth looking at night time workers. Epiphytic bromeliads, orchids and succulents exchange oxygen and carbon dioxide at night rather than most other plants which do this during the daytime. This makes them perfect bedroom plants to refresh the air we breathe during sleep.

Then there are plants that raise humidity levels. As plants return 97% of the water we give them back into the air, so water loving plants help to raise humidity levels, which is particularly useful in centrally heated or air conditioned buildings. Water loving plants include schefflera, bamboos and hemp.

With houseplants around the house you'll feel calmer and more optimistic, according to other research results. In fact, a study in Chicago showed that hospital patients who face a window with a garden view recovered more quickly than those who had to look at a wall.

Other research includes another Norwegian study that showed indoor plants can reduce fatigue, coughs, sore throats and other cold-related illnesses by more than 30 per cent, partially by increasing humidity levels and decreasing dust.

With the bright colours of flowering plants making you smile and foliage plants bringing nature's almost architectural shapes to living rooms, no house or workplace should be without plants - especially given the added health benefits. But are these studies being translated into consumer buying habits?

Simon Stirling, Managing Director of online flower delivery company www.direct2florist.co.uk says it certainly has. “Over the past two or three years, florists across our network have reported a huge surge in demand for air-cleaning, healthy plants, particularly for offices. I think that with the tough economic times businesses are looking for ways to reduce staff sickness, so are turning to plants as they represent a value for money investment. It’s not just one or two plants that companies are buying – tens, even hundreds of plants are being purchased at a time so that whole buildings are covered. This then extends to employees buying plants for their own homes as they learn about the health benefits.”

Further studies about the health benefits of plants are currently being carried out by the University of Technology in Sydney and Oxford Brookes University. If their studies reveal more positive news, expect health plants to appear in an office near you very soon.