Research

Healthy plants are the greenest way of improving indoor air quality

People have always intuitively sensed that contact with plants and nature is a calming restorative tonic for body and soul, but over the past 25 years academics and scientists have researched houseplants to establish exactly why and how they are good for us, our home, our schools, our businesses and our environment as a whole and in doing so, they have established that plants:

• Improve air quality and humidity levels;
• Reduce stress;
• Make people calmer and happier;
• Reduce workplace negativity;
• Lower symptoms of discomfort and minor ailments;
• Reduce absenteeism;
• Increase the rate of recovery from illness;
• Improve concentration, productivity and creativity;
• Saved energy;
• Absorb noise;
• Increase shopper stay-time by half an hour when used in shopping malls.

We all know we need our five servings of fruit and vegetables a day, and plenty of exercise – but evidence points to one more crucial daily dose needed for a healthy life: a houseplant. According to Plants for People*, houseplants do more than just brighten up a room. As well as being pleasing on the eye, they have measureable benefits when it comes to mental and physical wellbeing and scientific studies now bring forward convincing evidence to support these claims. Their report, pulls together the proof behind the theory and aims to quantify why the houseplant should play a vital part in modern day life. It supports a new campaign by Plants for People called ‘Plants4Life’, which aims to promote and recognise the real benefits of houseplants in our indoor environments and how these benefits affect us personally.

*Plants for People is a not-for-profit organisation that collates and communicates independent academic research into the health and wellbeing that houseplants bring to our everyday lives.

eFIG have also compiled a report of all the recent research regarding the health benefits of plants. This report brings all the research together, but breaks it down into the following useful sections:

• Plants cleaning the indoor air of volatile organic compound (VOCs) toxins;
• Research about O2 and CO2 exchange between man and plants;
• Research about plants reducing absenteeism;
• How plants reduce stress levels
• How plants increase concentration, performance, motivation, productivity and mood.
• The effect of plants on our creativity
• How plants affect our well-being in various settings
• The effect of plants on our indoor atmosphere
• How plants save energy

We will continue to add new relevant research papers under Investigations as they are published.