'nature's life support system': fake or real, houseplants are great for mental health

since covid began, canada's indoor plant industry has been booming, with sales of potted plants jumping from more than $903 million in 2020 to more than $995 million in 2021.

by nick beare

published jul 12, 2022

5 minute read

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5 minute read

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'nature's life support system': fake or real, houseplants are great for mental health

studies show that houseplants are good for our mind and body. getty

interacting with nature can be calming and restorative for our mental and physical health. but those calming effects aren’t just limited to a hike in the woods or a walk in the park — you can bring that feeling home by filling your living space with indoor plants. in fact, surrounding ourselves and interacting with indoor plants has many benefits to different aspects of our health.

indoor plants reduce stress

a 2015 study found that interacting with indoor plants could help reduce psychological and physiological stress “through suppression of sympathetic nervous system activity and diastolic blood pressure and promotion of comfortable, soothed, and natural feelings.”

researchers put a group of young people through a computer task and a plant-related task. the participants who transplanted an indoor plant were significantly calmer with much lower blood pressure than after using a computer.

another study found that plants could even make people more attentive or alert. researchers in that study examined a group of students from ages 11 to 13 and measured their physiological and psychological reactions to four different visual stimuli: an actual plant, an artificial plant, a photograph of a plant, and no plant. the study found “theta waves, which reportedly evince drowsiness and are used as a measure of low attention or concentration, were found to be significantly reduced when participants looked at the actual plants relative to the other stimuli.”

we bond with plants

our relationship with plants is so strong that it also doesn’t take much time for us to experience the positive effects a plant can have on our bodies and minds with some research suggesting positive perceptions can happen in under 20 minutes.

none of this should be particularly surprising considering how interconnected humans are with plants. not only do we rely on plants for oxygen to breathe, but plants have also provided humans with food, shelter, medicine and fuel for our entire existence as a species. there is also decades of research indicating that exposure to natural environments increases positive emotional responses in humans and decreases negative responses.

plants clean the air we breathe

along with the psychological benefits, plants are also good for our bodies.

nasa scientist b.c. wolverton’s research in the 1960s and 70s on cleaning environmental messes helped lead to a breakthrough in the best way to clean the air of a confined space. scientists had discovered 107 volatile organic compounds (vocs) inside the skylab space station due to the number of synthetic materials used to build the skylab. at the same time, builders were making buildings airtight to increase energy efficiency and were finding high levels of toxins in these closed areas. wolverton’s solution: plants. he found that plants can naturally filter most toxins out of the air by emitting water vapour that pulls contaminated air down around a plant’s roots, where it is converted into food for the plant.

“if man is to move into closed environments, on earth or in space, he must take along nature’s life support system,” wolverton wrote in his final report in 1989.

plants may even be able to help people recover from illness or injury quicker. one 2002 study found people who were looking at gardens or greenery during hospital stays post surgery needed less medication and had shorter stays than those who weren’t.

the covid comfort effect caused boom in plant sales

similarly to the boom in pet ownership during the pandemic as we seek companionship and comfort in a time of isolation and anxiety, houseplants have also gained in popularity. gerardo marin of plant company california tropicals told think that while plant sales were low in 2019, when the pandemic began, they were selling nearly 200 plants a day and taking hundreds of calls about plant care.

the indoor plant industry also exploded in canada with sales of potted plants jumping from more than $903 million in 2020 to more than $995 million in 2021. prior to 2020, sales had been over $800 million just three times and were never more than $853 million. in fact, greenhouse management’s 2020 state of the industry report stated that that in 2015 only 36 per cent of growers were confident the greenhouse industry would grow — by the end of 2020, this number rose to 67 per cent.

clearly there’s something to be said about having something to take care of. a 2021 study even showed significant decreases in depression and anxiety symptoms and lower depression and anxiety rates among people who spent time with plants. they also reported that greenery led to feelings of “being away while at home.”

many new “plant parents” also found comfort in adding plants to their home either as a hobby or, in some cases, a new career while the rise of plant parenting trends on social media also helped to propel the industry. more and more people started sharing their indoor or outdoor garden creations online with hashtags like #plantsoftiktok receiving billions of views in the last couple years.

according to vox, “while the shared desire to bring greenery into our homes initially stemmed from a reaction to climate anxiety and rising urbanism, covid-19 intensified these emotions and multiplied them with the twin desires to have something to care for, [and] to fill long hours at home by bringing the great outdoors in.”

fake plants offer benefits too

don’t have a green thumb? well, it turns out you can reap the same psychological benefits of living plants with plastic greenery. in fact, just seeing a replicate of a plant — even a photograph will do — has the same beneficial effects on mood. and you never have to water them — or work through the guilt and shame that comes with the inability to keep a plant alive.

so if you have been looking for a salve for the seemingly never-ending covid blues, perhaps it’s time to bring a little nature inside. after all, whether you choose plastic or real, we could all use a little peace these days.

nick beare is a toronto-based writer.

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'nature's life support system': fake or real, houseplants are great for mental health