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The importance of plants for our well-being

THE IMPACT OF HAVING PLANTS IN YOUR HOME

A questionnaire completed by 4205 participants provided an unbiased evaluation of the impact of indoor and outdoor plants on their emotional well-being (L. Pérez-Urrestarazu et al., 2021). Behavioural, social and demographic variables were taken into account. In a nutshell, the study showed a positive relationship between the emotional well-being of people during the lock-down and their time spent taking care of their plants. Despite the chaos in the world, it's great to discover the positive effects of our green friends being in our lives. Let's dive into some more details of the scientific article.


DO PLANTS HAVE A POSITIVE IMPACT ON OUR WELL-BEING?

Most countries are spoiled with urban spaces, parks or a forest. When the lock-down was announced in many countries, this meant staying home most of the time. The increasing amount of time spent indoors resulted in seperation from the natural environment. Some studies concluded many psychological effects from the lock-down, such as depression, increase of stress and anxiety. Research has shown that there is a positive relation between green living areas and the well-being and mental state of the individuals living close to such green places. The study quoted in this article, researched these main four questions to find out the impact of having plants at home during the COVID-19 pandemic confinement on people's emotional welfare:

  1. Did having plants at home contribute to the emotional welfare of the people during the COVID-19 confinement period?
  2. Was there a difference before and after the COVID-19 confinment period with regard to people's perception of having plants at home and interacting with them?
  3. What are the preferences towards different types and levels of vegetation?
  4. Are living wall systems known and appreciated as an option to increase indoor vegetation?

Based on the results, the emotional state of the respondents was neutral and a large proportion expressed positive emotions. Therefore, the result of the study was that indoor plants had a correlation with more positive emotions. Another interesting item from the study is that residents put more time into plant maintenance. Do you recognise this?

The study also researched the difference between the amount of vegetation, and they made the following segmentation:
  • No plants
  • few (5-7) plants
  • Many (more than 7) plants
  • Many plants in one place with living walls 

  • The results showed that a larger amount of vegetation combined with living walls was preferred in outdoor environments. Living walls were considered a good way to increase vegetation indoors. However, as you might have experienced yourself already, there are quite some technical and economic obstacles involved.

    To conclude, the opinion of the respondents and the presence or use of plants in their living spaces was influenced by the COVID-19 restrictions. The study shows that the greatest number of participants said that indoor plants or flowers had a positive impact on their emotional well-being during the lock-down. They did prefer a low number (5-7) of indoor plants for their homes. However, they did use more outdoor areas of their homes to provide a place for their plants (balconies or gardens). More than half of the participants were willing in general to buy and foster more plants at home and allocate more time for their maintenance during the COVID-19 period.

    For the full research you can read

    This difficult time in which we have been forced to spend even more time indoors has made us reflect on the importance of introducing vegetation inside buildings. We hope this trend continues, and the fostering of plants continues!

    Stay safe & take care of your green friends!


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