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Are There Plants in Your Life? | The Benefits of Plants

Tuesday, 05 December 2017 12:46
Elephant Ears in the Balanced Body Chiropractic office Elephant Ears in the Balanced Body Chiropractic office Stefani Kralj

Are There Plants in Your LIfe? | The Benefits of Plants

Balanced Body Chiropractic Newsletter. Issue 1. December 5th, 2017

At Balanced Body Chiropractic, we're a little plant-happy :-) Since introducing a little patch of green into our space, our staff have commented that they look forward to coming to work and feel refreshed throughout the day. As well as brightening our day, we wondered... 'What are the benefits of adding plants to your workspace?'. The major answers (unsurprisingly) are that plants;

1) Improve Wellbeing and

2) Improve Air Quality.

1) Improve Wellbeing
Raise your Mood

Plants increase oxygen levels that may help with improving your mood, keeping you positive. The theory behind this is that the brain has access to more oxygen and is able to make clear and rational decisions. The visual appeal of plants may also impact our mood with the shapes of leaves and flowers being pleasing to the eye. Caring for plants helps promote soothing calm in your brain and may lower your blood pressure in your body.

 Encourage Creativity

Having pretty plants to look at may give your brain a rest, reduce stress and encourage creativity. Flower and plant colours also have different effects on people. For example, green encourages a relaxing environment whilst yellow flowers encourage warmth and comfort; red may encourage feelings of passion. One study even noted an improvement in office productivity after introducing plants into the work space.
2) Improve Air Quality

Clean Your Air

Some studies were able to show that plants purify air by reducing carbon dioxide and ozone levels and removing other chemicals. Nasties such as benzene, toluene, xylene and formaldehyde are just a few airborne toxins that our clever plants can process.
Plants and the microorganisms in your potting mix can clean your air and increase oxygen levels. Some Examples of common air-borne chemicals are listed below…

Cool and Freshen Your Home

There isn’t a lot of research to support this idea yet, but some studies do suggest plant respiration (living chemistry) can remove humidity from the air and cool and freshen your home. Studies conducted in office buildings have been inconclusive here due to industrial climate control systems in place. However, the perceived effects by employees still matter – this might be one to experiment with yourself. How do you feel after a week on inviting plants into your home?
Chemical Where it might come from? orchidbbchiro2
Benzene Cooking in low quality vegetable oil, preservatives in processed food.
Toluene Nail products, hair dye, perfume and artificially fragranced essential oils and candles.
Xylene Paint, varnish and spray paint (including those used in arts and crafts). Car care products: scratch repair pens, polish.
Formaldehyde Nail products (especially nail hardeners)
 
How many?

The more, the merrier! The amount of plants needed to make a difference to air quality will depend on the size of your room. A single plant will definitely brighten your space, but you may need five plants in a bedroom and eight or more in a living room or kitchen to really notice a difference. Visit Plant-Life Balance for more on the science.

 Plants to be on the lookout for…

The bigger, the better. The type and size of the plant can make a big difference in terms of air quality improvement. Go for big plants if you can. For green leaves try; the Ficus (reduces CO2 in the air fast!), Yucca, Aloe Vera, Elephant Ears or Dumb Lily. If you’re like us and love flowers, the Peace Lily and Fuscia Magellanica are aesthetically pleasing options. Eco Watch has some great information on the best plants to use.
Resources (Web sites);

http://www.plantlifebalance.com.au viewed on 28.11.2017
https://www.ecowatch.com/20-plants-that-improve-air-quality-in-your-home-1938383954.html viewed on 1.12.2017
https://hpd.nlm.nih.gov/cgi-bin/household/search?queryx=1330-20-7&tbl=TblChemicals viewed on 1.12.2017
http://www.safecosmetics.org/get-the-facts/chemicals-of-concern/toluene/ viewed on 4.12.2017

Academic Journal Articles;

Aydogan, A., & Montoya, L. D. (2011). Formaldehyde removal by common indoor plant species and various growing media. Atmospheric Environment, 45, 16, 2675-2682.
Kim, K. J., Kim, H. J., Khalekuzzaman, M., Yoo, E. H., Jung, H. H., & Jang, H. S. (2016). Removal ratio of gaseous toluene and xylene transported from air to root zone via the stem by indoor plants. Environmental Science and Pollution Research International, 23, 7, 6149-6158.
Lim, S. K., Shin, H. S., Yoon, K. S., Kwack, S. J., Um, Y. M., Hyeon, J. H., Kwak, H. M., ... Lee, B.-M. (2014). Risk Assessment of Volatile Organic Compounds Benzene, Toluene, Ethylbenzene, and Xylene (BTEX) in Consumer Products. Journal of Toxicology and Environmental Health part A. current issues, 77, 1502-1521.
Miyazaki, Y., Park, B.-J., Lee, J., & Lee, M. (2015). Interaction with indoor plants may reduce psychological and physiological stress by suppressing autonomic nervous system activity in young adults: a randomized crossover study. Journal of Physiological Anthropology, 34, 1, 1-6.
Orwell, R. L., Wood, R. L., Tarran, J., Torpy, F., & Burchett, M. D. (2004). Removal of Benzene by the Indoor Plant/Substrate Microcosm and Implications for Air Quality. Water, Air, and Soil Pollution : an International Journal of Environmental Pollution, 157, 193-207.
Ping Fang, Zi-jun Tang, Xiong-bo Chen, Zhi-xiong Tang, Ding-sheng Chen, Jian-hang Huang, Wen-hao Zeng, ... Chao-ping Cen. (2016). Experimental Study on the Absorption of Toluene from Exhaust Gas by Paraffin/Surfactant/Water Emulsion. Journal of Chemistry, 2016.
Raanaas, R. K., Evensen, K. H., Rich, D., Sjøstrøm, G., & Patil, G. (2011). Benefits of indoor plants on attention capacity in an office setting. Journal of Environmental Psychology, 31, 1, 99-105.
Salviano, D. S. V. P., Medeiros, S. A., Guedes, T. A., & Signori, P. K. (2015). Benzene as a Chemical Hazard in Processed Foods. International Journal of Food Science, 2015.
Shibata, S. E. I. J. I., & Suzuki, N. A. O. T. O. (2004). Effects of an indoor plant on creative task performance and mood. Scandinavian Journal of Psychology, 45, 5, 373-381.
Smith, A. J., Fsadni, A., & Holt, G. (2017). Indoor living plants’ effects on an office environment. Facilities, 35, 525-542.

Disclaimer:
This article in intended for general interest only and is not intended to be prescriptive or scientifically informative. Balanced Body Chiropractic does not take responsibility for the citation of fallacious research, which may the surpassed or discredited at a later date.Copyright Balanced Body Chiropractic. Author: Stefani Kralj.
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