Can't get outside to forest or seashore, or even urban green spaces or blue spaces? Try bringing a bit of nature indoors.
Gazanias line a hillside leading to a pond in a neighborhood park—a "green/blue" space. Photo © Nancy Rommes
In the last few blog posts, we reviewed some of the evidence demonstrating that exposure to nature brings significant and lasting benefits to mental and physical health. But if a trip to the seaside or a forest is not possible due to issues with health, mobility, economic or distance, a shorter trip to a neighborhood green space or green/blue space will bring similar benefits. And even if there is no neighborhood green space, simply spending time in a garden—even a terrace with a garden—will help.
Baskets of pansies hang outdoors at the Butchart gardens in Victoria, B.C., Canada. Photo © Nancy Rommes
Baskets of green pathos plants hang in rows in a light and airy indoor greenhouse. Photo © Nancy Rommes.
But what if you can't get outside for some reason, and you don't have a terrace with a garden? Indoor plants may be an answer.
A recent systematic review of published research on the physiologic consequences of viewing nature indoors states that, "The studies confirmed that viewing plants, such as foliage plants, in an indoor environment can elicit positive health outcomes..."
Furthermore, while simply looking at images of plants had a positive effect on the viewer, "The physiological; benefits of viewing real-foliage green plants...was more important and more effective than visual contact made through viewing images of foliage plants."
Flowers have similar physiologic effects on the viewer. Two referenced studies demonstrated that looking at real, as compared to fabric, roses and pansies, "led to physiological relaxation" in the subjects studied.
Looking at roses appears to lead to "physiological relaxation." Photo © Nancy Rommes
The opportunity to view plants also appears to benefit the recovery of patients after surgery (hemorrhoidectomy). In two randomized, controlled, but not blinded studies, "Introducing plants into a hospital room during the recovery period had a positive influence linked directly to physiological benefits for hospital patients."
It should be noted that most of the 37 studies reviewed for the referenced paper involved healthy people. While it seems clear that healthy subjects viewing nature indoors (either real plants or images of nature) had a positive (relaxing, restorative) physiologic response, the authors conclude, "More research on different groups, in particular on highly stressed groups such as depressed patients, elderly rehabilitation patients, or hypertensive individuals who may show higher stress levels in our modern society, would be useful. Contact with nature may be a preventive and restorative public health strategy, particularly for individuals at higher risk of ill health."
The advice may be very old, but modern research confirms the salutary effects of flowers. Photo © Nancy Rommes.
While we wait for more research, it appears safe to conclude that the ability to view nature indoors, whether though a window, or in the form of a real plant, or flowers—even a realistic photograph of a plant or natural scene—is better for health than nothing or viewing the urban landscape.
More on the benefit of viewing photographs of nature in the next blog.
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