READ: “Looks Matter: New research Reveals Which Houseplants Are Best For Wellbeing ” (The Royal Horticultural Society)
A recent study by RHS Science and University of Reading analyzed people’s psychological responses to a range of houseplants, such as Snake Plant, Golden Pothos, and Weeping Fig. The objectives of the study include assessing people’s preferences and responses to different house plant appearances, and determining if plant appearance and shape affect their perception of the plant’s impact on wellbeing and air quality.
Indoor spaces, and their design, have an important influence on psychological wellbeing. Visual attractiveness of their surroundings affects people’s mood and stress levels. With the addition of a few carefully chosen houseplants, it’s easy to manipulate the aesthetics of a room to provide maximum benefit.
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Upliftingness and interestingness were considered the most important characteristics for wellbeing. For improving air quality, plant healthiness and having a dense canopy of broad, lush green leaves were considered the most important traits. Unhealthy plants were regarded as depressing, and worse than having no plants at all.
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The location within a space and canopy density of indoor plants was already known to affect cognitive performance and productivity, but these results indicate that the appearance of the plants also influences people’s perceptions of their benefit for wellbeing and air quality, and possibly further influence performance.
These findings can assist designers, architects, building managers and homeowners in choosing plants that have maximum benefit for the wellbeing of building occupants, as well as creating different aesthetic environments.