FEATURESTORY
by Erin Stone
Adding Plants Improves Productivity
and Worker Health
H
ow can simply adding a few leafy green
plants around the work space help people
get more work done and lead to happy
healthier workers?
Benefits of Adding Plants to an Office
◆ ◆ Plants help sharpen focus.
◆ ◆ Studies have been conducted at the royal college
of agriculture Circencester, England and the find-
ings were evident that students were up to 70
percent more attentive when being lectured and
taught in environments where plants were pres-
ent.
◆ ◆ A study by the same college
also concluded that students
were more likely to attend
the classes if plants were in
the surrounds.
Plants Help Purify the Air
In sterile environments like
office buildings the air is very
stagnate and often filled with
toxic particles. Plants help re-
move these toxins from the air we
breathe very efficiently and actu-
ally turn these toxins into food
for the plant themselves. These
toxic air particles come from ev-
eryday objects that surround us in our workplaces like
printing inks, paints, rugs and cigarette smoke.
The plants draw in and filter the stagnant air
through small openings in their leaves and also trap
toxic air by pulling the toxins into the earth surround-
ing plant where micro-organisms convert these toxins
into food for the plant. They make the air easier to
breathe.
Our bodies are constantly taking in oxygen when
we inhale and expelling carbon dioxide when we ex-
hale. This is the process of human breathing and has
kept us alive for millennia. Plants adversely have the
opposite procedure, absorbing in carbon dioxide and
releasing clean oxygen for us to breathe. These oppos-
ing cycles make plants great partners for humans to
have around, constantly complimenting each other in
both our breathing patterns.
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Things to Remember Before Adding Plants
Not all plants are equal in how much oxygen they
expel and some plants even take in oxygen and expel
carbon the same as humans. Plants like orchids and
epiphytic bromeliads have this same cycle during the
day but are great to have around during the evening
and night as their roles reverse and they start to take
in carbon dioxide and release oxygen at night. These
species would be ideal for night workers or students
who prefer to study during late hours and in the eve-
ning.
Be mindful when installing plants. Having just one
plant in an entire office building level or
in one lecture room full of students is not
enough to have much of a positive effect
on the work and study environment.
Number of Plants Needed to
Have a Positive Impact
The general rule to keep or even
help improve health and stop fatigue is
to have one moderate to large size plant
every 4 square yards. Try to position
these plants so everyone in the classroom
or office has a view of the greenery.
Also be mindful when installing
or moving plants, especially large pot
plants, that you lift with correct posture
and if the weight of the plant exceeds 40
pounds be sure to wear the correct safety gear such
as steel toe work boots and gloves or contact moving
professionals and leave the job to them.
For the low cost of a few hundred dollars install-
ing plants will have a substantial positive impact not
only on your workers and students health but can also
help increase productivity and overall moral in the
work space.
More and more companies are realizing that a
healthier, happier worker is going to produce better
results and stay in jobs longer. It only seems natural
from an evolutionary point that we should be sur-
rounded by plants as much as possible and the work
space should be no exception. GG
Eric Stone is a Garden & Greenhouse contributor.
www.GardenandGreenhouse.net
April 2018