looking to make the pandemic bearable? get a plant
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adding a little greenery to your home can boost your mood.
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recently, i helped my daughter move closer to the university she attends — like almost everyone else, her classes are online. one of her first requests was to visit a store to buy houseplants, and she came away with a cartful. later, my son, also a university student, told me he had bought a houseplant, too.
then i read a new study that helped me understand why they might have wanted to “green” their surroundings during the pandemic: it could aid their mental health.
the study surveyed university students in bulgaria. while lockdown there had ended and the participants could go outside from time to time, they attended school entirely online and went out on average only four hours a day. this situation was proving tough on their mental health: about 33 per cent said they were moderately depressed, while 20 per cent said they felt moderate anxiety. this compares to a pre-pandemic study in which similar students reported 17 per cent and 12 per cent, respectively.
yet despite limited time spent outdoors, “it seemed that both indoor and outdoor forms of exposure to greenery contributed to mental health,” study co-author angel dzhambov, a senior assistant professor of hygiene with the medical university of plovdiv, bulgaria, said by email.
the study asked students about four types of greenery: houseplants, outdoor greenery visible from inside the home, a home garden and green spaces in their neighbourhood.
“students who spent most of their time at home during the covid-19 epidemic experienced better mental health when exposed to higher greenery,” the study concluded.
houseplants and being able to see greenery outside seemed to help students feel as if they could get away from their day-to-day routines. dzhambov says this is because their “attention can go effortlessly to interesting, pleasant aspects of the environment.” this helps them restore their depleted mental resources.
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outdoor greenery had a similar effect. but having a garden was only weakly associated with improved mental health, perhaps because urban people of this age don’t commonly garden. however, being able to visit neighbourhood green spaces was restorative. it also made the students feel as if they had more people who cared about them and would help them if they needed it.
because green spaces are “gathering places allowing for shared activities, they facilitate social interaction, which in turn builds up the sense of social cohesion,” wrote dzhambov. even though the pandemic restricted this social interaction, it could be that people still felt they had this support thanks to “social resources accumulated before the social distancing measures were enacted.”
although the students went outside for only four hours a day on average, dzhambov said, “even brief encounters with vegetation and other nature landscapes are believed to instigate the reduction of psychophysiological stress.”
many other studies have also shown the mental health benefits of greenery. a study out of europe conducted since the pandemic began found that exposure to green or blue spaces enabled adults to cope with lockdown and feel more positive emotions. houseplants can also help people feel less anxious and stressed, remember better, feel happier, be more satisfied with life, be more creative, be more productive and have higher self-esteem—among other benefits. another study found that indoor plants can increase positive emotions, reduce negative ones and even reduce physical discomfort.
a room without a view
what if you don’t have a green view? should you buy more houseplants? while dzhambov hesitated to give specific recommendations, and warned of potential risks like allergies, he did concede that a little green can add some light to our lives.
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“it appears that different forms of exposure to greenery, including indoors, may be helpful in supporting mental health in times of social isolation,” he wrote.
which makes me feel good that my two children have at least a few leaves sprouting out of pots.
galadriel watson is a freelance writer, children’s book author and comics artist. learn more at www.galadrielwatson.com.
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