It may seem obvious but, did you know that by having some plants in your serviced office space or commercial property, you can actually enhance your ability to work.
Scientists at the John C Stennis Space Centre, USA, found that plants can purify air. The team measured the effects of various houseplants on the presence of volatile organic chemicals (VOCs)
It turned out that a number of plants are pretty good at absorbing VOCs, trans-locating the chemicals to their roots and breaking them down. A worthy deed, as a number of VOCs are a natural by-product of modern life and can be found as in plywood, particleboard, carpeting, synthetic fabrics and plastics, to name the most common.
High on the good-plant list are the areca palm, lady palm, rubber plant, English ivy, Boston fern, Peace Lily. The spider plant, which has often been linked with air-purifying properties, wasn’t quite as efficient.
The best of the air-cleaning plants can remove 1,000 to 1,800 micrograms of VOC per hour.
Can people actually tell the difference? A Norwegian study found that serviced office workers whose spaces had plants, reported 23 percent fewer complaints of fatigue, stuffy noses, coughing and eye irritation, than workers who had no plants nearby.
No doubt, helping alleviate discomfort was the fact that plants also increase the humidity level of a room, to a more comfortable 30 to 60 percent.
Another study showed that workers are better able to solve problems and think of new ideas when plants are around. Whilst, another study found that people who performed a stressful computer task had 12 percent quicker response times and lower systolic blood pressure when plants were around.
In fact, in some cases plants don’t have to be immediately present; hospital patients recover a little faster from surgery and require less pain medication with just a view of a garden.
But I reckon we all knew that plants made us feel better, without the need for expensive research. But a healthy office is a happy office, so let’s get some plants in our serviced offices.
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