Healing and Air Purifying Plants

I always knew I loved gardening and having plants around me...love the feel of the dirt in my hands and watching things grow...now I know that it's good for many reasons other than my personal enjoyment!!

Have a good one!



Green Eyes on: Healing and Air Purifying Plants

by Sara Snow on 01.19.09

Gerbera daisies and mini Gerbera daisies. Photo via flowerbud.com.

A number of years ago, NASA began to look into the air purifying properties of plants (PDF). Specifically, they were trying to find out if plants could be used to clean the air in orbiting space stations. The findings--helpful for both their purposes and ours--proved common indoor air pollutants (culprits called Volatile Organic Compounds, or VOCs, off-gasses from the likes of fabric finishes, paints, wood adhesives, and floor stains) can be mitigated or removed by way of the leaves, roots, and soil of certain indoor plants.

English Ivy. Photo via Talkin Over It.

By keeping plants like Gerbera daisies, English ivy, and bamboo palm in the house, your air can actually be a great deal healthier than it would be without the plants.

New Research Shows Plants in Hospitals Help Healing
All of this is something I’ve known for quite some time. What is exciting me today is recent research showing that plants also have a tremendous healing influence on hospital patients.

And here’s why it’s so interesting to me now: For the last two weeks, I’ve spent my days with my 90-year-old stroke-recovering grandma. We’ve gone to physical, occupational, and recreational therapy appointments together. We’ve eaten meals of pureed turkey and vegetables. We’ve watched a continuous loop of wildlife scenes on the in-house hospital TV channel. We’ve read cards from well-wishers and (being the proud grandma that she is) snippets from the galley copy of my upcoming book. And we’ve marveled at the beauty of the live plants and fresh cut flowers in her room. This is why I was thrilled by the recent influx of information on the actual, scientifically proven, healing properties of plants.

Sara's grandma.

According to a recent study, patients with plants in their room (and we mean plants, not just cut flowers because of the longevity of the plant) began to take interest in their plants, watering and pruning them, and moving them around for better light. At the same time, these same patients took less pain medication, had less pain and anxiety, lower blood pressure, improved heart rates, and felt more positive overall about their room environment. When asked, they said they said plants were their favorite element in their rooms, versus the patients without plants who voted for the TV.

Tomorrow morning when I head back to the hospital, instead of just giving water to the jasmine plant on my grandma’s window sill, I think I’ll take it to her bedside to see if she wants to smell it or prune it. Or maybe she’ll just want to admire the way its tendrils stretch up toward the sky. Who knows, that could be the magic pill the doctors have missed.

More on Indoor Air Quality and Healing Plants

More Than a Pretty Greenhouse--Kew Gardens research into herbal remedies
Top 5 Plants For Improving Indoor Air Quality
10 Tips for Improving Indoor Air Quality
Indoor Air Quality on Planet Green
A Bicycle That Creates Clean Air AND Clean Water!
VOCs: Volatile Organic Compounds, Indoor Air Quality and Respiratory Health

Sara Snow is a green living expert and regular contributor to TreeHugger via her Green Eyes On column. She can also be seen on CNN.com on Thursdays from 7 p.m. to 8 p.m. Her new DVD Growing Green Babies is now available through SaraSnow.com.