On average, we spend a third of our time at work. So why not create a substitute of home atmosphere in the office to forget about it, at least for a while? And what do we most often decorate our home piles with? Plants!

Nature has a salutary effect on the human psyche. Surrounding yourself with it soothes nerves, reduces stress levels, calms you down, helps you concentrate better, stimulates creativity and imagination. This is scientifically proven, and hortiterapy, or treatment through communing with plants, found use as a complement to traditional forms of rehabilitation for people with certain health problems as early as the late 18th and early 19th centuries. A solution as found for use in the workplace.

All shades of green

Green, the dominant color in the world of plants, is a color that brings a lot of optimism to life. It is used to furnish spaces in therapy rooms for a reason. Surrounding yourself with it calms you down, helps you collect positive thoughts, and also affects creativity. In addition to its calming properties, green also has a positive effect on vision. Ophthalmologists recommend taking frequent breaks from looking at the computer screen and moving your eyes to the tops of green trees. Looking occasionally at the plants in the corner of the office can be a substitute for this. Specifically, staring at certain species of potted plants for a few minutes lowers blood pressure and heart rate. Sight is not the only sense affected by plants. Although they cannot speak or sing, they have a positive effect on hearing. This is due to the fact that they dampen the room in which they are located.

Take a deep breath

Locked inside the four walls of the office (often without opening windows), employees have no access to fresh air. Lack of oxygen contributes to feelings of fatigue, lethargy, irritability, slower thought processes and greater exposure to the onset of diseases. Modern building materials are reducing the humidity in office buildings. The air in them is very dry and reaches only 20-30 percent. There is increasing talk of the phenomenon of indoor “smog” (indoor air is more polluted than outdoor air). Even state-of-the-art air purifiers are not designed to filter out all harmful elements. What’s different about plants! Thanks to their phytoremediation abilities, they clean and increase the humidity of the air and the amount of oxygen in it, as well as lower the temperature. Thanks to the plants, the air in the office is regularly ionized. Numerous studies have shown that placing potted plants in offices reduces the incidence of headaches, throat diseases and improves the well-being of those who are indoors. There is a reason why plants in interiors are called green liver – green liver from English. The group of most effective air-purifying plants included: Wingflower, Low Dactylus, Nephrolepis lofty, Nephrolepis obliterata, Sternberg’s Zielista, Aglaonema, Bamboo Palm, Benjamin’s Ficus, Golden Epipremnum, Andrego’s anthurium, Sapphire liriope, Tall Rapis, Jameson’s Gerbera, Fragrant Dracaena, Common Ivy, Guinea ruscus, Inverted Dracaena, and Large-flowered Chrysanthemum.

Green office

Research conducted by Cardiff University, the University of Exeter and the University of Groningen shows that an office enriched with plants increases the satisfaction of the workers in it and raises their productivity by up to 15 percent. At the same time, by 12 percent. The number of mistakes they make decreases. It is recommended to place at least one plant per square meter of office space, in such a place that every employee can look at it from behind his or her desk. In addition, it’s a good idea to set air-purifying plants near computer monitors to nullify the harmful effects of the negative ions they emit. Placing plants in common areas, conference rooms, meeting places for employees, by triggering positive emotions, will have a positive effect on their integration, willingness to work together and the generation of creative ideas. It is also said that employees who work in plant-filled offices rate their boss better.

Fragrant office

When planning the placement of plants in the office, do not forget about flowers in colors other than green. Ornamental plants add color, so they are ideal for decorating rooms. In addition, they smell beautifully, which further provides aromatherapy. It’s also a way to make a good first impression on customers and clients crossing the company’s threshold. Greeted by the scent of fresh flowers, they are sure to enter the meeting in a better mood. Plants placed in the office further testify to the company’s pro-environmental attitude, thus enhancing the building of its image.

The fashion for ascetically decorated offices is passing. And well. The more vegetation there is in office buildings, the better for everyone who will spend even a small moment in it.