Indoor Plants: Therapy in a Pot

While I am not one to have a green thumb in the garden—I have on record accidentally killed three cactus plants, although in my defense, they were cheap and got some sort of disease—I do still believe that plants are good for morale. Since feng shui became popular, plants are part of the healing process helping to harmonize the living (you) with the earth (furniture, etc.) for perfect balance. Even though plants may wish to live anywhere but my place, plant therapy is now shown to have research to support it.

A new study published in the October 2008 issue of HortTechnology, published by The American Society for Horticultural Science, shows that plants actually help patients recover from surgery. The Recreation and Forestry department at Kansas Sate University used a controlled study with 90 patients who had recently had their appendix taken out. The patients were chosen at random to either have a plant in their recovery room or not and the scientists tracked specific details throughout their recovery.

The patients who recovered in a room with a plant recorded less pain, anxiety, and fatigue whereas in the rooms without the plant more pain medication was needed. Blood pressure was lessened and the heart rates of those volunteers in the plant rooms were lowered and each patient said that having a plant increased the pleasantry of the room. Other signs that researchers kept track of were vital signs, hospitalization time, and whether or not they received drugs after their surgery.

Little potted plants seemed to brighten the rooms and the patient’s level of happiness which means less pain and less stress brought on by recovering from surgery. By offering patients something else to do besides flip through the channels, eavesdrop on your roommate’s conversation, or walk in circles around the hospital floor, having a potted plant instead of a vase of flowers allows the recuperating person to take care of something by watering it and discarding the unwanted pieces.

The study authored by Seong-Hyun Park and Richard H. Mattson, shows that prescription pills are not the only way to treat recovery. Plants happen to be cheerful and easy on the wallet as well as cleaning the air in the rooms which can stave off infection as illness tends to travel in cramped, busy hospitals. Even though floral arrangements will also pretty up a room and make you feel loved on the way to recovery, they will not last as long as a potted plant (unless you are like me and they die in about the same time).

A different type of plant therapy besides hospital-based plant life, is known as Horticultural Therapy (HT) and is the process of having people work in the garden in order to ease their pain or lessen the stress in their lives. Dr. Benjamin Rush from the 19th century touted the benefits of garden therapy as bringing peace to people living with mental illnesses.

Throughout World War II, HT was spread worldwide and it is now shown to be great for adding wellness to people’s lives. Cultivating a garden gives people the job of taking care of something and nurturing it into existence. Taught throughout a variety of organizations and community groups from helping the elderly to young people and those with physical and mental disabilities, facilities like psychiatric hospitals, rehabilitation centers, prisons, training programs, and even substance abuse clinics have used this program with success.

By being able to release a patient’s emotions while helping them recover from a serious condition or mild problem they may be fighting with, research has shown that these little green, dirt-filled bundles of joy actually can make a difference.