After spending most of the day, reviewing content regarding the associated health benefits of plants, I got to wondering, why the western nation had not bought into all these benefits?
It is know that people have always intuitively sensed that contact with plants and nature is a calming restorative tonic for body and soul. So if this is the case why are people so reluctant to buy into these benefits? It obviously can’t be practical reasons, as gardening is our number one past-time, therefore we must be happy playing with plants.
So is the problem marketing? Do the general public simply not know about the research, which has been carried out over the past 25 years by academics and scientists into why plants are so good for us?
If this is the case, do we need to get Jamie Oliver or his horticultural equivalent to highlight these benefits via a prime-time T.V. series? Will it only be then, that people will make this a topic of conversation in the workplace kitchen or school run pick-up point?
It would be fantastic to think that one day; people would accept the idea that they need a plant in each room as much as they need exercise and their five servings of fruit and veg in order to live a healthy lifestyle.
If it is marketing that is the problem, then I suspect there is plenty to do before we can tempt programmers to consider making such a T.V. series. In our effort to help get the conversation going, we offer you the following timely fact, since the schools have just gone back:
FACT: Attentiveness increases as much as 70% when plants are put in a classroom.
Research conducted by Amanda Read of The Royal College of Agriculture in Cirencester, England demonstrated that students attending the lectures in rooms with indoor plants were much more attentive, with distractions reduced by 70%. Students were also almost 100% more likely to return to lectures in the planted room.
Source: The Royal College of Agriculture, Cirencester, England.
In another piece of research carried out at a Norwegian primary school, plants were introduced into classrooms to improve the indoor atmosphere. The school was delighted with the findings from the research, as it showed that there were less health problems in the classrooms where the plants were located, resulting in a healthier place in which to learn and work.
Source: Plants for People