Heart and lung patients benefit from indoor plant intervention: Study

A new study from the Norwegian University of Life Sciences and Sweden's Uppsala University revealed that a plant 'intervention' improve the well-being of patients in a difficult rehab process.

Ruth Kjærsti Raanaas, Grete Grindal Patil, and Terry Hartig studied the effects of an indoor plant intervention amongst 436 coronary and pulmonary patients at a Norwegian rehabilitation centre.

Results showed that patients' overall physical and mental health improved during the programme, but the presence of new plants did not increase the degree of improvement.

The team found no "significant direct effects" of the plant intervention on change in either of the self-reported health outcomes.

"The results did, however indicate that the plant intervention affected the degree of change in subjective well-being, although this effect was further contingent on patient group."

"One reason why the plant intervention did not influence the health outcomes in the present study may be that the participants were mobile and were exposed to a variety of treatments and activities at the centre," the researchers concluded.

The results were published in HortScience.