Yesterday, November 11, the Office of Sustainability teamed up with the Chapman Wellness Project to highlight environmental wellness during their wellness week events. We offered various indoor plants
and succulents in the piazza to encourage students to foster their connection with the environment and attend to their own physical and mental wellbeing. For this reason, we want to share just a few ways in which real indoor plants can boost wellbeing by:

  1. Reducing stress levels and promote mindfulness
  • A study shows that interacting with indoor plants can actually reduce psychological and physiological stress. Indoor gardening was successful in lowering the stress response in participants by suppressing nervous system activity, making people feel more at ease, comfortable, and connected to nature.
  1. Boosting productivity, creativity, and mood
  • Research has found that plants in a professional workspace can increase both productivity and creativity. In one study, students in a computer lab worked 12% faster and reported feeling less stressed in addition to performing better on tasks when a plant was in the room with them.
  1. Potential air quality improvement
  • Plants have the ability to remove contaminants from the air, such as volatile organic compounds. Although likely several plants would be needed in a room to really purify the air, any houseplant can potentially freshen the air in an indoor space.

Thank you to all of those who came to the event yesterday – we hope you enjoy your plant! Be sure to check out how to maintain your plants with our “Anything is Pot-able Plant Care Guides” here!

Make sure to follow us on Instagram @sustainchapman for similar events and informational posts, and subscribe to our Green Panther Newsletter here!