Effect of Green Plants on Individuals’ Mental Stress during the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Preliminary Study

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic has not only jeopardized people’s physical health, but also put additional strain on their mental health. This study explored the role of indoor natural elements (i.e., green plants) in relieving individuals’ mental stress during a prolonged stressful period. A pilot and three formal studies examined the effect of indoor green plants placed in living and working environments on people’s perceived stress during the pandemic and further uncovered its underlying mechanism emphasizing a mediating role of emotion. The pilot study confirmed that the severity of the pandemic positively correlated with individuals’ level of stress. Study 1 then demonstrated that indoor green plants in people’s living environments might reduce their perceived stress during the pandemic, which is referred to as the “plant effect”. Study 2 repeated the plant effect in a field experiment conducted in a working environment and Study 3 revealed a mediating role of positive emotion. This study provides preliminary evidence for the mitigating effect of indoor green plants on individuals’ mental stress during the COVID-19 pandemic period. The indoor green plants placed in living and working environments may elicit positive emotion, which in turn reduce people’s mental stress. In addition, our results reveal that growth status of the indoor green plants affected the plant effect as well.

Towards the new generation of courtyard buildings as a healthy living concept for post-pandemic era

“…Plants reduce the transmission of COVID by regulating indoor humidity, as virus transmission decreases considerably at humidity levels of 40-60% ( Bhattacharyya et al., 2015 ). Research has shown that indoor plants alleviate the psychological stress of occupants by exuding positive energy during the pandemic period ( Liu et al., 2022 ).…”

Mycobiota and Resistance to Diseases of Trees and Shrubs Used in the Greening of Urban Ecosystems

“…It is no coincidence that greening is considered one of the main elements of the ecological structure of urbanized areas. So, green plants absorb carbon dioxide from the air and enrich it with oxygen, on the other side, green plants help regulate the temperature of the city air, create air currents, increase air humidity, and plays an important role in the processes, more precisely, green plants are irreplaceable in solving environmental problems caused by human activity today 4 . For this reason, the greening of cities in any country, especially those that are large in terms of territory and population, is one of the most urgent issues 5,6 .…”