August 1996
Have you ever noticed how much better you feel after a day of work in the garden? Sure your back hurts, your arms are tired, and you have found whole new sets of muscles; but no matter how bad your body feels, you have a "deep inside" satisfaction -- a good feeling you didn't have before you went to the garden.
Actually, you don't even have to work yourself to exhaustion to see a change in how you feel. After a hard, tense day at the office, a slow cruise around the yard will do wonders to restore your perspective. As you discover seedlings emerging, flower buds opening, even the damage of the tomato horn worm, you forget about the day's worries. You concentrate on these little changes without the effort required to get most tasks done in a busy day. This unforced concentration allows your mind to restore itself from mental fatigue in much the same way sleep does. At the same time, you experience the pride and satisfaction of nurturing plants and seeing something become beautiful through your efforts. Many people believe plants may be the perfect prescription for good physical and mental health.
Researchers, such as Roger Ulrich and Russ Parsons at Texas A&M and Rachel and Stephen Kaplan at the University of Michigan, note positive changes in behavior which result directly from people being able to see plants. For example, Ulrich compared the hospital records of patients recovering from gall bladder surgery and found those with a view of a group of trees spent less time in the hospital than those looking out at a brick wall (7.96 days vs 8.70 days). Equally important, they required fewer and less-potent drugs to remain comfortable.
In a recently completed study at the Sloan-Kettering Institute in New York, women recovering from breast cancer surgery found walks in the garden helped restore their ability to concentrate and focus their attention, and reduced their depression. At the start of the study, the scores of all the women on tests of measured attention were so low they resembled brain-damaged patients. Over the next 90 days, some of the patients participated in activities selected to help restore them from the anxiety and mental fatigue related to their surgery. Walking in the garden 20 to 30 minutes three times per week proved to be a very effective activity. Those who participated in the activities recovered faster and were able to develop new interests. More of them went back to work during the study than the control group. The Kaplans report workers with a view of trees and flowers experienced less job pressure and were more satisfied with their jobs than those who had no outside view or only a view of buildings. The employees with views of plants also reported fewer headaches and illnesses. Several researchers have documented faster recovery from the stress and mental fatigue of daily life through the use of plants.
There are several theories to explain how and why being around plants can be so beneficial. The simplest theory says in the modern world, we are constantly bombarded with so much noise, movement, and visual complexity, our surroundings can overwhelm our senses and lead to damaging levels of psychological and physiological excitement. Doesn't that pretty well describe your state of mind after 10 minutes of MTV? On the other hand, plants are less complex and have patterns that reduce arousal and, therefore, reduce our feelings of stress.
Another theory maintains people's responses to plants are a result of their early learning experiences or the culture in which they are raised. The concept here is that those individuals who grow up in west Texas will have a more positive attitude toward flat lands with sparse natural vegetation and cultivated crops, such as sorghum and cotton, than someone from the mountains of Virginia. Along this same line, this theory could be used to explain the American preference for foundation plantings in their front yard even though the style of architecture has changed, and these plants are no longer needed to hide an unattractive foundation. This theory also holds that modern Western culture conditions people to like nature and plants, and to have negative feelings about cities. However, this theory does not take into account the similarities found between people from different geographic and cultural backgrounds, or even those from different historic periods.
The desire for plants in our surroundings can be traced to the ancient Egyptians and the walled gardens of Persian settlements in Mesopotamia. In the 1st Century B.C., the Roman poet Horace wrote regarding city dwellers: "...amid your varied columns you are nursing trees, and you praise the mansion which looks out on distant fields."
The final theory maintains that our responses to plants are a result of evolution; that is, since we evolved with plants in our environment, we have a psychological and physical dependency on them. This psychological dependency is seen in an unlearned tendency to pay attention and respond positively to certain combinations of plants and other natural elements such as water and stone. Researchers find the most positive types of responses have been to the settings resembling those that would have been most favorable to survival for early humans. For example, one researcher has linked the preference for certain tree forms to a high probability of finding food and water near similarly shaped trees in nature. Another researcher has shown many features we particularly enjoy in the modern landscape, such as a pathway that gently curves into the woods, were important to early man in terms of safety and exploration.
Ulrich's work strongly supports the idea that man's response to plants is evolutionary, as it has shown a wide range of both emotional and physiological responses. In one study of college students under stress from an exam, views of plants increased positive feelings and reduced fear and anger. Other studies of his document physiological changes relating to recovery from stress, including lower blood pressure and reduced muscle tension. In unstressed individuals, he found views of natural settings enhanced relaxation as indicated by increased alpha wave activity.
Plants may even prove useful for those people afraid to go to the dentist. Recently researchers found patients were less tense in waiting rooms with pictures of trees and nature than in rooms with a blank wall. My dentist has a picture window overlooking a garden, so I guess I'd better stick with her.
(Originally published as "There IS More Than Meets the Eye," by Diane Relf, Extension Specialist, Consumer Horticulture, in The Virginia Gardener newsletter, Volume 10, Number 3.)