A desktop plant can be a workplace stressbuster | The Business Standard
Skip to main content
  • Latest
  • Economy
    • Banking
    • Stocks
    • Industry
    • Analysis
    • Bazaar
    • RMG
    • Corporates
    • Aviation
  • Videos
    • TBS Today
    • TBS Stories
    • TBS World
    • News of the day
    • TBS Programs
    • Podcast
    • Editor's Pick
  • World+Biz
  • Features
    • Panorama
    • The Big Picture
    • Pursuit
    • Habitat
    • Thoughts
    • Splash
    • Mode
    • Tech
    • Explorer
    • Brands
    • In Focus
    • Book Review
    • Earth
    • Food
    • Luxury
    • Wheels
  • More
    • Sports
    • TBS Graduates
    • Bangladesh
    • Supplement
    • Infograph
    • Archive
    • Gallery
    • Long Read
    • Interviews
    • Offbeat
    • Magazine
    • Climate Change
    • Health
    • Cartoons
  • বাংলা
The Business Standard

Thursday
June 12, 2025

Sign In
Subscribe
  • Latest
  • Economy
    • Banking
    • Stocks
    • Industry
    • Analysis
    • Bazaar
    • RMG
    • Corporates
    • Aviation
  • Videos
    • TBS Today
    • TBS Stories
    • TBS World
    • News of the day
    • TBS Programs
    • Podcast
    • Editor's Pick
  • World+Biz
  • Features
    • Panorama
    • The Big Picture
    • Pursuit
    • Habitat
    • Thoughts
    • Splash
    • Mode
    • Tech
    • Explorer
    • Brands
    • In Focus
    • Book Review
    • Earth
    • Food
    • Luxury
    • Wheels
  • More
    • Sports
    • TBS Graduates
    • Bangladesh
    • Supplement
    • Infograph
    • Archive
    • Gallery
    • Long Read
    • Interviews
    • Offbeat
    • Magazine
    • Climate Change
    • Health
    • Cartoons
  • বাংলা
THURSDAY, JUNE 12, 2025
A desktop plant can be a workplace stressbuster

Mode

Hindustan Times
14 February, 2020, 11:45 am
Last modified: 14 February, 2020, 12:03 pm

Related News

  • Low budget or management flaws? Experts flag inefficiency in health spending
  • Health, education budget allocations fall short of expectations again
  • Reasons why a balanced breakfast is key to a healthy day
  • Experts for healthy eating initiatives in schools to combat childhood obesity
  • 7 refreshing foods that naturally cool your body in summer

A desktop plant can be a workplace stressbuster

Surprisingly, a potted plant placed right by your desk might help to remedy your daily sufferings, at least to some extent

Hindustan Times
14 February, 2020, 11:45 am
Last modified: 14 February, 2020, 12:03 pm
A potted plant placed right by your desk might help to remedy your daily sufferings. Photo: Unsplash
A potted plant placed right by your desk might help to remedy your daily sufferings. Photo: Unsplash

Does office work make you feel anxious and burnt out? Do the fast-approaching deadlines and boss meetings strike terror in your heart and set your pulse shooting up through the roof?

Surprisingly, a potted plant placed right by your desk might help to remedy your daily sufferings, at least to some extent.

According to CNN Health, a group of researchers from Japan carried out an experiment to study the stress-relieving effects that plants can potentially have on employees at a busy workplace. The experts conducted their study on the employees of a

The Business Standard Google News Keep updated, follow The Business Standard's Google news channel

Japanese electric company to figure out the variations in their stress levels, before and after a 3-minute long involvement with a plant.

The study which got published in the journal HortTechnology revealed a slight drop in the anxiety score of employees with anxiety and a considerable drop in the resting heart rates of the other 27 percent.

The previous research on this subject was mostly carried out in controlled settings involving indirect plant interaction.

This study is unique in the sense that it not only analysed the stress-busting effects of gazing at a plant in actual office environment, but also the effects emanating from actively taking care of the plants.

A positive trend was observed in the mental well-being of the employees when they were encouraged to take "nature breaks" lasting for three minutes, told Dr. Masahiro Toyoda, lead author of the study and professor at the University of Hyogo, told CNN Health.

According to Dr. Charles Hall, Ellison Chair of International Floriculture at Texas A&M University this research is the "latest of those that continue to point out that plants are beneficial to humans."

He further added that "it's something we inherently knew but has suddenly been quantified. And so now, we're seeing the numbers behind the reasoning."

The methodology of this experiment involved the use of State-Trait Anxiety Inventory index (STAI) and heart rate measurements of the employees, both in the morning and night.

The first week of the study was the control phase during which the workers measured their pulse rates by hand at the time when they felt stressed and then once again after staring for three minutes at the computer screen instead of a plant.

Before the commencement of the control phase, the workers were taught about how to care for a plant and were asked to choose their favourite one.

During the following two weeks, the subjects first measured their pulse under stressful conditions but the second reading was taken after gazing for three minutes at the plant kept on their desk.

A slight drop in STAI scores was observed during the two weeks, however, a drop in pulse rate was quite apparent in more than one-fourth of the workers.

A drop in resting heart rate indicates the suppression of the body's fight or flight mechanism that sets in when an individual is faced with a stressful situation.

The researchers pointed to a few reasons that might have contributed to the aforementioned outcomes.

From the point of view of the attention restoration theory, a positive correlation is seen between concentration levels and looking at nature.

Furthermore, the affection involved in caring for the plant might have also played an instrumental role.

However, it was noted that this approach didn't suit everyone and in some cases, led to a further increase in anxiety.

Hall explained to CNN Health: "I think the anxiety among those in the study where their anxiety increased, it was because of that particular phenomenon that all of a sudden they're responsible for taking care of a plant and then all of a sudden the plant's not doing well and they have some anxieties from that."

While on the other hand, there were people who gradually got accustomed to the presence of plants and stopped responding to their stress-reducing effects.

The study took 63 employees under its ambit who were aged between 24 and 60 and spent an average of 40 working hours in the office.

Amid the rising cases of work pressure-induced mental disorders, the authors stated that "the adoption of greenery into the office environment is becoming widespread as the need for improving mental health becomes greater."

If by chance, keeping a plant on your desk is not possible, the experts suggest that gazing outside the window for three minutes or taking brief strolls outside the office building can induce similar positive effects.

Features

health / desktop plant / workplace

Comments

While most comments will be posted if they are on-topic and not abusive, moderation decisions are subjective. Published comments are readers’ own views and The Business Standard does not endorse any of the readers’ comments.

Top Stories

  • Govt to set up Debt Office as loan burden to hit Tk29 lakh cr by FY28
    Govt to set up Debt Office as loan burden to hit Tk29 lakh cr by FY28
  • UK Secretary of State for Business and Trade and President of the Board of Trade Jonathan Reynolds meets Chief Adviser Muhammad Yunus on 11 June 2025. Photo: UNB
    UK reaffirms support for Bangladesh's initiatives to recover siphoned off money
  • File Photo of Chief Adviser Muhammad Yunus: UNB
    Prof Yunus to receive Harmony Award from King Charles today

MOST VIEWED

  • File photo of ex-prime minister Sheikh Hasina and her son Sajeeb Wazed Joy. Photo: Collected
    Joy spends Eid with Hasina in India: Indian media
  • Infofgraphics: TBS
    DGHS issues 11-point directive to prevent spread of Covid-19 in Bangladesh
  • Saifuzzaman Chowdhury. Photo: Collected
    UK crime agency now freezes assets of ex-land minister Saifuzzaman: AJ
  • File photo of BNP Standing Committee Member Amir Khasru Mahmud Chowdhury. Photo: Collected
    Khasru flies to London ahead of Yunus-Tarique meeting
  • Chief Adviser Muhammad Yunus speaks at the Chatham House in London on 11 June 2025. Photo: CA Press Wing
    No desire to be part of next elected govt: CA Yunus
  • Illustration: Khandaker Abidur Rahman/TBS
    Three hospitals ‘held hostage’ as discharged July uprising injured keep occupying beds

Related News

  • Low budget or management flaws? Experts flag inefficiency in health spending
  • Health, education budget allocations fall short of expectations again
  • Reasons why a balanced breakfast is key to a healthy day
  • Experts for healthy eating initiatives in schools to combat childhood obesity
  • 7 refreshing foods that naturally cool your body in summer

Features

Among pet birds in the country, lovebirds are the most common, and they are also the most numerous in the haat. Photo: Junayet Rashel

Where feathers meet fortune: How a small pigeon stall became Dhaka’s premiere bird market

16h | Panorama
Illustration: Duniya Jahan/ TBS

Forget Katy Perry, here’s Bangladesh’s Ruthba Yasmin shooting for the moon

1d | Features
File photo of Eid holidaymakers returning to the capital from their country homes/Rajib Dhar

Dhaka: The city we never want to return to, but always do

3d | Features
Photo collage shows political posters in Bagerhat. Photos: Jannatul Naym Pieal

From Sheikh Dynasty to sibling rivalry: Bagerhat signals a turning tide in local politics

4d | Bangladesh

More Videos from TBS

Why is Omicron XBB more contagious?

Why is Omicron XBB more contagious?

13h | TBS Stories
What did Dr. Yunus say at the Chatham House Dialogue in London?

What did Dr. Yunus say at the Chatham House Dialogue in London?

14h | TBS Today
News of The Day, 11 JUNE 2025

News of The Day, 11 JUNE 2025

15h | TBS News of the day
WB predicts worst decade for global growth since 60s

WB predicts worst decade for global growth since 60s

16h | TBS Stories
EMAIL US
contact@tbsnews.net
FOLLOW US
WHATSAPP
+880 1847416158
The Business Standard
  • About Us
  • Contact us
  • Sitemap
  • Advertisement
  • Privacy Policy
  • Comment Policy
Copyright © 2025
The Business Standard All rights reserved
Technical Partner: RSI Lab

Contact Us

The Business Standard

Main Office -4/A, Eskaton Garden, Dhaka- 1000

Phone: +8801847 416158 - 59

Send Opinion articles to - oped.tbs@gmail.com

For advertisement- sales@tbsnews.net