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Healing Effects of Foliage Plants Using Physiological and Psychological Characteristics
Abstract
Foliage plants serve as interior accessories and are placed in indoor spaces, such as offices, hotels, restaurants, and homes. Recently, their healing effects have attracted much attention. In this investigation, the healing effects of foliage plants on human subjects performing a computer task were examined by measuring salivary amylase activity, blood pressure, and pulse as physiological indices, and by using the profile of mood states (POMS, the Japanese edition) as a psychological index. The salivary amylase activities of the subjects working in a room with foliage plants were significantly decreased compared with those of the subjects working in a room without plants. When comparing average increase/decrease rate between cases immediately after and 30 min after task-loading, the rates of the salivary amylase activity, anger-hostility, vigor of the subjects in the cases with and without plants, are -11.1 and 3.5%, -3.4 and 0.3%, and 3.2 and -0.6%, respectively. It is evident that foliage plants have healing effects in workers.
... Previous studies indicated that when the mood is relaxed, the pulse rate is decreased [34,42]. SAA represented the current state of mental stress and physical fatigue because these measurement values decrease when a person is relaxed [40,48,50]. Considering this, the four horticultural activities in this study had a relaxing effect on the elderly. ...
... Previous studies indicated that SAA, pulse rate, and LF/HF can represent immediate emotion and pressure [38,40]. This is the reason why SAA, pulse rate, and LF/HF are used for the level of pressure relieving of short-term horticultural activities, which is consistent with the findings of previous studies [33,34,50]. Considering the changes in SAA, pulse rate, and LF/HF in this study, we found that Rocky Leaf Prints (artistic creation) and Herb Tasting and Smelling (food tasting) were better to relieve the stress and anxiety of the elderly. ...
This study aimed to evaluate the effect of types of horticultural activities among elderly individuals in a senior citizen learning camp. We arranged four horticultural activities: Grass Doll, Kokedama, Rocky Leaf Prints, and Herb Tasting and Smelling. Twenty-seven senior citizens (60 to 76 years) were recruited to participate. We assessed their physiological and mental state before and after the activities by measuring heart rate variability (HRV), pulse rate, blood pressure, salivary amylase activity (SAA), and Profile of Mood States (POMS). Results showed that SAA was significantly lower after the Rocky Leaf Prints, Herb Tasting and Smelling, and Kokedama. Pulse rate had a downward trend after the four horticultural activities. The ratio of low frequency (LF) over high frequency (HF) results showed that the Rocky Leaf Prints had a larger downward trend, followed by Herb Tasting and Smelling. POMS scores indicated significant improvement for Rocky Leaf Prints and Herb Tasting and Smelling. The types including artistic creation and food tasting were promising methods for psychological relaxation, stress reduction, and vigor enhancement for elderly persons. Findings showed that the impact of activities involving contact with plants was more significant in short-term activities. We hope this study can help plan the horticultural activities of the elderly in the future.
The rapid development of cities has led to highly urbanized artificial environments that limit people's exposure to nature. The resulting accelerated pace of life has placed individuals under prolonged high-pressure conditions, leading to an increased incidence rate of related diseases. Recent research has shown that visual stimuli of plants have a positive impact on human physiological health. The experimental paradigm involves the presentation of visual stimuli, which encompasses a variety of modes including authentic plant landscapes, botanical imagery, videos and virtual reality simulations, amongst other modalities. In the course of the experiment, the physiological markers of human participants exhibited a favourable response to the presentation of plant landscapes, manifesting in a notable reduction in stress levels, an enhancement in immune function and a calming influence. This study critically reviews experimental literature on the physiological benefits of viewing plant landscapes, examining the effects on human brain activity, autonomic activity, secretory activity and immune activity. This review supports further research into the effects of plant landscapes on human physiological health and the development of preventive medicine in the future.
Plants have various kinds of functions. One of them is a purifying function to
gaseous contaminants including carbon dioxide. It is a noticeable function from
the standpoint of protection of the global environment. Plants can purify not only
carbon dioxide but also nitrogen oxide and sulfur oxide, and the chemicals are
used as a source of energy after having been broken down in the plants. In
addition, plants put out a bioelectric potential which changes depending on the
environment and growing conditions. In this study, the relationship between the
potential and purification capability of a plant is examined using an LED lighting
system. Broccoli is adopted as a subjective plant and the experiment is carried
out with five kinds of LED light frequencies including darkness. The summation
value is adopted as the potential value, namely the total amount of the bioelectric
potential for a minute (vm1). As a result, the capability increases and the potential
also becomes greater in blue light. A positive correlation is recognized in the
relationship between the potential and the capability. A specific gaseous
chemical could be purified in a particular light-frequency by applying the results
of this study.
Keywords: plant bioelectric potential, air pollution, purification capability.
抄録
Plant has various kinds of functions. One of them is a purifying function of gaseous contaminants including carbon dioxide. It is a noticeable function from the standpoint of protection of global environment. Plant can purify not only carbon dioxide but also nitrogen oxide and sulfur oxide, and the chemicals are used as source of energy after broken-down in the plant. And plant puts out a bioelectric potential which changes depending on the environment and growing condition. In this study, the relationship between the potential and purification capability of a plant is examined. Broccoli is adopted as a subjective plant and the experiment is carried out in five kinds of light frequencies including darkness. As a result, the capability becomes higher and the potential also becomes larger in blue light. A positive correlation is recognized in the relationship between the potential and the capability. A specific gaseous chemical could be purified in particular light-frequency by applying the result of this study.
3,572 Japanese subjects were surveyed on the length of time spent indoors in various spaces, and an estimation of inhalation dose in the respective places was made to establish a basis for the evaluation of various physical effects. The results were as follows. 1) The percentage of daily time spent indoors was 90% on weekdays and 88% on holidays. 2) The estimated inhalation dose was not found to be proportional to the time spent at each place, which meant that it was also necessary to take into account the physical activities in such places.
Recently, amenity of human being by plants have been called "green amenity". The authors have been making a series of studies on "green amenity". In the present study, physiological and psychological effects of ornamental foliage plants, flowers(roses) and fragrance on human being were analyzed by means of brain waves (ratio of alpha wave to beta wave) and semantic differential technique. The results are as follows. Higher ratio of alpha wave to beta wave was observed in the case of the presence of fragrance. It is considered that presence of fragrance affects physiological aspect of human being. On the other hand, the presence of roses brought about higher score of factor analysis. It is considered that presence of flowers affects psychological aspect of human being.
本研究では, 精神作業ストレスを心拍, 呼吸, 血圧という自律神経系指標を用いて評価する方法に関して報告する. また, 精神作業ストレスとしては, 緊張作業ストレスと単調作業ストレスの2種類を取り上げて評価の可能性を検討する.緊張作業ストレスを模擬した課題には, トラッキング作業を用い, 課題前の被験者への教示によってストレスレベルに違いが生じるようにした. その結果, 課題負荷による交感神経系賦活, 副交感神経系活動の低下が認められたが, 教示による負荷の効果の差がみられたのは心拍だけであった.単調作業ストレスを模擬した課題にもトラッキング作業を用いたが, 単にトラッキング作業を繰り返すよう教示し, 課題の繰り返しは8回とした. 単調作業の繰り返しによる作業ストレス反応として, 作業の繰り返しで被験者のイライラ感, 退屈感, 嫌気が増すことにより, 血圧の上昇, ため息などの不規則な呼吸の増加, これを反映する心拍の Mayer wave 成分の増大がみられた.
主にハーブを用いた園芸作業の持つ療法的効果について，心理的指標である精神健康調査（GHQ）および気分プロフィール検査（POMS），生理的指標である唾液中コルチゾール濃度およびフリッカー値を用い，主観的および客観的に検証することを試みた． GHQから，園芸作業による神経症症状の改善傾向が認められた．POMSから，園芸作業には緊張や不安，抑うつ感，疲労感，当惑などの一時的な負の感情を減少させる効果があることが明らかとなった．唾液中コルチゾール濃度は作業前に比べて作業後に低下し，作業によるストレスの緩和効果が認められた．フリッカー値の変化から，屋外での栽培作業は室内でのクラフト作業に比べて中枢性疲労の回復効果が大きい可能性が示唆された． 以上より，園芸作業は神経症症状や一時的気分の改善に有効であった．また，唾液中コルチゾール濃度とフリッカー値によって，園芸作業がストレスや中枢性疲労の解消に効果的であることを客観的に判断できた．質問紙による主観的評価に，客観的評価指標を組み合わせることで，園芸作業の療法的効果を総合的に判断し，より効果的なプログラムの構築と普及に寄与できると考えられた．
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Study on stress marker of salivary
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Classification of plant related therapies based on human behavior, horticultural therapy and plant perceptive therapy in plant assisted therapy
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Experimental research on effect of stress easing which existence of plant in the indoor space
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