New Stanford Research Reveals An Optimal Balance Of Indoor Nature For Reducing Stress

A new study by researchers from Stanford University has revealed that while having some plants indoors can boost our mood, filling a room with too many may actually make us feel stressed, reported Newsweek.

The team developed a new way to measure how much greenery and wooden material people see in indoor spaces. They used this method in a simulated office to study how different levels of "indoor nature" affect wellbeing.

The results showed that a few potted plants and a window view of trees made people feel more relaxed and connected. But when the number of plants increased, participants began to feel more stressed.

Eva Bianchi, the study author and a civil engineer, explained that the results were contrary to expectations. She noted that participants' stress levels were highest when approximately 60 percent of the room was filled with plants and wood, which conflicts with previous studies.

Previous research has found that plants and natural elements within homes or offices help reduce stress. However, those studies mostly compared rooms with and without plants, or based on how much greenery people could see.

Professor Sarah Billington, another author of the paper, explained, there's been a lot of research on this topic, but different methodologies make direct comparisons impossible.

To address this shortcoming, the Stanford University team developed software called "Nature View Potential," which measures how much natural material a person sees within a room, on average. Using this software and 3D modelling techniques, researchers created 11 digital conference rooms with varying amounts of plants, wood, and natural views from the windows.

A total of 412 participants took part in the study. Each person was placed in a virtual room and asked to imagine it as their new workplace. They were then given mild stress-inducing tasks, such as solving difficult word puzzles and counting backwards by subtracting 13 from 1,022. The results of the study revealed that some natural elements in a room are beneficial for mental health, but too much greenery can also cause stress.