Research Design Connections: Plants and Meditation

Researchers have determined that looking at plants and guided meditation have similar effects on our mental state. Archary and Thatcher studied recovery from mental fatigue (which degraded mood) and found that “distress significantly decreased for participants in the indoor plant break condition while distress significantly decreased . . . in the guided meditation break condition. Indoor plants and guided meditation had a small, but significant positive impact on [mood] restoration. . . Indoor plants are a cost-effective green ergonomics intervention in offices. This study found that a rest break with indoor plants was as effective as a rest break with guided meditation for affective [mood] restoration after [mental] fatigue.”

Preyen Archary and Andrew Thatcher.  2021. “Affective and Cognitive Restoration: Comparing the Restorative Role of Indoor Plants and Guided Meditation.”  Ergonomics, vol. 65, no. 7, pp. 933-942, https://doi.org/10.1080/00140139.2021.2003873

Sally Augustin, PhD, a cognitive scientist, is the editor of Research Design Connections (www.researchdesignconnections.com), a monthly subscription newsletter and free daily blog, where recent and classic research in the social, design, and physical sciences that can inform designers’ work are presented in straightforward language. Readers learn about the latest research findings immediately, before they’re available elsewhere. Sally, who is a Fellow of the American Psychological Association, is also the author of Place Advantage: Applied Psychology for Interior Architecture (Wiley, 2009) and, with Cindy Coleman, The Designer’s Guide to Doing Research: Applying Knowledge to Inform Design (Wiley, 2012). She is a principal at Design With Science (www.designwithscience.com) and can be reached at sallyaugustin@designwithscience.com.