This 3-minute, $3 habit could lower your stress and anxiety at work

Indoor plants can be an inexpensive way to brighten up the decor of an office space, and a new Japanese study suggests that they can also improve your mental health at work.

People who kept a small plant on their desk had lower levels of anxiety and stress at the end of a four-week period.

Over the course of four weeks, participants recorded their pulse (a good indicator of your body’s stress response) before and after looking at the plants and filled out surveys that gauged their psychological state and anxiety levels. About 27% of participants experienced a significant decrease in their pulse rate by the end of the plant-tending period, and most participants’ anxiety scores decreased too.

So what makes a desk plant especially helpful? Having plants to look at presents a healthy, restorative distraction from draining office tasks, according to the study authors. Other research suggests that nature can serve as an antidote to over-stimulation or “attention fatigue,” as well as boost cognitive performance.

Beyond just looking at a leafy green plant, researchers wrote that developing a “mild attachment” to the plant added “slight but meaningful emotional involvement” that intensified the benefits. (Researchers noted that dead plants “did not have a very profound effect on participants’ psychological stress.”)

In the study, the plants were only a few inches tall and wide, and you can score a house plant for as little as $3 at a hardware store. Air plants, for instance, were included in this study and only cost $3 at Lowe’s.

The article was first published on CNBC

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