Why Your Car Needs a Plant…
The Science of People, Plants, and Cars
Everybody loves the smell of a new car, which is weird, because that smell is generally a cocktail of offgassing toxins - solvents, adhesives, plastics, rubbers, and fabrics used in car construction. Even leather seats are treated and dyed with harsh chemicals.
Enter: NASA. In 1989, NASA tested 31 house plants under sealed space station conditions and found that some plants removed traces of benzene and others of toluene, and all of those plants ate formaldehyde for lunch. And guess what? All of those chemicals are among some 200 chemical compounds found in our vehicles. And what about our time sitting in cars? According to Jeff Gearhart, Research Director of the Ecology Center in Michigan, research in 2019 found that the average daily American commute totals approximately 35 minutes. That equals 152 hours or 19 work days a year, time spent just going to and from work. That’s a lot of time sitting and absorbing a cocktail of chemicals.
Even if you’re tiny Leafve can’t handle all of those toxins (rolling down your window is actually more effective), studies also proved that just gazing at a plant in a work environment lowered blood pressure, could reduce physiological and psychological stress, fatigue, and muscle tension, and could increase productivity by 15%. Well-being and increased memory-retention improved by 20%.
You of course will name your Leafve… researchers found that developing a “mild attachment” to a plant added “slight but meaningful emotional involvement” that intensified the benefits of plant care!
Bottom line? Plants are good for our physical and mental health!
We all need Leafves in our homes, cars, offices, and road trips!
🪴☺️🪴
Sources:
NASA “A Study of Interior Landscape Plants for Indoor Air Pollution Abatement”; July 1989
“Journal of Physiological Anthropology”; 2015; 34(1): 21.
“HortTechnology”; 2019; 30(1): 55-63
CNBC “This 3-minute, $3 habit could lower your stress and anxiety at work”; Fri, Jan 3 2020
Forbes “Think You Don’t Need Houseplants? Science Says Different”; Feb 10, 2018