Plants Enhance Workplace Well Being

Does your workplace environment nurture your mind?  It can.  If your office has both a window view and/or plants, you can cut down on stress and anxiety.

Many recent studies on job satisfaction reveal that workers who spend more time in offices under artificial light, or in cubicles with no outside view, report reduced job satisfaction. Light also decreases stress levels, and plants offer nature's dividends to your work environment.

A manager friend described going to a local nursery, picking out colorful potted plants and putting one on each employee's desk, first thing in the morning.  Smiles erupted all around and he noticed more productivity, that day.  Fresh potted blooms and plants in your office can your serotonin level.  Think of doing this as a serotonin tap for yourself and others, if your manager or supervisor doesn't.  The addition of many plants can enhance well-being for all and make people feel better at work.

In particular, Jonathan Kaplan, points out that plants have been shown to...

• Lower blood pressure (systolic)
• Improve reaction times
• Increase attentiveness
• Improve attendance (at work and school)
• Raise productivity (at work)
• Enhance well-being
• Enrich perceptions of the space
• Lower levels of anxiety during recovery from surgery
• Boost job satisfaction

Helps me to think twice about including fresh plants in my office.  You?

Indoor plants at work also improve the air quality by removing pollutants, in addition to boosting creativity and productivity, in addition to improving comfort levels according to Smith and Pitt's article published in the Journal of Corporate Real Estate (2009).  Smith and Pitt argue that indoor plants have potential to alleviate sick building syndrome symptoms. 

I need all the serotonin taps I can get throughout a work day.  Hmmm...  my next outing is to the nursery!

Dance Energizes Inner Rhythms

And when you get the choice to sit it out or dance, I hope you dance...

Do you enjoy moving to music – ballet, disco, rock, folk, country line, Latin line, ballroom, ballet, break dance…? Dances harmonize with music, and joy follows when you step out to dance your inner rhythms.

Do you experience similar inner rhythm in your work? Dance is one activity that rejuvenates your life overall and helps improve sleep and cognition at the same time it helps bust stress. And, there're dances to match the your inner rhythms...

Rhythmns and approaches differ. Unlike me, my husband loves country music, twang and all. A smooth country line dancer, he vines, stomps, pivots, hitches, struts and reggaes. His enjoyment comes from improvisation, and nothing pleases him more than to catch others unaware with an opposite spin or twist. But, there's more to this...


Country line dance, not as easy as it appears, faces four walls - and before a dance is complete you look to each one. Shift to your wall, when you should have shuffled, and you can easily lose a beat, with your feet flying out of sync.

Not all dances take equal talent. Serious upper-body strength is needed to perform a break-dance, for instance. Just try a hollow-back — a handstand in which you bend your legs toward your back, and see what I mean.

I prefer the flow of a waltz. In China recently, guides from our University faculty took Ellen Weber and me to a large square where people danced to music broadcast over loudspeakers.

Suddenly, Edelweiss filled the air, and Liu Jinli asked me to dance with him. I followed his highly challenging twists and whirls with absolute flow and I sensed the summits of China’s Huangshan Mountain! Ellen later described my experience as an intellectual dance.

Are you aware that dances of all kinds boost your mood, energy, and strength? All you need is a favorite tune and two feet that move. Your mind and body work together to help perform the rest. To dance is both a physical and cognitive challenge. In fact research shows how a dance can benefit your mind, all because dance …

1. According to Benloucif and Zee’s research at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, improves sleep and cognition.

2. Opens new worlds that help beat loneliness blues.

3. Helps relieve stress. Music moves your brain waves and floods your brain with serotonin, a hormone for well-being.

4. Can ward off osteoporosis, a degenerative bone disease.

5. Stirs hope to bust barriers when sickness strikes. A committed dancer can experience superhuman perseverance when cancer or a broken foot prevents participation.

For example, my husband experienced incredible restoration after a humungous tree trunk landed on his foot last winter. As a result he had four surgeries and fought infection week after week. Incredibly, when Carl slowly began to dance again, and envisioned his dance steps, his foot took a fast turn for the better. Dancing, you could say pushed Carl’s mind hard to heal his foot.

In similar ways, if work seems overwheming, consider dance as a way to establish a new inner rhythm.

May you never take one single breath for granted…Never settle for the path of least resistance…I hope you dance... I Hope You Dance by Lee Ann Womack