Flower Power

A little bedside botany may be just the thing to speed recovery

By Jeff Schnaufer
CTW Features

If you regularly pass up the flower shop during a visit to a friend in the hospital, you could be passing up an opportunity to help them get better.

Researchers at Kansas State University have conducted two studies that reveal that putting plants in hospital rooms of surgery patients may aid in their recovery. From July 2005 to January 2006, horticulture therapy professors Richard Mattson and Seong Hyun Park studied two groups of patients at separate Korean hospitals - one group recovering from appendectomy surgery and the other group recovering from thyroidectomy surgery.

In the appendectomy study, 90 patients were randomly assigned to hospital rooms with or without plants, Dr. Mattson says. Half of the 80 thyroidectomy patients also had plants in their recovery rooms, the other half did not. The plants, which were identical in each room, included yellow star jasmine, peace lily, golden pothos, arrowhead vine and cretan brake fern, among others.

�We attempted to use a diverse grouping of plants to provide visual and other sensory stimulation to patients during their recovery,� Mattson says.

Among the appendectomy patients, Mattson says those in the plant rooms requested less pain medication and had lower heart rates and blood pressure than those in rooms without plants. They also experienced less fatigue and anxiety.

Among the thyroidectomy patients, Mattson says �there was a significant and nearly half day reduction in hospitalization� for those patients with plants in their recovery rooms.

Mattson believes that sensory stimuli provided by plants and flowers activate various regions of the brain. Fragrance, tactile, and visual interpretation of flowers and indoor plants also provide a means for stress reduction as measured by positive changes in blood pressure or heart rate.

�Flower fragrance is interpreted in the frontal lobes of the brain close to areas that store long-term memories,� Mattson says. �The pleasant smell of a familiar flower can produce relaxation and association with positive past experiences. Being close to nature and the distraction from the hospital environment aid in decreasing the perception of pain. When all of these �green� factors are associated with the hospital environment, then healing begins more quickly.�

Other studies have revealed the power of plants to help patients recover from surgery and pain reduction. And a number of rehabilitation centers around the country are using plants to help facilitate recovery.

�In the Spanish hospitals centuries ago, the patients who could not pay for their hospital stay worked in the hospital gardens. These patients tended to recover faster and suffered less melancholy,� says Hank Bruce, a horticultural therapist, lecturer and author in Rio Rancho, N.M. �Even in cancer hospitals there is now an awareness that plants and flowers in the hospital rooms and treatment centers can be beneficial.�

Researchers believe the potential benefits from �flower power� not only makes good sense, it could save cents, as well, by allowing for shorter hospital stays. And with the ability of plants to produce oxygen and remove carbon dioxide, you might even be able to breath a little easier in the hospital room.

At least until you get the bill.

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