BRING THE OUTSIDE IN
KEEPING plants in your home may boost your mental well-being, a study has found. | RACHEL CLAIRE Pexels
IF YOU love having plants at home, then there is good news for you as a new study suggests that plants at home can keep you mentally healthy. The findings, published in the journal Urban Forestry and Urban Greening, indicated that having plants at home had a positive influence on the psychological well-being of the dwelling's inhabitants during Covid-19 lockdown. The researchers from the University of Genoa in Italy, evaluated the role played by the plants at home during the first Covid-19 lockdown and the study involved 4 200 respondents. The situation between the months of March and June deprived the public of the chance to enjoy open spaces and nature, and forced them to spend extended periods of time indoors. The team found 74% of the respondents agreed that having plants at home had a positive influence on emotional well-being during lockdown, the researchers said. In fact, more than half of them (55.8%) stated that they would have preferred to have more plants in their house during that difficult period. The frequency with which study participants experienced negative emotions was higher in those who stated they had no indoor plants. Those living in small or poorly lit dwellings and those who did not visit green spaces frequently before lockdown also experienced more negative emotions. | IANS
MEGAN MCDONOUGH
PICTURE an escape. The first image that came to mind is probably a sandy beach or an exotic location. It is unlikely it was your master bathroom or bedroom. That is slowly changing, says interior designer and author Nate Berkus. “With everything going on in the world, I think all of us want and have always wanted, our home to be our sanctuary.” Berkus has made a career of transforming living spaces into private oases. But as millennials join the ranks of home buyers, with their obsessive interest in self-care, mindfulness and the internet, the idea of design as escapism is expanding. Your best shot at creating a home that feels “safe and warm,” Berkus says, is to do
