In this short talk, Dr. David Perlmutter explains why humans are drawn to keep plants in their homes and highlights scientific evidence that plants can improve health. He describes a Kansas State University study published in Horticultural Science that randomized 80 women undergoing thyroidectomy to postoperative rooms either standard or filled with about a dozen different plants. The study measured pain medication use, pain and anxiety ratings, length of hospital stay, and vital signs. Results showed that patients in plant‑filled rooms had significantly shorter hospitalizations, used fewer analgesics, and reported lower pain and anxiety. Dr. Perlmutter interprets these findings as evidence that reconnecting with nature—through plants or flowers—can accelerate surgical recovery and may broadly support immunity and overall healing. He links this idea to the central theme of his forthcoming 2020 book about "reconnecting and reclaiming your good brain," emphasizing nature connection as a key strategy for brain health.
Chapters
Hello everyone, Dr. David Perlmutter here. Do you ever wonder why it is that when you go into somebody's house or into your own house or apartment, there are always plants? Why do we like to have plants around us? And it turns out that, yeah, we like to have plants, don't know why, but they're actually good for us. It reconnects us with nature, and as it turns out, that's actually good for your health. A recent study appeared in the journal Horticultural Science called Therapeutic Influences of Plants in Hospital Rooms on Surgical Recovery, a study that came out of Kansas State University. Here's what these researchers wanted to determine. They took a group of women, 80 women who were undergoing thyroid surgery, thyroidectomy, having their thyroid glands removed. They randomized them in terms of the design of their post-operative room. That room was either a standard hospital room or it was a room in which there were a variety of different types of plants. I think it was 12 different plants in the room. They measured a variety of parameters. Let me see, they measured pain control, analgesics, length of hospitalization, vital signs, etc. And here's what these researchers found, which I think is really very interesting. Let me read to you their conclusions. Patients in hospital rooms with plants and flowers had significantly shorter hospitalization, fewer intake of pain medications, lower ratings of pain, lower ratings of anxiety when compared with patients in the control group. In other words, the patients who didn't have plants in their post-operative rooms. So what does it tell us? First of all, It means it's probably a good idea to send somebody flowers or a plant, even better, when they're recovering from surgery. But it also indicates that there's something really powerful, I believe, about reconnecting to nature in the form of being in relationship with a plant in this case. So it's good for, it looks like, not just recovery from surgery, But if I can extrapolate, it might actually be good for immunity, good for recovery in general. So very interesting research. And I think we've got to pay attention to this whole notion of reconnecting with nature, which you will find in our upcoming book in 2020, January 2020, to be a very important central theme. We've not finalized the name of that book yet, but it's about reconnecting and reclaiming your good brain. Thanks for listening. I'm Dr. David Perlmutter, and bye for now.
