Speaker 1: Welcome to Before Breakfast, a production of iHeartRadio. Good Morning.
Speaker 1: This is Laura, Welcome.
Speaker 2: To the Before Breakfast podcast. Today's tip is to green
Speaker 2: your space. Having a plant or two in your workspace
Speaker 2: can reduce your stress, and greenery just looks pretty too.
Speaker 2: I am writing this from my home office, where I
Speaker 2: have three nice succulents on my window sill. I also
Speaker 2: look out that window at lots of lovely trees. Whenever
Speaker 2: I am feeling stressed, I look out the window and
Speaker 2: feel at least a little bit more relaxed. There is
Speaker 2: pretty good evidence that people do report feeling lower stress
Speaker 2: levels when they have plants in their workplaces. Humans like
Speaker 2: being outside, and given that a lot of our work
Speaker 2: happens inside these days, having plants nearby is one of
Speaker 2: the best ways to approximate the experience. Rooms with plants
Speaker 2: are perceived as more cheerful, pleasant, and inviting. If you
Speaker 2: work from home, this is easy enough to pull off.
Speaker 2: Get a few easy houseplants. The upside of my succulence,
Speaker 2: for instance, is that they really don't require a lot
Speaker 2: of care. There is no need to water them frequently,
Speaker 2: and they tend not to lose a lot of leaves.
Speaker 2: Randomly or see the leaves go brown. But there are
Speaker 2: plenty of others that can work too, like snake plants,
Speaker 2: alo jade, cast iron plants and such. Just google easy houseplants. Also,
Speaker 2: be mindful of what you see outside.
Speaker 1: If possible, position your desk so you can look out
Speaker 1: a window, then curate what you see out that window.
Speaker 1: If you can move furniture or cans or kid bicycles
Speaker 1: so you can see more greenery, you will probably be
Speaker 1: happy about that. If you can plant something ever green
Speaker 1: in your view so that even during winter you'll see
Speaker 1: at least some green. Skip laurels and leyland cypresses are
Speaker 1: two plants that are used a lot in landscaping because
Speaker 1: they grow quickly, grow densely, and provide privacy even after
Speaker 1: other plants lose their leaves. But of course you can
Speaker 1: google options for this as well. If you work in
Speaker 1: a corporate office, this is obviously a different matter, but
Speaker 1: as long as you can have your own desks, you
Speaker 1: can probably get away with at least one small plant.
Speaker 1: Choose a tasteful container, and plants that don't have a
Speaker 1: strong smell or tend to inspire allergies. It is much
Speaker 1: like having a family photo. Most likely no one will
Speaker 1: object if you and others in your organization do work
Speaker 1: that doesn't involve desks. Maybe it would be possible to
Speaker 1: green up and employee breakroom put a few pretty plants
Speaker 1: in that communal space so people can enjoy the greenery
Speaker 1: in between shifts. You might volunteer to care for the
Speaker 1: plants if it would help make this happen, and if
Speaker 1: you choose easy ones, they won't need watering more than
Speaker 1: once a week or so. It truly is a big
Speaker 1: payoff for not much effort. Sometimes we accept that work
Speaker 1: is just what we have to do. People aren't necessarily
Speaker 1: going to enjoy it, and maybe that's true, But we
Speaker 1: enjoy everything more when a space is calming, and pretty
Speaker 1: plants can make that happen while making very few demands
Speaker 1: of the people caring for them. So green up your
Speaker 1: space and work will feel a lot less dreary in
Speaker 1: the meantime.
Speaker 2: This is Laura.
Speaker 1: Thanks for listening, and here's to making the most of
Speaker 1: our time. Hey, everybody, I'd love to hear from you.
Speaker 1: You can send me your tips, your questions, or anything else.
Speaker 1: Just connect with me on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram at
Speaker 1: Before Breakfast Pod that's b the number four then breakfast pod.
Speaker 1: You can also shoot me an email at Before Breakfast
Speaker 1: Podcasts at iHeartMedia dot com that before Breakfast is spelled
Speaker 1: out with all the letters. Thanks so much, should I
Speaker 1: look forward to staying in touch. Before Breakfast is a
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