Green walls in offices have a positive effect on the health of the skin and the immune system
The Luke Team (Luke) writes:
An experimental study led by the Natural Resources Center (Luke) showed that the air-circulating green walls installed in the offices altered the microbiota affecting workers ’skin health and boosted the regulation of the immune system. The effects were already visible during the month.
It is estimated that one in five people in developed countries suffers from autoimmune diseases such as allergies, atopy, type 1 diabetes and inflammatory bowel disease. The cost to society is more than one hundred billion euros a year.
“The results show that we can support human health with relatively easy solutions based on nature. However, in addition to such solutions, urban societies need broader societal changes to maintain and increase healthy and beneficial contact with nature.
Marja Roslund
Luke’s researcher
A recent research shows that the green walls installed in the offices diversify the microbiota of workers ’skin. Versatile skin microbiota has been inversely associated with atopy in previous studies. “Based on our results, green walls provide ideal solutions in the workplace and other indoor areas to balance people’s normal microbiota. Although autoimmune diseases often require medical treatment, it would be important to enhance the prevention of these diseases and alleviate symptoms through natural contact. This is the first study in which the addition of plants indoors has been shown to be related not only to microbiota but also to immune regulation, ”says doctoral researcher Laura Soininen from the University of Helsinki, commenting on a study published in Scientific Reports. .
Solutions are needed to keep in touch with nature
The versatile microbes in nature help the immune system to develop and function normally. In urban societies, people are less in contact with nature, which is why we need innovative nature-based solutions to maintain contact with nature and reduce autoimmune diseases. “The results show that we can support human health with relatively easy solutions based on nature. However, in addition to such solutions, urban society needs wider societal changes to maintain and increase healthy and beneficial contact with nature, ”says Marja Roslund, a researcher at Luke. “These results encourage us to look into the matter further.”
The study was conducted in the ADELE 2 (Immune Defense and Living Environment) project funded by Business Finland between Luke, the University of Helsinki and the University of Tampere. The research group of Professor of Virology Heikki Hyöty participated in the research from the University of Tampere, and the research is part of the dissertation of Laura Soisinen (University of Helsinki).