PLANTS are the best way to treat stress at work.

A new probe by the Health and Safety Executive says workers in an office with plants showed less stress and a faster recovery rate from anxiety than those in a plantless environment.

Work related worry is a serious problem affecting five million workers.

I don't think plants have made much difference in the manic offices I've worked in.

The poor things were under more strain than the humans, struggling to live in drought conditions and then fed an oasis of booze, coffee, tea and fag ends.

These days a colleague's stuffed ferret and a naughty monk is all I have to relieve tension.

They don't do much good either.