At work, odd knickknacks and photos of friends and family do more than make your sad, company-issued desk look a little less boring. Experts have noted that seeing familiar objects and people (or photos of them) helps workers fight mental fatigue and stress. Also, an article published in the Journal of Experimental Psychology finds that workers are happier and relate better to each other when they're allowed to decorate their spaces.

You might assume that toiling at a clean desk would make you do better work or do tasks faster. Surprisingly, a recent study showed that desk clutter didn't hamper their subjects' ability to generate ideas -- it only affected the type of ideas they generated. The researchers' conclusion: Tidy environments are ideal for performing organizational or data-driven tasks, but cluttered workstations are conducive to creative thinking. So if you're an accountant, keep that desktop clean; if you work in an artsy field, let your s$%# fly, guilt-free.

So now you know that natural light, blue sky and greenery have a calming and mood-boosting effect. To add to that, simply being around plants can cure what ails you. Research indicates that spending time around plants can reduce people's stress and lower their blood pressure. Not only that, plants help sick people get well faster: One study by the University of Rochester showed that keeping plants in a hospital hastened the recovery of patients and lowered their anxiety.

So keep a few pots of greenery in your office, your home -- anywhere, really -- and you might see an uptick in your general well-being.