You might be surprised to learn that houseplants might improve your health. Are you surprised to learn about this? Well, yes, indoor plants are indeed beneficial for our health, but today, let’s delve into more aspects:
There has been a significant rise in the number of people buying plants online and offline. Plants are also getting a lot of publicity and popularity on social media. If you check Instagram, you will find people posting with #houseplant, and the number is staggering (10,585,145 posts as of 4/30/2024, as I write this article). Keeping houseplants in your room can support you physically and mentally.
Before delving into the details, here are the 15 health benefits of houseplants we found in our research, listed below at a glance:
1. Air Purification
2. Productivity
3. Mental Health
4. Focus
5. Allergies
6. Humidity
7. Headache Reduction
8. Improved Sleep
9. Stress Reduction
10. Environmental Enhancement
11. Mood-Boosting
12. Noise Reduction
13. Easier Breathing
14. Increased Creativity
15. Happy Moments
1. Air Purification
Indoor plants purify the air. Most of us are aware that carbon dioxide is a part of the atmosphere. There is 0.03% of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. Indoor plants absorb carbon dioxide from the air in your house and release oxygen. We all know how essential oxygen is for humans. Formaldehyde and benzene chemicals are emitted from wooden furniture, wall paint, and other materials in our homes. I didn’t know that houseplants are very beneficial in removing formaldehyde and benzene from the air. But after learning, I kept adding more houseplants to my living room. Since we spend most of our days indoors, tiny children or senior citizens, having fresh air, which can be obtained through houseplants, is essential.
1. Increased Productivity
Houseplants increase our productivity. According to a NASA study, people with houseplants at home or work are several times more productive than those without. Placing plants increases your work progress. You can keep houseplants such as snakes, dracaena, Areca palm, spiders, and many more on the table or desk in your home or office.
2. Mental Health
Plants support your mental health and development. Studies have shown that keeping houseplants can boost both physical and mental health, helping to prevent feelings of depression and sadness. Research indicates that green leaves and dense foliage have a more significant effect on mental health. Plants can bring you out from past trauma and create a beautiful life, making you feel physically and mentally healthy. They also reduce the rates of excess stress and asthma. Older adults living at home who cannot go outside can plant houseplants for mental development.
3. Focus
Whether it’s education or career, you need exclusive focus. Your success depends on how focused you are on your work, reflected in your daily activities. Having houseplants in your home will help you control daily tasks and make it easier to focus on your work.
4. Allergies
Although modern-day houses are improved, they need to be airtight. Plants can filter chemicals in our indoor air. Your air may contain dust, fur or feathers, pollen, and other materials contributing to allergies. When you have indoor plants at home, they help you remove these harmful particles from the air and reduce the tendency for dust to reach your nose and body. Leaves and twigs collect dust. Leaves that are smooth or shiny tend to gather more dust.
6. Humidity
Indoor plants help keep the house calm. They emit oxygen and take up carbon dioxide from interior spaces. The amount of oxygen in the water increases, and the room gradually cools down compared to other rooms. As a result, you may not need to purchase a humidifier. The more plants you have indoors, the more they will keep your house moist, which is good for us.
7. Headache Reduction
Houseplants reduce headaches by removing airborne chemicals such as formaldehyde, benzene, and trichloroethylene emitted from furniture and walls in your home. Formaldehyde is one of the causes of headaches.
8. Improved Sleep
It would help to get enough sleep after a hard day’s work. If sleep is incomplete, different types of problems arise, including mental and physical. Make your bedroom eco-friendly with Houseplant. Plants provide beauty, remove toxins from the air, and humidify it, essential for good sleep. Before bed, you can look at plants and meditate to help induce sleep. Planting fragrant plants in your bedroom creates a pleasant aroma that will help you sleep longer and keep the room fragrant. Some such plants are jasmine front, others like al, snake, areca palm, evergreen and Chinese gardenia.
9. Stress Reduction
Studies have shown that plants help reduce stress by 64%. They significantly improve our minds. Bringing houseplants home can lower your blood pressure, depression, and anxiety. Taking in the sights of plants might help you decompress. Becoming a nature lover can distance you from stress and depression. I suggest that no matter what age you are, practise with plants at home.
10. Enhanced Room Environment
Plants will enhance the atmosphere and appearance of your home several times over. If you are a nature lover and every part of your room is adorned with houseplants, it will feel like you have brought the whole of nature into your home, and the effect cannot be overstated. Plants may be used to adorn every area in your home as well as the exterior.
The beauty of some trees is hidden in their flowers, fruits, and leaves; you need to bring them home to reveal their beauty.
Ideal Spots for Houseplants Inside the House
- Near windows, best placed in southeast-facing windows.
- Large plants like Erica palm and rubber plants can be placed in the corners of the house, including the living room.
- Creeping or climbing houseplants can be hung on the window or wall, and the leaves or branches can be adjusted with climbing plant hooks.
- Plants that grow in water, e.g., Pathos plants and snake plants, can be kept in clear water jars on tables or near the bed.
- Houseplants such as orchids can be kept at a distance of 1 foot from windows.
11. Noise Reduction
Have you ever wondered why dense forests are so quiet? The abundance of big trees and vegetation is the cause.
You cannot replicate this in the city due to the disturbance caused by modernity. But some of it can be recreated in your home. You can bring large indoor plants indoors. Internal noise is absorbed by indoor plants’ leaves, stems, and branches, which makes your environment considerably quieter than it would be outdoors.
Give it a try.
12. Happy Moments
When you come home from your studies or work feeling tired but see that your favourite plant has a new baby shoot or buds, you will immediately forget about your tiredness and get busy with the plant. That always happens to me, and I feel thrilled when it does. You will be more concerned about the plant now and can share it with your online friends using social media. Indeed, plants can create many beautiful moments in our lives.
14. Increased Creativity
Indoor plants boost productivity and creativity. When you bring houseplants into your home, you will gradually start researching them, figuring out how to care for them, and ensuring they thrive. Houseplants help us develop creativity. I do all the work on my garden and indoor plants, which gives me pleasure and personal experience.
14. Breath Easier
Trees are our best friends. Bringing indoor plants indoors allows them to absorb carbon dioxide from your home and release oxygen for human use. In photosynthesis, plants carry out this activity during the day but cannot do so at night; like humans, they breathe at night. However, plants such as orchids and cactus succulents can absorb carbon dioxide at night and release oxygen. Keep these types of plants in your bedroom to make breathing easier.
15. Boosting Your Mood
Houseplants always help keep your mood a step ahead. They lessen the chance of cancer by removing airborne pollutants. Indoor plants in your home or office desk are scientifically proven to cheer you up several times. They promote restful sleep, and your mind feels refreshed due to adequate sleep, which increases interest in working. In general, when your mind is clear, you feel well both mentally and physically.
That is how houseplants boost our mood.
We urge you to take plants home, tend to them, and take good care of yourself.
