The Benefits of House Plants
Did you know, house plants can greatly improve your health and your everyday life? Yep, those green leafy plants aren’t just cute décor items sitting in a corner but can also be a natural and easy way to benefit you and your body!
Everyone knows plants put off oxygen, take in toxins and carbon dioxide, and can improve the air quality in your home. Some plants are actually able to remove 90% of the harmful chemicals and carcinogens in the air. These are things like ammonia, formaldehyde, benzene, and trichloroethylene. House plants like Boston ferns, peace lilies, gerbera daisies, snake plants, Chinese evergreens, and English ivies are quite good at this. Keep in mind, the bigger the leaf and plant, the more they’ll be able to remove. The good things about all the plants above is that they’re common in America and are easily accessible. So, you don’t have to go buy some exotic or special plant to improve the air in your home. You can easily run to the nearest Walmart, Lowes, Home Depot or garden center near you! If you’re not good at keeping plants alive, the snake plant is the most durable and hardest to kill.
Not only do plants take in toxins, carbon dioxide, and harmful chemicals but also harmful microbes. Microbes are microorganisms like bacteria and mold that can cause diseases or fermentation. Studies have shown rooms with house plants have 50% to 60% less airborne microbes floating around. These microbes are being filtered out by the plants, creating a healthier environment with less risk of getting sick! Not to mention, if you’re allergic to things like mold as many people are, this will also be a great benefit to you.
Plants also help to increase the humidity in the air. Plants make up 10% of all humidity in the air around us, outside and inside. If your home is really dry, you have dry itchy skin, or you get dry coughs easily, you’re prone to cold and flu adding plants might help you there too. Studies show house plants decrease the occurrence of things like that by adding moisture in the air.
Also, plants are healing. A study done by the University of Kansas showed that people who had house plants also had a decrease in blood pressure, stress, anxiety, pain, healing time, sicknesses and injuries. This is for many reasons and some are mentioned above like less microbes, less harmful bacteria, less toxins and chemicals, more moisture etc. Other reasons are there is a positive correlation with nature and less stress as nature is thought to calm stress. People find peace emotionally being around plants and thus brings down their anxiety levels and blood pressure. Plants are also healing because many can be used as ointments and aids to help the human body heal. For example, Aloe is known for its healing and antioxidant agents. Holistic medical providers use plants as natural medication to fight illnesses without pumping patients full of chemicals and man-made drugs.
Lastly, plants help you be more productive! There are some people who say they can get more done in nature, nature centers them, and nature helps them stay on track. Studies have found that plants indeed help you be more productive, on task, improve memory, and help with concentration. A study done by the University of Michigan said that house plants can increase and improve your memory by 20%. Maybe we should all jazz up our offices with a few more house plants!
There are many more scientific explanations for how house plants improve our daily life and this blog is just scratching the surface at that. But if you’re looking to jazz up your home, improve your daily life, feel healthier and be healthier, investing in some house plants might be the way to go!