The Art Of Green Living: 12 Hidden Health Perks Of Filling Your Home With Plants
Make your home more green.
Lovely little plants can sometimes brighten up your whole world, especially when you live inside most of the time right now. Sometimes you just need a little beauty to brighten up your day, with a nice bouquet or to gift someone with flowers to make them feel a bit better.
Plants can bring you peace, intelligence, and comfort when you need it the most. When you have really bad anxiety, depression, or any other emotional disorders, plants can create a sense of calm for you.
Lots of places have started implementing plants that have health benefits in their offices. Some places have rooms just dedicated to creating a sense of calm in like a plant jungle, so people can go and sit in the room when they are overwhelmed or full of anxiety.
Everyone needs a break every now and again. Being in one of these rooms that are full of natural oxygen helps you feel better as a whole. Even ingesting herbs like mint and basil will help you with digestive issues, and it will help you calm down. Lavender and aloe are great plants to keep when you need something for stress relief, and then for first aid with aloe.
So, plants have multitudes of benefits; you just have to find the one that's right for your situation. But with the thousands of species of plants out there, you have so many choices. And always look at your old wives' tales about plants, because they could point you in a great direction for relief from your ailments.
Below is a list of plants, their uses, and the many benefits of growing plants in and around your home. You may find some relief with these plants, but if you are suffering, always talk with your doctor to find a more permanent form of managing your illnesses.
Here are 12 hidden health perks of filling your home with plants:
1. Plants can provide allergy relieving benefits
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When you have houseplants, you may notice that you have less dust — this is because houseplants are natural filters that can catch allergens and anything in the air and help filter it out for fresher, cleaner air. Some great houseplants that are known to have allergy-relieving benefits are Chinese evergreens or peace lilies.
However, violets and other plants that have textured leaves may be better at filtering out any airborne particles. Palm trees like Areca Palm, the lady palm, and bamboo palm are also commonly used in homes to help reduce allergens floating around in the air. But watch out for any plants that produce pollen, because pollen can actually make allergies worse.
2. Plants can boost your mood
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When you have flowers in the room, they automatically make you feel better. They brighten up the room, and they can make you worry less. Having a fresh bouquet will help you have a better outlook on life — this is why flowers are commonly gifted for special occasions. According to Manic Botanic, the tradition of giving flowers as a gift is to connect and convey emotion, and there are theories out there that certain flowers mean different things.
Try growing a lipstick plant in your own home — it is always blooming, so you'll get the benefits of seeing flowers nearly year-round. Research from Rutgers University found that receiving flowers triggers immediate happiness and produces long-term positive effects on mood, with participants reporting feeling less depressed, anxious, and agitated after being around flowers.
3. Plants are good for your skin
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Something great about houseplants, or particularly spider plants, is that they are known to boost the humidity in a room. These are great to have during the winter when the humidity is low because you have the heater on.
When the room is dry, you have greater chances of catching the flu or a cold, not to mention that dryness also transfers to your skin, making you itch more. These spider plants are known to increase the humidity in a room by up to 10%, which is a lot more comfortable for us to breathe and helps us keep our skin soft and supple.
4. Air purifying plants for your home help keep your home clean
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As we well know, everything around us puts off pollutants into the air. These pollutants can build up and start to irritate our lungs, eyes, and skin. People with conditions like asthma are particularly sensitive to those things floating around in the air. That's why houseplants like English ivy, dragon trees, and asparagus ferns are great air purifiers to have in every room in your house.
The original NASA study that fed this myth was conducted in sealed laboratory chambers, not real-world living spaces. However, more recent studies have shown that indoor spaces are larger, have persistent emissions of volatile organic compounds, and higher air exchange rates than sealed chambers.
5. Growing certain plants like herbs can help with digestion issues
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You can grow herbs like mint, basil, peppermint, and spearmint right in your kitchen so that you can have them to use in your cooking — particularly when you are suffering from digestive problems.
All of these herbs can be steeped in hot water and you can drink them for specific purposes. Like mint — which can help reduce bloating, gas, and any other unsavory problems you may have after you eat. Basil is also a great herb that's easy to grow and it can help your stomach calm down if you're suffering from something like acid reflux.
6. Anti-anxiety plants can promote rest and relaxation
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Lavender is the perfect plant for you to have in your house to relax. It's a great herbal medicine that you can use as massage oil and aromatherapy. Also, you can steep lavender leaves to make tea. Lavender is a perfect natural herb for you to help you calm down and lower your anxiety.
Lavender inhalation can significantly reduce anxiety levels, with studies involving over 1,600 participants demonstrating meaningful improvements in both state and trait anxiety. The secret lies in lavender's key compounds which work through the olfactory system to activate calming receptors in the brain without impairing movement or causing the side effects associated with traditional anti-anxiety medications.
7. Common plants are used for natural first-aid remedies
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Aloe vera plants are great to have in the house for home-made first aid remedies. Aloe is commonly used for treating sunburns or any other type of minor burn you may have. It can also soothe psoriasis and other skin conditions that you may suffer from. And a fun fact, aloe can help you go to the bathroom if you are constipated, and it is often served as a drink you can buy at the grocery store.
8. Plants help you sleep better
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Plants naturally remove carbon dioxide from the air and produce oxygen, so when you have plants in the bedroom, it increases the amount of oxygen in your room. A 2015 study found that indoor plants have both physical and cognitive relaxing effects, which can help you transition into a more restful state.
Thus, when you have more oxygen in your room, you may sleep more soundly at night. Gerbera daisies are perfect, happy plants to liven up your room and to help you sleep, and lavender is commonly used in oil diffusers and pillow sprays to help you calm down before bed.
9. Plants help reduce your stress levels
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When you are around plants, they have a calming presence. Adding a heart-leaf philodendron or a snake plant to your house will help you relax. It's been shown that people who have these types of plants in their homes have lower blood pressure, heart rate, and stress hormone levels than people who did not.
Interacting with indoor plants can reduce physiological and psychological stress by suppressing sympathetic nervous system activity and lowering diastolic blood pressure, research has found. This stress-reducing effect works through multiple senses, from the visual impact of greenery to the tactile experience of caring for your plants.
10. Having plants in your home can help you focus
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Plants can help you concentrate more easily and also strengthen your memory. It's been found that plants can actually make you smarter — or at least help you remember by boosting your attention span — and that people who learn in a room with plants perform better. So, put a bamboo palm or a golden pothos in your house, and you may find that you can focus a little better.
A study conducted at Exeter University found that indoor plants can improve concentration, productivity and well-being by 47%, and boost memory by up to 20%. Viewing real plants reduced theta waves, which indicate a lack of concentration, helping students improve attention and feel more comfortable.
11. Plants promote healing
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When you are surrounded by flowers when you are sick or hurt, you may find that you may heal faster, and research shows that you may actually tolerate pain better when you are surrounded by flowers. So, if you know someone sick or yourself, get some peace lilies or an orchid so that you can feel better.
Surgical patients who had plants in their hospital rooms experienced lower ratings of pain, anxiety, and fatigue compared to patients without plants, one study concluded. These patients also required less pain medication and had lower systolic blood pressure during recovery
12. Gardening enhances your mental and emotional health
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It is believed that gardening is an effective tool to help people suffering from mental or emotional health issues. People who suffer from depression, psychiatric conditions, schizophrenia, and anxiety can find relief when they maintain a garden.
Gardening helps people improve their attention span and lessen depressive tendencies. Also, gardening therapy can be helpful for people who are recovering from traumatic experiences or those who have long-term issues, such as dementia.
Emily Francos is a writer and book editor for The Urban Writers. She received a Bachelor of Arts in English Literature and French. Her work has been featured on YourTango, Unwritten, and MSN, where she's written about pop culture, relationships, astrology, and trending entertainment and news.
