Health Benefits of Having Plants in Your Home

By Vivian van Hasselt

Do you have plants in your home? You might have started bringing plants into your home for decoration or have taken up caring for plants as a new hobby. Plants have numerous benefits ranging from mood improvement, reducing stress and anxiety, and aiding health concerns like allergies. Let’s grow your collection, for having plants in your home is not just for aesthetics. Continue reading to discover the many health benefits that plants offer.

Health Benefits

Better Air Quality and Healing Properties

Having plants indoors can contribute to the better air quality inside your home. Plants cleanse the air by absorbing some of the toxins that are unknowingly floating around inside your house. By absorbing these toxins, the plants are now providing better air quality making it easier to breathe and resulting in better respiratory health. Plants can also increase the humidity in your home by releasing water vapor. This is extremely beneficial especially during the winter and dryer months of the year as the heating systems in our homes cause drying effects. The biggest drying effect heating systems have is on our skin. Heating systems dry out our skin, causing our skin health to decline as it’s not getting the moisture and hydration necessary. Therefore,  incorporating plants for medicinal purposes into your day to day can help you fight against dryness. For instance, aloe vera has numerous skin care benefits, such as fading dark spots and clearing up acne. In combination with some skin care products, such as a good moisturizer, these plants can help amplify the benefits.

Another reason why you should have plants in your home is so you can avoid sick building syndrome (SBS). Due to poor ventilation, dust, and not enough lighting people can develop health concerns and become sick after being inside too long. Bringing in indoor plants can help with air purification. Doing this will help you to avoid SBS and also bring in the outdoors inside. It’s still important to get outside and enjoy the environment we live in.

Increased Focus and Productivity

With more people working from home these days, it’s important to have an office or workspace where you can have total concentration on the task at hand for optimized productivity. Surprisingly, a big portion of your ability to focus and your productivity level in your workspace relies heavily on the way it is decorated. The ideal workspace includes decorations that promote concentration and motivation. For example, framed posters with encouraging statements, a timer, or plants. When plants go through photosynthesis they increase oxygenation. Increased oxygenation helps to improve focus, mood, and work performance. By bringing in a plant to your workspace you are able to have a connection to nature inside your home. Having this connection to nature will contribute to increased problem solving, along with sparked creativity.

Increased Focus and Productivity

With more people working from home these days, it’s important to have an office or workspace where you can have total concentration on the task at hand for optimized productivity. Surprisingly, a big portion of your ability to focus and your productivity level in your workspace relies heavily on the way it is decorated. The ideal workspace includes decorations that promote concentration and motivation. For example, framed posters with encouraging statements, a timer, or plants. When plants go through photosynthesis they increase oxygenation. Increased oxygenation helps to improve focus, mood, and work performance. By bringing in a plant to your workspace you are able to have a connection to nature inside your home. Having this connection to nature will contribute to increased problem solving, along with sparked creativity.

Better Sleep

Another health benefit of having plants in your home is the potential of getting better sleep. Some plants cause a relaxing and soothing effect, making it easier to fall asleep. A good example of that is lavender. In addition to lavender, some plants can reduce the time it takes you to fall asleep. If you struggle with waking up in the night or being restless there are also plants that can help you stay asleep. If you pair another sleep aid like a weighted blanket with some indoor plants in your bedroom, you could take a step towards getting the best sleep of your life.