Benefits of Houseplants in Your Home
Many people love to keep plants in their homes, whether it’s in a sunroom, enclosed patio, office, or kitchen. It could be fresh flowers, picked, cut, and arranged as the centerpiece of a great dining experience. Or, it could be a beautiful living room statement that offers a variety of benefits to air quality and natural health.
Digging deeper, what are those benefits? Why keep a plant inside, over leaving it to grow outdoors? What are the benefits of growing houseplants in your home?
The Benefits of Houseplants
The benefits of owning even just one low-maintenance houseplant are enormous. Not only do they make your home attractive and colorful, but they also have a tremendous impact on your physical and mental health.
A plant, believe it or not, can improve the air quality inside your home, lower background noise, and even reduce stress. Plus, there are inherent benefits that come from caring for a plant and the success and achievements that experience fosters.
Here are three benefits of having houseplants in your home.
1. Improved Air Quality
Of course, we all know from basic science classes that through photosynthesis plants create oxygen, but that also means they can act as air purifiers for your home.
Houseplants are one of the best all natural methods of filtering the air and purifying your home of toxins. They can reduce harmful carbon dioxide levels trapped inside the walls and doors of your home.
Naturally, we breathe out carbon dioxide, which builds up extremely slowly, but the real danger comes from gas deposits and access points throughout your home. Like dangerous radon, carbon dioxide can build up inside. Since plants absorb carbon dioxide to produce oxygen, they can act as a deterrent.
More importantly, plants reduce pollutants found in the air, like benzene, formaldehyde, and nitrogen dioxide. Plants can remove 87% of the air toxins trapped inside a home within just 24 hours. NASA even began studying this effect, optimizing it to find the best plants you can keep indoors.
2. Lower Background Noises
While not well known, plants naturally act as a dampener for loud noises and ambient sound. That’s why many times, you see a living or green wall designed to separate a yard or private space from the outside world, such as a busy road on the other side.
Not only do they look nice, but individual plants are known to absorb, diffract, or reflect background noises and high frequencies. The result is a more comfortable home environment, especially if it seems like your walls are paper-thin.
3. Reduced Stress Levels and Improved Mental Health
A study conducted by the Journal of Physiological Anthropology found being surrounded by plants can help reduce stress levels and increase productivity and concentration by 15%.
Directly related is the fact that many people recover from debilitating mental illness faster when they’re in the presence of plants.
Experts aren't sure exactly why this is, but there are many arguments, statistics, and theories to support the idea. Plants, for example, can regulate humidity in the environment and even contribute to lower blood pressure levels.
Caring for Your House Plants
The trick to being a flourishing plant owner is caring for them in a way that they’re able to thrive. This can be tough, especially if you don’t have a green thumb. Most people don’t realize this problem can be solved by choosing the appropriate type of plant, whether they’re indoors or outside.
There are many kinds of houseplants, so finding one that suits you and your lifestyle is crucial. If you’re out and about often, or quite forgetful, you don’t want to keep a plant that requires lots of attention.
Low-maintenance houseplants include the snake plant, succulents, white bird of paradise, peace lily, and much more.
You can read all about the types of plants that exist in this infographic from Woodie himself, as well as find essential tips for caring for them properly. If you’re striving to adopt a healthier, cleaner lifestyle, houseplants can help you achieve that.
Beneficial Houseplants for your Home
Snake Plants: These are an ideal plant for indoor homes and offices because it is a superb air purifier. NASA studies have consistently shown the plant to remove toxins such as formaldehyde, xylene, toluene, and nitrogen oxides. Of all the well-known oxygen-producing plants, Snake plants are unique since it converts a lot of CO2 (carbon dioxide) to O2 (oxygen) at night, making them ideal plants to have in your bedroom.
Birds of Paradise: This exotic flower can make you feel happy with its vibrant color and tropical feel. The large green leaves are good for air circulation and purification due to their size.
Peace Lily or Spathiphyllum: With dark green leaves and graceful, pure white flowers on tall stems that rise above the foliage. The peace lily fits in well in just about every style of decor, including formal designs. Because the Peace Lily is one of the best indoor house plants for filtering indoor pollutants from the air, it's a great pick for Homes and Offices.
Rubber Tree or Ficus elastica: An easy-care houseplant that also improve indoor air quality, according to studies conducted by NASA. Their large colorful leaves can absorb airborne chemicals and break them down, rendering them harmless. They absorb carbon dioxide exhaled by people and convert it to breathable oxygen.
Spider Plants: They are among the easiest of all houseplants to grow. A graceful arching plant that blends easily into any décor. Its lovely arching flower stems produce "baby Spider" like plantlets and are best grown as a hanging plant. The Spider Plant is also known as an excellent air-purifying plant.
Ponytail Palm: A pet-friendly plant (it’s ASPCA-approved as non-toxic for animals) that can go for as long as two to three weeks without water as it stores water in its trunk. It's listed as one of Nasa's best Clean Air Plants.
Fiddle Leaf Fig or Ficus lyrata: A very appealing plant that is casual enough for any décor. Due to its broad leaves, it is extremely efficient at purifying indoor air and is highly rated by Nasa for indoor and office use.