Health Benefits of Indoor Plants
Horticulture is a great hobby in itself, but did you know it is an excellent hobby for your health? Read on and we’ll tell you (with scientific references) the health benefits of indoor plants!
Improve Your Air Quality
This NASA study has been referenced many times, but for good reason! They found that low light houseplants do an excellent job removing toxins such as benzene, TCE, and formaldehyde from the air. Some noteably hard working plants from their list: Peace Lily, Sansevieria Laurentii, Musa Banana, and Philodendron Selloum!
Reduce Anxiety and Stress Levels
While its no secret that working with plants improves stress and anxiety, it’s always great to see proof. This 2015 study concluded “that active interaction with indoor plants can reduce physiological and psychological stress compared with mental work”. So if you’re feeling stressed out or anxious, go tend to your plant babies… or buy them another plant friend.
Sharpen Your Attention and Improve Productivity
A study was conducted where individuals were placed either in an office with four indoor plants or a similar office with no plants. It was found that people placed in an office with plants improved their performance versus those in a plant free office. Plants helped to prevent attention fatigue during taxing work.
A similar study looked at productivity in a college computer lab with no windows. It was concluded that when plants were in the lab participants had a 12% quicker reaction time to their computer tasks AND were less stressed, where their systolic blood pressure read one to four units lower. Bonus, these same participants also reported feeling more attentive after completing the task!
Plants Support Healthy Recoveries
Seong-Hyun Park and Richard H. Mattson conducted a study in 2008 looking at a hospital patients health and whether having plants around helps. This is a great summary of what they found:
“Patients with plants in their rooms had significantly fewer intakes of pain medication, more positive physiological responses (lower blood pressure and heart rate), less pain, anxiety, and fatigue, and better overall positive and higher satisfaction with their recovery rooms than their counterparts in the control group without plants in their rooms.”
So next time you’re visiting someone in the hospital, bring a plant!
Keep the Elderly Fulfilled
Give your grandparent a sense of purpose with plants! In a 2008 study, it was found that working with plants improved the mind-body connection. This led to higher mastery and self rated happiness scores which are reliable predictors of future health.
