The Power Of Having a Plant In Your Place

Turning your home into an indoor nature sanctuary, or just integrating a few plants into your home, can provide more than just decorative good looks. Houseplants also have emotional, physical, and mental benefits. Pretty greenery can purify your air, improve mood and productivity, and even combat illness.

Even if you’ve never been open to it, we’ve got some compelling, low maintenance house plant recommends that’ll change your indoor habitat and improve your feels.

Suffice to say, you’ll be on your way to the nearest nursery once you read these top 5 reasons to fill your home with foliage. Power to the plants!

Photo by Joe R Harris on Unsplash

1. Plants Clean Your Air

Plants are nature’s air purifiers, given that they absorb all sorts of toxins and chemicals and turn them into not-so-scary compounds. You may remember from 7th-grade science class that plants breathe in carbon dioxide and breathe out oxygen. Plants have been found to remove up to 87% of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) from the air every 24 hours.

Some other toxins that plants absorb are formaldehyde, ammonia, benzene (found in gasoline, detergents and vehicle exhaust), and xylene (found in tobacco smoke and paint). It’s no wonder that NASA uses plants to filter their air on space stations! Facts.

If you live in a city or an area with lots of pollution, you’ll definitely want to up the greenery in your home. After all, the EPA (Environmental Protection Agency) estimates we spend up to 90% of our time indoors. Although we are big proponents of cozy time spent indoors, we don’t want your inside time to be detrimental to your health. So, read on and get your indoor plant game on!

2. Plants Keep You Healthy

We all know how it goes in the winter months when you work in an office or have a little one in school. Once the sniffles and coughs start, they can keep coming back over and over again, WHYYY? Having a healthy hoard of houseplants (in the home or office) can help you to fight off the never-ending cold and flu season.

There’s actually a term for the symptoms that people develop after working in offices: Sick Building Syndrome. Due to the toxins from building materials, indoor and outdoor pollution, potential mold contamination, and reduced air circulation, office workers can develop allergy-like symptoms, headaches, dizziness, or irritation of the eyes, nose, and throat. Research has shown that these negative building attributes can also show up in homes as well. Pop some plants in your office or home to help turn your health around.

Did you know that plants can also help people in hospitals recover more quickly? Studies have shown that patients in rooms with plants are released from the hospital sooner and have better outcomes, like reduced pain, lower blood pressure, and reduced anxiety.

3. Plants Improve Your Mental Health

We’ve talked about the power of nature in alleviating anxiety. ‘Forest bathing’ is a Japanese term that indicates immersing yourself in the forest to help with all sorts of ailments. While you may not be able to bring an entire forest into your home, houseplants can have a similar calming effect.

The presence of plants reduces our stress and anxiety and improves mood. Caring for another living thing can also give us a sense of purpose, which is great if you are dealing with loneliness or depression. The benefits seem to be even greater if you touch and interact with your plants.

Want to have a full-on conversation with your green friends? No judgment here—it may even help them grow! (The research is still pretty inconclusive on that one, but hey, it can’t hurt, right?) 

4. Plants Boost Your Productivity

Having houseplants in view while you’re working can help to boost your productivity and creativity. The reason? Most likely a combination of cleaner air to breathe, increased happiness, and the calm feelings that plants procure.

Studies have shown that plants in your office space can improve productivity by 15%. Students see similar benefits when plants are living in their classrooms.

5. Plants Help You Get A Better Night’s Sleep

This is one we get especially excited about. As a company that often obsesses about sleep, we're the first ones to spread the word that the benefits of a good night’s sleep are undisputed. The residual feelings of not-so-good rest can leave you dragging for days.

As a weighted blanket company, we're focused on helping people get better, deeper sleep, naturally. Our handmade, chunky-knit weighted blanket, The Napper, is designed to cocoon you and apply evenly-distributed weight across your body. The magical (but science-based) effect? Improved sleep cycles, lower stress, and increase happiness. 

Besides investing in a weighted blanket to help improve your sleep cycles and sleep quality, consider placing a plant or two in the bedroom to help maximize your time spent snoozing. Again, an improvement in air quality is a top reason for this benefit. When plants absorb the toxins in the air, we have more pure air to breathe in.

Aloe vera is one of the best plants for the bedroom, as it releases more oxygen into the air than others. Other good nighttime companions are lavender or jasmine plants, as they can provide a double benefit with the calming and relaxing scents they emit to help you drift off.

Photo by Benjamin Combs on Unsplash

No Green Thumb? These Are Your Best Bets

If you’re one of those people who just can’t seem to keep anything alive, try these houseplants that are easy to maintain. They pretty much grow themselves! The key is to mostly leave them alone; they thrive on mild neglect. Just don’t put them directly into the sunshine and don’t overwater them!

• Snake plant: Also called ‘mother in law’s tongue’ (LOL), this spiky plant doesn’t like to be watered much - in the winter, once per month is sufficient!
• Asparagus fern: This fluffy guy adapts to whatever type of light you throw at it! We admire its flexibility.
• Aloe vera: A good soak every week or two is all that this hardy succulent needs.
• English ivy: All you have to do is keep the soil moist and soon you’ll have pretty leaves trailing down your walls.
• Rubber tree: Prepare yourself for an 8-foot tall plant when you let the soil completely dry out between each watering.