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Improve Your Mental & Physical Health by Simply Adding Houseplants

April 15, 2019

Houseplants near a couch

Plants are extremely important. News flash: plants are an essential part of our survival. Everything: food, building materials, medical efforts, oh and the process of taking carbon dioxide and transforming it into co2. It will come as no surprise then, recent studies show that household plants have a direct impact on our mental health & wellness.

There are a number of reasons why having household plants might improve our mental health, and an unmistakable reason is they’re nicer to smell and look at. Wallpaper and carpet have a hard time competing with living things and active colors. A recent study supports this notion in its findings that there is a direct correlation between the amount of care required to keep a plant from dying and the positive psychological effect it had in its caretaker. We learn from the research, those who have extended periods of time with plants tend to have better relationships with friends & family and therefore experience heightened levels of happiness.

best plants for your house 

Fact: Plants Help People

Additional research found that flowering houseplants provide increased levels of happiness and therefore, having flowering houseplants around the apartment home and ay work has the potential to significantly lower stress levels. Science is science. Studies have shown that people who are around more plants are almost always more likely to offer help to others, and often have more active social relationships. It makes sense, people who care for houseplants are more likely to care for others, reaching out to their peers and creating mutual bonds resulting from their mutual interests.

Plants Reduce Stress 

Natural aesthetic beauty is known to have a relaxing effect, and keeping ornamental plants around the home is a great way to lower high levels of stress and anxiety. As a result of the happiness derived from a space that has plants in it, the possibility of suffering from stress-induced depression is reduced as well. The research supports that by having plants in your home or work place, you improve your mental health by activating peace and open spaces to your brain.

Plants Help You Remember Your To-Do List

Keeping ornamental houseplants in the home and office boosts memory retention and concentration. How? Natural environments produce a calming influence which increases a person’s ability to focus on the task at hand. Going outside or being under the influence of houseplants in your house can increase memory retention close to twenty percent, a recent University of Michigan study showed (Sewach).

Convinced? Great. Here are some examples of ideas for great plants to have in your apartment:

best houseplants in apartment homes

Spider Plant

Spider plants are a very popular indoor botanicals, and your family is going to enjoy them because , spider plant. Best. name. ever. They’re very easy to maintain, and spider plants are very good at absorbing allergens or mold from the air and will work wonders in parts of the house that are prone to dampness: laundry room, downstairs, and bathrooms. Spider plants are pretty low maintenance and easy to care for, too. Give them with bright, indirect light and they will flourish. Water the houseplant well but do not overwater, which can lead to root rot. Even better, spider plants prefer to dry out partially between waterings.

Snake Plant

A study of CO2 conversion in houseplants by Harvard University found that the snake plant is one of the most oxygen-producing houseplants. In case you're interested, ficus and pothos are two other plants that made the list. One of the greatest snake plant health benefits is it can make ongoing contribution to get rid of toxic air pollutants. It can do more than absorb CO too, it can absorb benzene, formaldehyde, xylene, and toluene; all of which are cancer-causing pollutants. Snake plants are some of the easiest to care for plants out there as they can live-through weeks of neglect without losing neither shape nor healthy, vibrant look. It can thrive in environments with very low light and water. 

Notice anything with our two plants? If you have kids, we’re trying to help it easier to get them excited! Who doesn't want plants named Spider and Snake?