BENFITS OF INDOOR PLANTS

1). INDOOR PLANTS REDUCES YOUR STRESS LEVEL

A studyTrusted Source published in the Journal of Physiological Anthropology found that plants in your home or office can make you feel more comfortable, soothed, and natural.

In the study, participants were given two different tasks: repotting a houseplant or completing a short computer-based task. After each task, researchers measured the biological factors associated with stress, including heart rate and blood pressure.

They found that the indoor gardening task lowered the stress response in participants. The computer task, on the other hand, caused a spike in heart rate and blood pressure, even though the study participants were young men well-accustomed to computerized work.

Researchers concluded that working with plants could reduce both physiological and psychological stress.

2). LIVE PLANTS SHARPEN YOUR POWER OF ATTENTION

Sorry, plastic plants won’t help you pass your exams. In a small study involving 23 participants, researchers put students in a classroom with either a fake plant, a real one, a photograph of a plant, or no plant at all.

Brain scans of the participants showed that the students who studied with real, live plants in the classroom were more attentive and better able to concentrate than students in the other groups.

3. PLAYING AROUND PLANTS ARE THERAPEUTIC

For people experiencing the symptoms of mental illness, indoor gardening can be helpful.

ResearchersTrusted Source have used horticultural therapy to increase feelings of well-being among people with depression, anxiety, dementia, and other conditions.

Although horticultural therapy has been around for centuries, it has found a modern expression: Medical clinics in Manchester, England are now “prescribing” potted plants to patients with depression or anxiety symptoms.

4). PLANTS BOOST YOUR PRODUCTIVITY

A bromeliad may turn out to be the best cubicle-mate you’ve ever had.

Multiple studies have found that plants in the workspace increase both productivity and creativity. One frequently cited study from 1996 found that students in a campus computer lab worked 12 percent faster and were less stressed when plants were placed nearby.

In a 2004 studyTrusted Source, researchers challenged people to make creative word associations. They performed better when a plant was in the room with them.

And a 2007 study showed that people with more plants in their workspace took fewer sick days and were more productive on the job.

5). INDOOR AIR QUALITY

Scientific support for phytoremediation — that’s the word for plants scrubbing contaminants from the air — usually begins with a NASA study conducted in the 1980s.

Researchers then were looking for ways to improve the air quality in a sealed spacecraft, and they concluded that the roots and soil of houseplants reduced airborne volatile organic compounds (VOCs) significantly.

Since those early studies, researchers have both confirmed those findings and called them into question Trusted Source.

Recent findings suggest that you’d have to shelter a large number of plants to equal the air purifying efficiency of modern biofilters and other technologies.

If you do decide to purchase houseplants to freshen the air naturally, these are several of the species shown Trusted Source to be most effective: arecapalm, bamboo, Boston fern, rubber tree, spider plant, ficus tree, sansevieria, etc.