Surrounding Yourself With Houseplants May Benefit Your Mental Health Journey

Decorating your indoor space with houseplants is a smart route to go if you want to get your nature fix in when outdoor space is not available. Having beautiful green plants around the home is the perfect way to add a hint of nature to your living space. Additionally, indoor gardening is seeing a surge in popularity lately. More and more people who live in a home without a backyard are enjoying the benefits that indoor gardening provides to overall well-being. Whether you just like to have a few small green plants around, or if you are all in with the whole indoor garden craze, you may be happy to hear that your plants are helping with more than just your home's décor aesthetic.

A review of 42 studies on indoor plants by the Department of Landscape Architecture at National Chin-Yi University of Technology revealed that our mental health can be improved by just being in the presence of houseplants. If you are the type that likes to embrace gardening as a mindfulness exercise, then it may not be a huge surprise to you that plants can be seriously therapeutic. Here, we explore all the ways that your houseplants are positively impacting your mental health journey.

Having indoor plants in your living space can provide a boost to your mental health in a number of ways. Tasks such as being on a computer or staring at a screen can increase blood pressure, while working in an indoor garden has a more calming effect. As reported by Healthline, being in the presence of indoor plants can help reduce stress levels by actually lowering blood pressure. Being in the same room as houseplants also helps to increase concentration and attention. So, if you are a student or work from home, having plants around your space is a great way to increase productivity.

With the general population spending more time indoors than ever, it makes sense that our mental health has started to decline. A reported 85% of a person's daily life is spent inside (via Journal of Physiological Anthropology). Couple that with the amount of time we spend looking at a screen, and it becomes clear why houseplants can benefit your mental health. Having indoor plants reduces physiological and psychological stress when we are cooped up all day. So, before you start to stress out from the lack of nature in your life, try investing in green plants to boost your mood and increase your quality of life.

We know that indoor plants will upgrade your home style, but they also create a natural area known as a green space. Why is a green space in the home important? If you live in an urban area like a busy city, you may go days without being around any vegetation. According to the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, living near nature increases our well-being in a number of ways, from improved air quality and a peaceful environment to decreased aggressive behavior in youth. 

So, how do you recreate that type of green environment in your home? Always choose houseplants that are safe for children and pets. Before you buy, visit the Poison Control website for a list of plants that can be toxic if touched or ingested. If you have allergies or asthma, also be aware of the type of plants you are bringing into your home. Be sure you research how to care for the plants you buy, because each one may require different things in order to thrive. Some plants like more sunlight than others, so you will have to read up on which ones will go well in your home. 

Indoor plants are a great investment in your home if you want to increase the air quality, boost mental health, and provide you and your guests with an aesthetically pleasing green space.