
Nothing adds more beauty and comfort to our homes and offices than the lush flowers and foliage of indoor plants. There really isn’t a space a houseplant can’t enliven. Just add light and water, and you’ve got a growing indoor oasis.
Multiple studies have proven that indoor plants keep you healthier and happier, offering both psychological and physical health benefits that include:
- Improving your mood
- Reducing fatigue
- Lowering stress and anxiety
- Improving office performance and focus
- Boosting healing and pain tolerance
- Minimizing the occurrence of headaches by improving air quality
- Easing dry skin and respiratory ailments due to dry air
Many houseplants absorb toxic substances such as formaldehyde, benzene and trichloroethylene, found in man-made materials that are known to “off-gas” pollutants into the air in your home, school, and office. In addition, a study done at Virginia Tech led researchers to conclude that houseplants can reduce indoor dust by up to 20%. In effect, houseplants are efficient air cleaners.
Indoor plants improve air quality in other ways as well. Plants release water vapor into the air, which increases humidity, and this can help improve respiratory and skin health by offsetting the drying effects of heating systems. This can be an incredible benefit to those with respiratory issues, headaches, and allergies.
Plants also increase oxygen levels in the air by absorbing carbon dioxide and releasing oxygen during photosynthesis. According to a Seattle Times article, you can maximize your benefits by placing plants “in your ‘breathing zone,’ within 6 to 8 square feet of where you normally sit or lie.”
A positive effect of this increased oxygenation can be to improve our mood, energy, and mental focus. In fact, studies have found that when people were allowed to have indoor plants in their office space, their work performance improved! No wonder so many new tech offices are including indoor spaces reminiscent of forests and tropical oases. Not only are they beautiful, they also help people feel better and work better.
By Aimee Damman
Agate Insurance
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