If you’re looking for a way to keep your houseplants healthy, you can check the Home Blog. If you’re looking for houseplants that can keep YOU healthy, you’re in the right place.
Plants can brighten your home — but they have a ton of health benefits.
- Lower stress with some greens in your workspace. Even in low light or offices without windows, you can keep a dragon tree, bamboo palm, snake plant, or arrowhead vine. Studies from Washington State University have shown that exposure to plants can lower your systolic blood pressure by as much as four points. Compare it to the effect of taking half of a blood pressure pill.
- Looking to boost creativity? Keep colorful houseplants (like African violets) in your craft room. A study from Texas A&M University found that women who worked in a room decorated with live plants and colorful bouquets produced 13% more ideas than women in a room with abstract sculptures.
- Want to prevent colds and ease allergy symptoms? A leafy plant like philodendron, peace lilies, or English ivy can help. Dry air can irritate nasal passages and make you more susceptible to infection. Leafy houseplants can raise humidity in a room by up to five percent. A study from the Agricultural University of Norway found that offices with plants reported a third less coughing and a quarter less hoarseness than plant-free work places.
- Filter pollution out of your air with your favorite houseplants. Spider plants are supposed to be great at air filtering (maybe because they’re hardy enough to stand up to pollutants). Plants can filter VOCs — volatile organic compounds — out of the air and protect you from dizziness, fatigue, and nausea that can come from exposure. VOCs are present in many places (cleaning supplies, paint, new carpet, printer ink) and can lead to serious health issues. Houseplants take in toxins and break them down into harmless compounds.