The benefits of indoor plants

Indoor plants are a great addition to any space, whether it be your home or work environment. Millennials across the globe are transforming their bedrooms into plant sanctuaries, and there’s no wonder why. Beyond their interior landscaping and aesthetic, they come with a bunch of benefits, from boosting our mood and reducing stress, to improving air quality. So plants don’t just look nice, but keep us sane, too.

Here’s a few reasons why you should head to your nearest plant nursery this weekend.

Plants make us happy

Going for walks through nature and being close to greenery is generally known to make us feel more relaxed and calm. So it’s no surprise that being surrounded by plants in our interior spaces help to make us feel less stressed and create an overall sense of well-being.

With many young people choosing to live as close to the CBD as possible and trying to juggle work, social life, study, exercise and well, just being an adult and stuff, we’re becoming more and more inclined to bring nature to us; as we don’t often have the luxury to immerse ourselves in the real thing. Simply being surrounded by these green things has huge mental health benefits. 

Studies have shown that they can make us more focused and productive at work. One study showed that being surrounded by plants in hospital rooms had an overall positive outcome for patients recovering from surgery, with participants feeling physical benefits as well as therapeutic ones. Okay, does anyone else want to go home and hug their plant right now?

They help us breathe

Plants are pretty good at absorbing toxins and releasing oxygen into the air. Back in 1989, NASA conducted a Clean Air Study which found a bunch of regular houseplants can filter toxins and pollutants from the air to ensure air quality in your home or office space is clean and healthy. Pretty cool, right?

Among those are the spider plant and peace lily; the latter of which showed to clean the air of trichloroethylene, xylene, ammonia, formaldehyde and benzene; all volatile organic compounds found in our homes from everyday items. So it’s pretty clear that plants come with a fair amount of physical benefits as well, which in turn keeps our brain happy.

They’re integral to interior design

With all mental and physical health benefits aside, plants look pretty cool, too. Spaces that look bare are instantly refreshed with the addition of a rubber plant, fiddle leaf fig or monstera. Websites like Pinterest and Instagram have let our imaginations run wild with possibilities, all the way down to the type of pot or basket to sit it in.

You’ll find almost all real estate styling companies are adding indoor plants into their interior design, and there’s no wonder why. They add beauty, colour, life and energy to a room, all the way down to softening hard edges of furniture and filling out hallways and bare walls.

Is there anything that plants can’t do? I don’t know about you, but I’m definitely adding plant shopping to my to-do list this weekend.