Are you looking for a way to spruce up your home and make it more livable? Read here to learn 7 reasons you shouldn’t overlook the importance of plants in your home.

Plants. They grow our food, help build our homes, and make the world a far more colorful place. That isn’t all, though, and in fact, plants can benefit humanity and other creatures in far more ways.

The importance of plants doesn’t stop there. Studies have shown numerous positive effects of having plants in your home, office, or any other place you happen to spend a lot of time. So, what are these benefits, and how many plants do you need to take advantage of them?

We’re glad you asked.

More Oxygen

It’s basic biology that plants breathe by taking in carbon dioxide and releasing oxygen, but there’s actually more to it than that. It turns out that this process actually reverses in most plants at night.

On the bright side, some plants, such as orchids, go through the opposite process. Taking in oxygen during the day, then go through more typical respiration at night.

Either way, making room for more plants in your home has to be good for your breathing. Some have argued that you would need a lot of plants for this to work.

Air Purity

Another benefit that plants have been shown to have is the ability to clean toxins out of the air. In experiments conducted by NASA, plants were found to clean nearly 90% of the toxins in an enclosed space in only a day.

You may have to take this with a grain of salt because it seems like NASA used a huge amount of plants in this study. Granted, they also probably had a much bigger space than most rooms, so the effect may be notable after all.

There are plenty of plants in particular that are known for helping to clean the air. For instance, you might want to buy bamboo palm online, since it’s been known to purify air pretty well.

The Importance of Plants in Your Health

Plants can’t just prevent you from getting sick but can help you recover from it too. Studies have shown that hospital patients who had access to plants, such as in a hospital garden, experienced less pain, are generally calmer and more energized, and ultimately had a shorter hospital stay.

Two more studies conducted in the Netherlands and Norway found that health increased significantly in offices with plants, leading to fewer coughs, colds, aches, pains, and other common ailments.

Noise Cancellation

Many people are bothered by excessive noise, and, honestly, why wouldn’t they be? Who can concentrate with all that racket?

It turns out that plants, leafy green plants in particular, do an excellent job of canceling out excess noise. Be aware that this may take a lot of plants to significantly reduce noise.

Improved Focus

Plants, somehow, seem to keep us on our feet, ready for anything. In yet another study, this time in England, it was found that students were 70% better at concentrating in classrooms containing plants.

There was also higher attendance for lectures if the lecture hall had a plant in it. Overall, plants seem to make us better learners, increasing our memory, creativity, productivity and work quality.

For those not quite ready to commit to a plant, have allergies, or just don’t want one for some reason, there is other good news. Apparently, having a picture of plants can have the same benefits. Try changing your screensaver and see if things tend to go more smoothly at the office.

Mental Health Benefits

In addition to physical health benefits, plants can also do great things for our mental and emotional health. Those same studies on increased health due to plants place a lot of the cause at the feet of psychological factors.

It has been shown that, when exposed to plants, people are happier, calmer, feel better emotionally and have a more positive outlook on life.

In fact, plants have even been used to treat certain mental conditions, such as dementia, anxiety, depression, and schizophrenia. This is a practice known as horticulture therapy. In addition to helping to treat these issues, taking care of plants can also reduce your risk for them.

That being said, Horticulture therapy is no replacement for medications or counseling.

Ultimately, it should be used to supplement other forms of treatment, not replace them.

Beauty

Now, we come to the most well-known benefit of all, and probably the reason people have been growing flowers for thousands of years. Flowers are nice to look at, and can really enhance the appeal of a room.

Flowers can enhance our memories of particular events, which, in addition to their bright colors and lovely smells, may be the reason why they’re a romantic staple. We give flowers at special events because we tend to remember things better when flowers are involved.

This probably has to do with a flower’s scent. One of the strongest memory triggers that human beings have is their sense of smell. Maybe you can smell waffles and instantly think of home on a summer morning. Maybe the scent of dry leaves and fresh air reminds you of a campground you used to visit.

Plants can even be used to cover up ugly things in a room, such as a cracked window, an unsightly paint splotch on the wall, and even that old stain on the carpet whose origin nobody can quite remember anymore.

Planting an Idea

It turns out that the importance of plants is substantial. They have plenty of benefits for us humans, and probably for other animals, too. These benefits range across the whole spectrum, from physical, to emotional, mental and even social, to an extent.

Plants filter our air and add more oxygen. Plants help us stay healthy, happy, and generally well-adjusted.

Plants control the noise and help us to stay on task. Plus, they’re just nice to look at, flowers in particular, and we tend to have improved memories when we see them.

If you want to know more about nature, or even just want life advice, feel free to visit our website. For those fond of the outdoors, may we suggest vacationing in an RV. Maybe you want to do something more formal, but in a natural setting, like a wedding, for instance.

We can help with that, too, so why not have a look?