Why You Should Have Indoor Plants

Indoor plants look good, caring for them can make you feel better, and they come with other benefits that you might not be aware of. If you’re looking for reasons to devote your next weekend to a farmers’ market stroll in search of some indoor plants to take home, read on.

They Improve Mental Health

In the medical community, it’s a known fact that just being around plants is good for mental health. Researchers from Texas A&M University found that there are many mental and emotional benefits attached to spending time in or near green spaces, whether they’re natural or man-made. Stress reduction is perhaps the most well-known benefit and is the reason why many people get into gardening in the first place. Apart from that, caring for and being around plants can also improve your mood, reduce aggression, and even improve cognitive abilities. Some studies even show that having plants at home can mitigate symptoms of PTSD and improve cases of ADD/ADHD in children. In general, regularly tending to your own indoor garden is a viable, safe, and long-term way of supporting mental health – one without any side effects whatsoever.

They Transform Dull Spaces

Bored with how your bathroom looks? A couple Japanese hanging moss balls or kokedama, which thrives on excess moisture inside bathrooms, can provide an instant fix. Not sure what to do with that dull corner of your large living room or kitchen? Nothing spruces up large empty spaces better than a giant indoor fern. In terms of visual aesthetics, plants can match any indoor home theme, color scheme, or design philosophy. Whether you’re into minimalism, traditional decor, or even industrial-inspired designs like German Bauhaus, there are several types of indoor plants that will fit your preferred home aesthetic.

They Encourage Healthy Eating

Nothing beats the feeling of biting into a piece of fruit or eating vegetables that you grew with your own hands.

Our guide on ‘How to Grow Your Own Indoor Vegetable Garden’ can take you through the step-by-step process of creating and developing your own system for growing healthy food at home. Many leafy greens such as spinach, lettuce, and bok choy or Chinese cabbage can be grown and harvested within 30 days. This eliminates many of your personal excuses for not eating healthier. And if you get to the point where you’re growing too much of the same veggies or fruits for your own consumption, you can either give them away to friends and neighbors or use them to trade with other home gardeners for other produce.

They Lower Your Energy Costs

Plants naturally release moisture into the air and keep humidity at a healthy level indoors. SF Gate states this process is called transpiration: the way leaves release moisture into the air through evaporation. When it’s warm, this added humidity can cool the room; when it’s cold, the humidity can help the indoor air retain heat better – in general, the natural humidity afforded by indoor plants helps with indoor temperature control. Even outdoors, UK-based biomechanics professor Roland Ennos notes that cities around the world use trees to combat the ‘urban heat island’ effect – showing how plants can be useful for temperature regulation and energy reduction even on a much larger scale. If you’re a homeowner, having indoor plants can actually prevent you from overusing appliances like air-conditioning units, or heating appliances like gas boilers in the UK or electric heaters in the US, which are major factors to consider when calculating potential energy bills. This is especially vital as HomeServe underscores the importance of regular maintenance to ensure that you keep your boiler running to its optimal level. Having plants in your house can lower the temperature by up to 10 degrees in the summer when it is too humid, and thus eliminate the need for aircon units to be running full blast. They also release water vapor and oxygen, which creates humidity perfect for the winter months. When you don’t need to use these appliances all the time, it goes without saying that it helps to extend their lifecycle, even if it is by a year or so.

If you’re looking for more practical info on either outdoor or indoor plants, we have tons of resources and guides here on Gardens Nursery to help you grow and care for your own paradise at home.



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