House plants are a great way to brighten up your indoor living space, but did you know that they can be great for your health as well?

Here are the top five ways house plants can improve your health.

1.House plants help you breathe better.  Because of photosynthesis, plants breathe in carbon dioxide and breathe out oxygen. This makes them great to have around the house to suck up and replace your exhaled carbon dioxide.

2.House plants help humidify the air in your home.  House plants can add some humidity to your home because of a process called transpiration.  This process essentially allows the plant to breathe, and consequently causes water to be released onto the leaves, and ultimately, into the air.

3.House plants can remove toxins from the air  According to the consumer product safety commission, “There are many sources of indoor air pollution in any home. These include combustion sources such as oil, gas, kerosene, coal, wood, and tobacco products; building materials and furnishings as diverse as deteriorated, asbestos-containing insulation, wet or damp carpet, and cabinetry or furniture made of certain pressed wood products; products for household cleaning and maintenance, personal care, or hobbies; central heating and cooling systems and humidification devices; and outdoor sources such as radon, pesticides, and outdoor air pollution.”  

When plants breathe in carbon dioxide they take in other particles in the air with it. This allows the plant to transform those particles and pollutants into oxygen.

4.House plants can help with stress.  Not only does spending time in nature help with stress,  but it has also been found that bringing nature indoors can help lower daily stress levels.

5.House plants can help you focus.   Most work and study these days requires looking at a screen for several hours. This can cause fatigue for your attention span because the screen remains, more or less, the same; visually. In a study published by the journal of environmental psychology,it was found that house plants give the eye something different, and nuanced enough, to allow the brain to relax and get focused on the task at hand.

What are some of the best house plants for health?

Bamboo palm – great for air purification, and humidity

Rubber plant – great for removing formaldehyde from the air, and harder to kill than many other plants

Aloe Vera – best for increasing oxygen in a room, and easy to take care of

English ivy – removes benzene and formaldehyde from the air, and known for climbing all over whatever surface it is on

https://wellnessmama.com/140122/best-houseplants/ http://www.sustainablebabysteps.com/types-of-houseplants.html