The 5 Reasons You Need Indoor Plants
Life in 2020 has redefined the day-to-day for most people, more than 85% of a person’s daily life is spent indoors.³ We take all meals inside, we have discovered a variety of at-home workout plans, and we spend more time staring at a screen. Increased technology use and decreased outdoor interaction have created technostress, a mental drain resulting from prolonged tech usage.
The lack of access to outdoor exercise and physical activity can also have mental health impacts, which can compound stress or anxiety that many will experience in the face of isolation from normal social life.¹
But don’t worry, technology isn’t all bad. Science has offered a solution and the internet has listened. Plants for 2-day delivery!
And here is a list detailing why you need an indoor jungle²:
1. Plants Make People Happy
Interacting with indoor plants can reduce physiological and psychological stress compared with mental work. Basically, being near indoor potted plants helps us to de-stress and restock our stores of mental processing power after we’ve depleted them doing knowledge work.³ Talk about flower power!
2. Plants Purify the Air
Plants use photosynthesis, a system that allows them to remove high concentrations of indoor air pollutants such as cigarette smoke and other organic solvents.⁴ They trap toxic compounds in their root tissues and release them as harmless byproducts, like the much needed O₂. That’s better than a fair trade, free clean oxygen for the occasional watering.
3. Plants Help You Snooze
Just like people, there are early birds and night owls. When a plant captures light energy it’s using photosynthesis. Adversely, those night-owl plants use a process called CAM, crassulacean acid metabolism. This process doesn’t use moonlight, but instead uses the gases stored during the day to run systems at night. CAM plants increase the oxygen levels throughout the night, which improves the air quality and helps you get a better night’s sleep by potentially reducing sleep apnea and snoring.⁵
4. Plants Restore Brain Power
Studies suggest that minimalist offices produce miserable employees because ‘sometimes less is just less’. It turns out, those bare white walls and bright fluorescent lights aren’t doing anyone favors, people need color to feel motivated. Employees who actively engage with their surroundings, like tending to or admiring indoor plants, are 15% more productive than workers in minimalist settings.⁶
5. Plants Help Prevent the Common Cold
And I’m not talking about taking your vitamins. Plant roots and their associated microorganisms can destroy the pathogenic viruses, bacteria, and organic chemicals, eventually converting all of these air pollutants into new plant tissue and producing O₂.⁴ By minimalising your exposure to those nasty germs, your plants are helping your immune system stay strong.
The global community has adapted rapidly by creating online content tailored to different plant aesthetics. There are resources for indoor victory gardens, hydroponic gardens, and plant selections by color! Whatever your aesthetica botanica might be, the internet has it all. Be sure to join online communities for advice and plant swaps and check out these plant delivery sites!
The UN DESA. “The Impact of COVID-19 on Sport, Physical Activity and Well-Being and Its Effects on Social Development | DISD.” United Nations, United Nations, 15 May 2020, www.un.org/development/desa/dspd/2020/05/covid-19-sport/. ¹
Vellnor, Tom. “5 Reasons You Need More Houseplants, According To Science.” BuzzFeed, BuzzFeed, 7 June 2020, www.buzzfeed.com/tomvellner/indoor-plant-benefits. ²
Lee, Min-Sun, et al. “Interaction with Indoor Plants May Reduce Psychological and Physiological Stress by Suppressing Autonomic Nervous System Activity in Young Adults: a Randomized Crossover Study.” Journal of Physiological Anthropology, BioMed Central, 28 Apr. 2015, www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4419447/.³
Wolverton, B.C., et al. “NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS).” NASA, NASA, 15 Sept. 1989, ntrs.nasa.gov/citations/19930073077.⁴
Heather Kropp, Angela Halasey. (2014, August 02). CAM Plants. ASU — Ask A Biologist. Retrieved September 27, 2020 from https://askabiologist.asu.edu/cam-plants⁵
Malik, Shiv. “Plants in Offices Increase Happiness and Productivity.” The Guardian, Guardian News and Media, 31 Aug. 2014, www.theguardian.com/money/2014/aug/31/plants-offices-workers-productive-minimalist-employees.⁶
