Here’s How House Plants Can Improve Your Mental Health

A nature hike or even a walk in the park can have a positive effect on your mood. Flowers, plants and trees seem to elevate your spirits and make you feel better. However, you don’t have to go outside to enjoy that feeling. House plants offer a way to Invite Mother Nature into your home to help create calm and relieve stress.

Reduced Stress & Anxiety

When you take time to escape life’s adversities and embrace the natural world, you feel lighter and less anxious. Your worries seem reduced, and you can actually breathe better in the presence of plants. Studies show that nature includes many stress-relieving plants that benefit mental health. For example, a blooming flower bouquet is often the first thing we think of when sending kind thoughts or marking an event.

Therapeutic Benefits

Using low maintenance indoor plants as mental health therapy is much better than using artificial remedies. They’re easy to grow and maintain. Spending a little time on indoor gardening can make you feel better and provide great satisfaction.

Increased Productivity

If your days are filled with too many tasks, or you have a stressful job that’s hard to handle, your anxiety will lower your productivity. Adding common house plants to your home will help create a sense of calm. You’ll find you can relax and get more done because you’re not so anxious.

Improved Air Quality

The leaves of plants emit the oxygen we breathe in while capturing the carbon dioxide we breathe out. So the presence of indoor plants can only improve the air quality in your home. Trees have the most foliage of all, and there are certainly some small varieties you can add to your indoor gardening project. Just pick up a large decorative planter, place your tree in a corner near a window and see how quickly it enhances your décor and your mood. Here are a few options: 

• Norfolk Island Pine 

• Bamboo Tree 

• Yucca 

• Weeping Fig 

• Giant Bird of Paradise 

• Dwarf Umbrella Tree

Hobby to Focus On

Indoor gardening can also be a satisfying hobby as it’s something you can do year-round. Start with a few easy-to-grow plants and learn as you go. It’s a much more rewarding and engaging way to spend your time than passive TV-watching.

Growing Herbs for Your Kitchen

If you love to cook, growing your own indoor herb garden gives you fresh ingredients as well as health benefits. For instance, basil contains essential oils known to lower cholesterol and magnesium which can improve blood flow. Spearmint is high in antioxidants and good for making a calming tea. Lemon balm reduces stress, promotes sleep and relieves indigestion. Take some time to discover the health benefits of other herbs and grow the ones you like best.

Best Plants for Indoor Gardening

There are hundreds of plant varieties available for potting and growing indoors. Each has its own health benefits. Some may reduce your stress level simply by their presence. Others may have a fragrance that causes relaxation while reducing nervous activity. Warm drinks made from some plant leaves and berries – like rosehips – can calm you down and help you sleep. Here’s some house plants to consider for your indoor garden. 

• Chamomile: Beautiful flowers with a lovely fragrance. Known to relieve stress, insomnia and depression. Commonly enjoyed as chamomile tea.

• Aloe Vera: Very adept at purifying the air. It also reduces chemicals that cause irritation and lowers stress. Aloe gel is used in skin and hair products for soft and smooth effects. 

• Lavender: Pretty colour and wonderful fragrance. Known to lower stress and anxiety and often used in therapeutic products. 

• Peppermint: The peppermint plant produces flavour used in gum, candy, toothpaste and many other products. It has a calming effect on the nervous system and can improve brain activity. 

• Jade: A satisfying and beautiful tree-like plant to grow, it can reduce chemicals in the air that can cause stress on the mind and body.

Plants to Avoid if You Have Pets or Kids

There are some house plants that are best avoided when you have children and pets in the home. We suggest always checking with a trusted source before bringing a plant home. There are so many beautiful non-toxic plants available that you won’t miss these potentially toxic ones. 

• Chrysanthemums 

• English Ivy 

• Jade 

• Lilies 

• Poinsettias

Indoor Gardening Tools

Ready to enjoy the benefits of indoor gardening? You can start with a few basic tools and expand from there:

• Trowel: small tool for moving soil into your pots and making holes for plants

• Hand Cultivator: pronged tool for breaking up lumpy soil 

• Hand Shears: small cutters to keep plants trimmed and to cut away dead material 

• Watering Can: look for a small can with a narrow pour spout

Indoor Gardening Materials

If you’re thinking of starting plants from scratch, consider seed tray starter kits. You can also find indoor herb garden kits, tomato growing kits, and micro greens kits. Once your seeds have sprouted you’ll need a good potting soil and some decorative pots. Indoor plant soil needs replenishing with nutrients at regular intervals so add some plant food to your supply list. If your home lacks adequate light, even for low light indoor plants, consider adding a greenhouse kit and grow lights.

The mere presence of house plants can make you feel better, especially during the winter months. Tending and caring for them can further improve your mood and mental well-being. Come springtime, you might even want to take your green thumb outside and start a full-on garden.