Plants are Good for Your
Health:
Four Ways to Use Them to Your Advantage
By Dr. Joseph
Mercola with Rachael Droege
Most people recognize the importance of spending some time
in nature - living
closer to nature can actually help you to live longer - but
when it comes to bringing plants indoors, the importance is
often overlooked. Plants do much more than just brighten up a
room; they have real benefits to your health and living
environment. Whether in the home or office, plants can be used
strategically to improve air quality, ease asthma symptoms,
increase your energy and more. Following are some of the best
ways to use plants to your advantage.
-
Put a Plant on Your
Desk
Adding greenery to your office is one of the easiest ways
to become more productive and less fatigued at work. Studies
have shown that people who work at computers for more than
four hours a day feel better when they have a plant on their
desk.
Plus, modern office buildings are typically full of
synthetic materials like carpeting, paint and furniture, which
give of various toxic emissions. Plants are able to absorb
pollutants from the air, making it cleaner and more pure. The
following plants are particularly effective for air
purification:
-
Palms
-
Peace lilies
-
Chrysanthemums
-
Ivy
-
Dracaena.
-
Recover From Illness Faster
Hospital patients who have a view of nature recover from
illness and surgery more quickly than those who don’t. Even if
you are facing an illness at home, surrounding yourself with
plants is an excellent way to improve your mood and speed your
recovery time. Generally speaking, the more plants you have
and the healthier they are, the better the effects will be.
Indoor plants can also reduce your chances of getting sick.
One study found that houseplants reduce fatigue, coughs, sore
throats and other cold-related symptoms by more than 30
percent.
-
Cleanse Indoor
Air
Indoor air can be up to 10 times more polluted than outdoor
air, but adding plants can actually help to make the air
cleaner. Just some of the potential toxic vapours that can
contaminate indoor air include:
-
Formaldehyde
-
Benzene
-
Xylene
-
Toluene
-
Ammonia
According to NASA scientists, houseplants can actually
extract volatile organic chemicals (VOC's) from the air.
According to one study, one six-inch houseplant per 100 square
feet of indoor area acts as a decent filter for the air, and
another U.S. government study found that 15 to 18 houseplants
in six- to eight-inch containers helps to improve the air
quality in an 1,800-square-foot house.
Some houseplants can be poisonous so be careful which
varieties you choose, especially if you have small children or
pets. One resource to use if you’re interested in using plants
for the functional purpose of cleaning the air is the book
How to Grow Fresh Air: 50 Houseplants That
Purify Your Home or Office.
-
Request Plants in Your Work
Environment
As mentioned above, putting a plant on your desk can make
you feel better physically and mentally, improving your mood
and reducing stress. Beyond this, companies that make an
effort to include plants in their workspaces see significant
increases in employee productivity and health.
In one case, when a company incorporated plants into its
office space so that no employee was more than 45 feet from
greenery, they reported that employees had greater creativity
and productivity. So, if you’ve experienced the benefits of
plants in your home and are looking for a reason to suggest
plants in the office, consider that plants in your office
building will benefit not only your health, but the health of
the company as well. When you put it this way, requesting more
plants is a very smart suggestion.
Related Articles:
Living Close to Nature May Help You Live
Longer
How to Stay Healthy While
Working in an Office--Six
Important Tips
Air Pollution Increases
Death Rate
The Six Foundations of
Healing
