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Indoor Plants: Health Benefits And A Decorative Edge
This post comes to us from Planetsave.com. For more along these lines, visit Planetsave or some of its most popular categories: Global Warming, Science, Going Green Tips, Animals, or 10 Friday Photos.
Plants are inexpensive, beautiful, and beneficial additions to any home. They are inexpensive, aesthetic, and usually easy to transport. Caring for them usually isn’t too difficult. Here is why you need them in your home:
Environmental Benefits
There are definite environmental benefits to adding a plant to your home. Plants take in carbon dioxide and expel oxygen. This makes them ad hoc air filters for your home. They are actually better than the average HVAC filter because all those machines do is trade the inside air for outside air. Plants actually increase the oxygen levels of the air you are breathing. There are even some plants that will take in carbon monoxide and other toxins (like VOCs) as well, making your air even cleaner. Because plants increase a home’s humidity levels, they also reduce the levels of airborne dust and pollen. A short list of the best plants for air filtering will include the following: Peace Lilly, Snake Plant, and Pot Mum. Although these are 3 of the best air filtering plants, they can all be poisonous to pets, so be careful! If you are looking for something more common, consider some Aloe Vera, a Spider Plant, or even a Gerber Daisy.
Aesthetic Benefits
Plants are pretty. They are great decorating tools to have at your disposal. This goes beyond the bouquet of fresh flowers you put in a vase on your dining room table. Spider plants, small trees, etc — these can all boost the aesthetics of your home. Not only do they add spots of color, they add some texture to an otherwise “smooth” environment. Giving plants or flowers as gifts is always a great idea. Most flowers only last a couple weeks tops, so maybe consider looking at plants at ProPlants.com before you make up your mind when looking for a gift.
Emotional Benefits
Having plants means that you are committing yourself to taking care of another living thing. Yes, the work involved in caring for a plant is almost always less than that of caring for a pet like a cat or dog, but it is still work that you have to do. That is a life that is entirely your responsibility. Having something to care for and tend does wonders for a person’s emotional health. It helps to remind you that you actually aren’t on your own. Studies have also proven that plants are more likely to thrive when they are exposed to music, and show even further thriving when they are talked to. So, in this respect, having a plant can help you feel less lonely because it gives you something to talk to!
Edible Herbs
A great way to improve your personal sustainability is to grow some of your own food! Growing herbs in your own kitchen can be a great way to have plants around you and get something tasty out of them. Oregano, Chives, and Sage are just 3 of many examples of herbs which can grow easily in your kitchen windows. Growing your own herbs gives you direct access to fresh seasonings you have grown yourself!
There are lots of benefits associated with adding plants to your home. From the environmental to the emotional, adding green (or purple or yellow or red… you get the idea) to your home can only be a good thing.
Photo Credit: Indoor plants & watering can via Shutterstock
Jen Smith is a freelance writer focused on healthy environments for healthy living.
Indoor Plants: Health Benefits And A Decorative Edge was originally posted on: PlanetSave. To read more from CleanTechnica, join thousands of others and subscribe to our free RSS feed, follow us on Facebook or Twitter, or just visit our homepage.
2013-02-06 09:31:11
Source: http://planetsave.com/2013/02/06/indoor-plants-health-benefits-and-a-decorative-edge/
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