If you thought that houseplants were just for your great aunt’s house, or you buy them with good intentions only to find them withered away from lack of attention, think again. Coming in all shapes and sizes there’s something for every home and room and they can form quite a focal point.
But who’d have thought that houseplants are an easy way to boost your health, happiness and well-being?
Well it’s true. Houseplants offer cleaner air, can boost workplace productivity, they can improve our overall happiness and health and can help us heal faster. All this in return for a little bit of care and attention in the form of water and sunlight.
So how can house plants help you?
# air filters – plants can be one of the best air filters having been shown to improve indoor air quality by filtering out harmful contaminants that can be found in the home. This was verified by NASA in 1989 when they carried out experiments in space. 
# workplace productivity – a study by the University of Exeter concluded that the addition of green plants to work places can increase concentration and productivity.
# faster healing – if you are visiting someone in hospital, take them a green plant rather than cut flowers. Indoor plants in hospitals have been shown to help patients recovering from surgery.
# reduce your stress – plants have been shown to have the power to improve a person’s outlook and decrease their stress.
# help you to sleep – the aloe vera plant emits oxygen at night which can help combat insomnia and improve the quality of your sleep. Aloe vera was also listed by NASA in the study mentioned above for improving air quality.
Some good plants for improving air purity are snake plant (mother-in-laws-tongue) dracaena, spider plant, English ivy, gerbera daisy, peace lily, bamboo palms and boston fern.
So how many plants should you have in your home? Well NASA recommend that in a home of 1800 square feet, having between 15-18 air-purifying plants should be sufficient and do place a few of these in bedrooms.
I don’t know about you but I’m off to the garden centre ….
Clean Living Clare 
What interesting reading. I stopped having plants inside as the central heating killed them off but tbh i think i may well pop to the gdn centre and start with one or two in there, could do with some help at night sleeping. Xx
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I went shopping at the local garden centre yesterday and came home with new houseplants. Have to say they look great. Give them another try …
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I have some spider plants that are producing mini plants, so will definitely pot them up to take in to work for my desk.
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