Houseplants are definitely having a moment. Videos tagged with #houseplants have logged more than a half-billion views on TikTok, and other social media platforms, including Instagram and Pinterest, are bursting with photos of people showing off their houseplant collections.
“As working from home has increased in the past year, along with long periods of confinement, it’s no wonder that plants have become the new critical home essential,” says Nick Behr, cofounder of hydroponic gardening company Modern Sprout.
The sense of calm that taking care of a plant can bring is perhaps especially beneficial during a pandemic. Research, including a small study involving 24 young men published in 2015 in the Journal of Physiological Anthropology, suggested that nurturing a plant and watching it grow can reduce stress levels, soothe anxiety, and help you feel calmer. According to Brooke Blocker, the owner of eco-friendly online plant shop Outside In, there’s even a name for healing through plants: horticultural therapy.
“The act of caring for plants helps us step outside of ourselves and nurture a living thing,” notes Blocker. “I consider it a meditative practice — and actually, many plant parents are adding plant care to their self-care routine.”
RELATED: How to Start a Self-Care Routine You’ll Follow
The Potential Health Benefits of Keeping Houseplants
Keeping houseplants can also be good for your physical health, according to Behr — and even NASA has confirmed the helpful benefits of having certain kinds of plants in your home.
The 1989 NASA Clean Air Study, which was formally known as A Study of Interior Landscape Plants for Indoor Air Pollution Abatement, famously found that some plants could remove toxins from the air through the process of photosynthesis.
As plants photosynthesize, in a process called photosynthesis, they remove carbon dioxide from the air and produce oxygen. Plants can also absorb toxic chemicals from the air, and either metabolize them or incorporate them into their own tissues, according to a study and review of prior research published in March 2018 in Wireless Sensor Network.
That’s not even the end of the list of houseplant benefits. Plants increase oxygen levels in your home, which could potentially help to reduce headaches, improve focus, and boost your overall mood, says Navya Mysore, MD, a primary care physician with One Medical in New York City. Plants also increase the humidity in your house, which could potentially help alleviate dry skin, she says.
Many indoor plants may help remove volatile organic compounds (VOCs) from the air. VOCs are emitted from a variety of sources, including paints, varnishes, flooring materials, smoke, and more, per the American Lung Association. Breathing in VOCs can irritate the eyes, nose, and throat, and cause nausea or difficulty breathing.
Overall, the evidence for using indoor plants to treat or manage specific conditions is limited — but in theory, there are very few risks to adding plants to your home.
Start With These 7 Popular Houseplants
Tending to any kind of plant can be beneficial for your mental health. But if you’re also looking to improve the air quality in your home, Behr, Blocker, and Dr. Mysore advise buying one of these seven plants at your local nursery or online store.
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