Plants have always been a way of improving the look of living space while also not causing you to break the bank. However there is also a range of health benefits of having plants in your home, more specifically for improving the quality of your sleep.
So this means that plants have the dual benefit of not only jazzing up your home but also improving your overall health and wellbeing. We’ll show you not only the exact benefits you can expect but also the most effective types of plants.
Reduce Background Noise
How often have you been lying awake for hours because of an annoying noise stopping you from relaxing, and sometimes it can be a quiet, repetitive sound that can be just as disturbing. It’s a little known benefit that plants can help to reduce the amount of background noise in your room.
We were already aware that trees were capable of contributing to noise reduction, but further studies have revealed that indoor plants are also able to do this. This is by absorbing and diffracting sound waves that come in.
Depending on the plant, it is possible to reduce noise pollution by up to five decibels allowing you to relax without disturbances. It’s unlikely that plants can reduce all the sound, but it’s a cost-effective way of reducing out.
Battles Allergies
Different parents take different approaches to protect their children from germs. One way is to completely defend their children from getting anywhere near dirt, bacteria or that has the chance of being allergenic. This issue the develops with this is that if this continues the child’s immune system won’t be capable of dealing with these threats
It’s natural to be overprotective of your child, but after the first year of their life, but sometimes being overprotective of potential dangers can do a lot of harm. This can end up making a child more prone to developing allergies.
One way of combating this is by exposing young children to a range of house plants which will give them early exposure to potentially allergenic substances which will then trigger a healthy immune response from their body and develop their immune system.
There will naturally be some exceptions, such as if a child is already clearly allergic to particular compounds. This will help your sleep because your child will be more healthy which means they won’t be keeping you awake due to constantly falling ill due to a weak immune system.
Enhance Cognitive Skills
Houseplants can also induce positive uplifts in cognitive ability. A study carried out by the Texas A&M University revealed that keeping plants and flowers in your workspace can produce a significant improvement in idea generation, creative performance and problem-solving skills.
Exeter University in the United Kingdom conducted a study featuring 350 participants which compared each person's effective output. The study found that indoor plants improve well-being by 47%, creativity by 45% and productivity by 38%.
Researchers at Cardiff University’s School of Psychology studied the effect of lean and green offices on staffs output levels. Productivity levels were monitored over several months within two large commercial company offices in The Netherlands and The United Kingdom. The study found that incorporating a lean office with green plants could increase productivity by up to 15%.
So you may be wondering how this positively affects your sleep? We live in a society where work life is continually encroaching on our non-work life. By becoming more productive at work, we decrease the chances of having to bring work home which then reduces our wind down time and ultimately our sleep.
Also, if you’re sleeping around plants, this will increase your cognitive ability once you get into work improving your output especially if your workplace also has an abundance of green plants.
Natural Humidifier
Having dry air in your home can lead to many issues for both your health and the condition of your home. The majority of these health issues are breathing related which can then affect your sleep leading to sleep deprivation.
Humidifiers are extremely useful in the home, but plants have a similar air regulation qualities and have a process called transpiration where plants absorb water into their roots and then this is released as moisture through the pores on the underside of their leaves: the more plants that are present, the higher the transpiration effect.
You want to avoid having too many plants because this can cause the humidity to get too high which can make it feel like you’re in a rainforest.
Of course, if your primary goal is to re-humidify your air, you would be better off buying a humidifier; however, this is an added benefit of house plants. Not all plants are effective at humidifying, so you need to stick to the tried and tested plants such as spider plants, Areca Palm or Boston Fern.
Improve the Air Quality
The home is a closed off area which means that indoor air can often be more polluted than the air outdoors because it remains trapped in your home. Common indoor air pollutants include mould, asbestos and Carbon Monoxide.
Long term exposure to these particles can lead to developing or worsening of issues such as headaches or asthma.
Studies have shown that plant-filled rooms can have 60% less airborne mould and bacteria present compared to rooms without plants. Plants can absorb these pollutants through their roots and porous leaves
By removing these pollutants, this will encourage better breathing allowing you to fall asleep quicker reducing the chances of sleep deprivation and improving your REM deep sleep.
Plants have long been used in medical settings as a way of calming patients which then leads to shorter recovery times when healing from injuries. You can then experience these same benefits by having plants in your home.
One study by Kansas State University found that having plants present in hospital rooms during the recovery period. Ninety patients recovering from a hemorrhoidectomy were randomly placed into either control or plant rooms.
Those placed into plant rooms had a significant positive impact on physiologic responses including lower ratings of pain, anxiety, and fatigue compared to patients in the control room who were not exposed to plants and flowers.
In a similar study also at Kansas University researchers investigated how flowers and plants in hospital rooms affected how 90 patients recovered from abdominal surgery. Half of the subjects were positioned in rooms either with or without plants for their postoperative recovery.
Patients who were around plants noted lower ratings of fatigue, anxiety and pain while having greater positive thoughts and satisfaction compared to patients within the control group.
Reduce Stress & Anxiety
Certain plants can affect our overall mood and mental wellbeing. A study published in the Journal of Physiological Anthropology revealed that interacting with indoor plants can lower physiological and psychological stress. Interaction includes direct actions including smelling, touching and feeling.
The subjects were split into two groups of 12 with the first group transplanting an indoor plant, whereas the second group of 12 took part in a computer task. Incorporating a computer task as a comparison point is ideal because when we’re at home in the evening, sitting on a computer is a common task that we all do.
More specifically this is due to the soil which contains microbes that trigger the secretion of cytokines which then results in your brain producing more serotonin. Serotonin is a feel-good hormone that improves your overall mood.
There are more effective ways of boosting serotonin such as going for a brisk walk or exercise but this is just a supplementary benefit of houseplants. This increase in serotonin will help you to relax for sleep decreasing your sleep latency, i.e. the time it takes for you to fall asleep.
It can then help to treat those who suffer from bouts of insomnia as the calmness will help you fall to sleep.
Do Plants Promote Feng Shui?
Feng Shui is the ancient practice of understanding how objects within a particular space affect your overall life. Bedrooms are designed to be a calm and relaxing space because their primary use is for sleeping and resting.
Plants are often not considered as a way to promote Feng Shui as they will alter the energy in the room away from relaxation such as plants that are more active at night which then puts out too much energy into the room.
It’s essential that to fit into the Feng Shui principles your space needs to promote a sleeping environment and resting energy. Your room will need to be a large size so that your plants have a large distance between each other.
It means you need plants that perhaps give off a relaxing scent such as lavender or jasmine which helps to promote sleep. For this reason, plants can be a great addition to enhance your sleeping experience.
Best Plants For Improving Sleep
Aloe Vera
Aloe Vera is a popular plant choice which has multiple benefits. According to research carried out by NASA, this plan has the capability of improving air quality by creating Oxygen which can enhance the quality of your sleep making it more restful.
If you aren’t a keen horticulturist, then this could be the ideal option because it requires minimal general, so it doesn’t need constant watering because it retains moisture in its leaves. An additional benefit is that Aloe Vera is great for the skin and can be used to treat minor cuts and burns while also battling against dry skin by adding moisture.
Jasmine
Jasmine has a sweet scent that is also gentle to promote relaxation for both your mind and body making it easier to fall asleep. Studies have also revealed that it can also help to reduce levels of anxiety. It will result in you waking in the morning feeling more refreshed increasing your overall productivity.
Another positive is that they’re easy to care for while also being aesthetically nice to look at so it will also improve the look of your room while also improving the quality of your sleep.
Lavender
Lavender is a well known herbal scent that also has benefits for your sleep. It has been scientifically backed to not only decrease anxiety and increase relaxation. It does this by slowing down your heart rate and lowering blood pressure which then allows you to ease into REM sleep.
Lavender is also used as a pillow spray scent to achieve the same result for those looking for a sleep aid.
It not only helps adults to fall asleep but can also be used for babies to help reduce their crying, which is greatly accepted by the parent community.
Snake Plant
Snake plant regularly pops up into the conversation of plants to help sleep because it is effective at improving the quality of indoor air because it can absorb excessive amounts of carbon monoxide while also being able to filter hazardous toxins from the air.
The absorption of Carbon Monoxide means that it can emit large amounts of oxygen throughout the night.
Having cleaner indoor air makes you less susceptible to falling ill while also making it easier to breathe. It's even more important if you suffer from a respiratory issue such as asthma or you have newborn children. Snake plants are also easy to maintain and can survive both indoors and outdoors.
Areca Plant
The Areca plant was part of NASA’s well-renowned research which studied the air purifying abilities of regular houseplants. The study concluded that Areca plants were able to filter out dangerous chemicals from the air.
The Areca plant also has humidifying properties which can help with respiratory issues that a person may suffer from such as colds or allergies. To prove its humidifying properties, Dr B.C Wolverton carried out a study that revealed that a 6-foot areca plant could transpire 1 litre of water every 24 hours.