The Healthiest Plants for Your Home

You think about your health on a regular basis, right? You’re careful with what you put into your body, you try and get some exercise whenever you can, and you make an effort to keep your stress levels fairly low. However, in today’s working world, this isn’t always a possibility. Many of us work crazy hours, deal with very stressful situations, and don’t always make the time for ourselves to decompress after a long day at work. Stress can lead to a plethora of different conditions, as well as exacerbating existing ones. If you can’t keep stress under control, it will eat you alive. With stress increasing blood pressure, worsening clinical depression, or messing with your metabolism, it can literally kill you. However, we don’t really think about how much stress truly impacts our lives.

When we go home from work, we expect to walk into less stress, but this isn’t always the case when it comes to relationship and families. Sometimes these situations do nothing but add to our stress levels. Unless you want to stress yourself to an early grave, then it’s recommended you create a space for yourself that will help to lower the stress you feel and improve your mood and air quality at the same time.

Plant Your Way to a Better Life

Plants have been known to have a profound effect on the body’s stress levels as well as affecting the air we breathe, so let’s get planting! Here are the top ten plants for your health and your home!

1. English Ivy –This one is super easy to grow, can be purchased inexpensively, and is also one of the best air purifying plants available. Known to filter out toxic chemicals from the air, like formaldehyde, English Ivy isn’t only lovely, it’s healthy!

2. Peace Lily –Fairly low maintenance for a house plant, the peace lily requires very little, except a quick leaf washing every now and again to keep it free from bugs. In return, it will filter out toxins like acetone, alcohols, and ammonia from the air.

3. Bamboo Palm –A lovely addition to your home environment, the bamboo palm needs full sun to reach its full potential of up to 12 feet high. Keep an eye on this one, unless you have cathedral ceilings. In return, your bamboo palm will help to filter out benzene.

4. Golden Pothos –This plant is really low maintenance and looks great, even in dark or cool areas. It will pull formaldehyde out of the air and only requires simple watering to create a cascading plant for your kitchen window.

5. Aloe Vera –Not only is this a cool looking plant, but it also comes packed with a bonus. It can soothe burns and cuts, while still filtering the air and pull out the chemicals from household cleaning products.

6. Snake Plants –Extremely low maintenance, snake plants are known for being able to pull carbon dioxide out of the air and releasing oxygen. They’ll also thrive in dimly lit areas, so they’re great for people with the cursed black thumb.

7. Rubber Plant –If you need a foolproof plant that is virtually impossible to kill,then this is the one for you. Low light and cool air are no match for this air purifying plant, and it looks good too!

8. Boston Fern –If you live in a humid climate, then this plant it the one for you. They enjoy moisture quite a bit, so keep them well watered and make sure you soak them at least monthly.
9. Ficus –You’ve seen plenty fake version of this Southeast Asian trees in office buildings across the country, but in your home, it can function as an air cleaner. Pretty low maintenance, this plant likes to dry out completely before being watered again.

10. Spider Plant –It’s super easy and will grow its own babies in a hurry. It doesn’t require a lot of watering, but it does enjoy bright sunlight. It will remove formaldehyde and xylene from the air.

When you think about de-stressing or filtering the air, you don’t usually consider what plants can for your home, but maybe it’s time. Create a zen place for yourself inside your home where your stress can melt away and you’ll relish in your jungle oasis.