Whilst it might sound a bit strange at first, having plants at home and looking after them can do many wonders. Plant enthusiasts describe it to be quite a therapeutic process. Almost all plant parents agree that being surrounded by plants do have positive effects on humans. Plants are well known to facilitate healing, which is why they are often given to people that are in recovery, to brighten up their surroundings.
Plants are mood lifters – Indoor plants constantly keep on purifying the air. They can play a big role in uplifting the mood and induce feelings of positivity and comfort.
Promotes exercise – Having plants mean you will take out time for gardening, for looking after them and taking care of them. And gardening can be a method of incorporating exercise into your routine. You might not even realise but moving the soil, watering the plants, digging or even moving the planters into the sun are all physical work, so they keep you moving.
Promotes family time – A lot of the times, families find it difficult to keep the children or even pets engaged for a long time. Gardening could be a fun and exciting method where the whole family can spend time outdoors doing gardening and would be consequently able to spend time with each other too. It’s good for the whole family to get together and do something fun outdoors, especially where children can learn some skills while they’re at it, such as different plant names, their benefits, etc.
Helps to strengthen the attention span – Spending time around plants, especially gardening can help improve the attention span. Spending time looking after the plants in an organised manner, ensuring that all tasks are completed can help boost the concentration and attention span. Gardening has also been linked with academic achievements of children. Since gardening teaches quite a few things, those children who work with plants at home, they return to classes with so much knowledge, experience and exposure.
Boosts Self-esteem – Children and young adults can finally get a chance to take a break from technology when they head outdoors to look after the plants. It’s quite normal and convenient to find yourselves online and comparing with other people, which can easily deteriorate the self-esteem. Gardening can be an excellent idea to switch off from the virtual world and do something physical and observe life transformation.
Help improve quality of sleep – Plants such as lavender, which is knowing for its comforting properties can help in reducing the heart rate and blood pressure and assist in falling asleep.
Since keeping plants in surrounding areas and looking after them have quite a lot of benefits, plant enthusiasts certainly benefit from these and many more.
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Mahnoor Nadeem is a student of Masters in Clinical and Health Psychology in Lithuania and a Trainee Psychologist at Willingness. She enjoys working with children and adolescents and exploring topics such as health psychology, family therapy and sexual health.
References
Hillside Atlanta. (2019). Psychological Benefits of Plants & Horticulture Therapy. Retrieved from : https://hside.org/plants-improve-mental-physical-health/
Smith, K. (2021). Can Plants Improve Your Mental Health?. Retrieved from : https://www.livekindly.co/how-plants-improve-mental-health/