Benefits of Having Plants Indoors

Indoor gardening is becoming more popular and its not surprising when you read about the benefits of living and working with indoor plants.


Can growing houseplants really help turn our homes, schools and workplaces into better places to be? It is a question that numerous scientific studies have explored and results are now shedding light on the matter. Indoor plants offer two potential benefits for us: improved psychological (mental) well-being and improved physical human health (i.e. they support fitness and general health).

The psychological benefits of indoor plants have been shown as:

  • An improved mood
  • Reduced stress levels
  • Increased worker productivity (adding plants to office environments in particular)
  • Increased speed of reaction in a computer task
  • Improved attention span (in some scientific studies, but not all)
  • Increased pain tolerance (for example, where plants were used in hospital settings)

The physical health benefits of indoor plants have been shown as:

  • Reduced blood pressure
  • Reduced fatigue and headaches by 20-25 percent in one study
  • Patients in hospital rooms with plants reported decreased post-operative pain
  • It is worth noting that the effect of plant species and cultivar differences has not been specifically investigated.

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