Did you know that adding houseplants or greenery in general to your student room can support your mental health and wellbeing? No? Well, it can, below are just some of the best reasons to add greenery to your student room. Find out which plants are best in our second blog – Best houseplants to add to your student room.

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The best reasons to add a houseplant.

Over the years there have been loads of scientific studies exploring the impacts on our wellbeing to houseplants. Indoor plants offer two potential benefits for us; improved psychological (mental) well-being and improved physical human health. Bringing plants into your student room is not just aesthetically pleasing they offer strong health benefits:

Psychological:

• Improving your mood; Adding a house plant or two to your student room can improve your mood. How? Well by purely looking after it. Having an active hobby has been proven to release those happy chemicals in your brain (endorphins) that can improve your mood.
  Studies have found that seeing the direct impact of caring for a living thing can also make us feel more in control of our lives – something psychologists call ‘self-mastery.’
  It can also help us feel confident, and capable of tackling the bigger challenges in our lives improving our general mood. But not just that, simply having a houseplant in our line of vision increases the positive energy which also helps soothe away a bad mood.

• Lowering stress and anxiety; Plants like Lavender have long been reputed to be a natural remedy to help sleep and help us relax. So, if you’re one of those who lie there for hours with your mind going a hundred miles per hour a pot of lavender in the bedroom can help.
  Likewise, prayer-plants which open their leaves with the sun and close them over at dusk can also help your body prepare for sleep or just feel a little more grounded, reducing our stress and anxiety levels.
• Improving focus; Researchers found that houseplants increase productivity by up to 15%. How? Well, house plants clean the air, improving the air quality which is said to help us focus and learn.
  Next door neighbour noisy? House plants can be highly effective noise buffers, as they quickly absorb and remove background sound. Which is perfect if you’re studying throughout the day in your student room.
  Plants such as the spider plant don’t take much looking after and quietly battle toxins in the air, purifying and cleansing it. And the cool looking snake plant filters out many chemicals in the air while also releasing oxygen at night which can help you breathe better, leading to improved sleep and with improved sleep comes better focus during the day.

Physical:

• Reducing and even preventing headaches; Did you know that stuffy air can be a common cause for headaches? Now we can’t always keep our windows open so having a few houseplants in your room can help stop headaches as they work hard to filter and replenish the air in your room.
  Rubber plants are especially good at removing formaldehyde (which can cause headaches as well as irritating our eyes, noses, and throats), one of the most common toxins found in our indoor air.
• Easing dry skin and respiratory conditions; Again, houseplants can help with our physical wellbeing by assisting with our breathing because they absorb carbon dioxide and release oxygen.
  With plants such as a Bamboo Palm increasing the amount of oxygen it creates a healthier environment to be in especially for those of us with respiratory conditions such as Asthma.
  They can also help ease dry skin as they add humidity into the air, especially plants like a Peace Lily which help keep our skin moisturised.

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Have you added a bit of greenery to your student room? Share a pic with us on our socials – Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. 

Monday 26th April to Sunday 2nd May is National Gardening week – the UK’s biggest annual celebration of gardening. And while we always try to add a little green space to our student homes, its not always possible, so to avoid missing out on the benefits of gardening why not add a bit of the outdoors into your personal sanctuary.