Why use Plants?
We tend to forget the importance of plants and often take them for granted. You may think there is nothing much to the plants and trees that are around us every day but they are vital for life and our long-term survival. Plants are an essential resource - we rely on them for food, water, medicine, the air we breathe, habitat, our climate and more.
What are the benefits?
Improve your mental health - Just having them in the home and garden can help to improve your mental health. Plants have a sense of peace around them. They don't care about your busy day. They sit there and grow. Plants are patient and docile, which helps to create that atmosphere in the home. Their scents also help with mental health. When you get a good smell, you instantly feel more relaxed and happier. Your sense of smell is a powerful tool for memories, which helps to bring up the good rather than the bad, instantly boosting the positive chemicals being released from the brain.
Improve air quality - Plants release airborne chemicals that tackle the pollutants in the air, instantly rectifying the balance. You're left with air that is safer and healthier for you to breathe. Research has shown that plants will remove around 87% of the pollutants in the air, some of them being the most harmful chemicals. They'll help to tackle the likes of formaldehyde and benzene. These have both been known to cause cancer, so getting rid of them from your home is essential. The plants will pull the chemicals into the soil, which will then be turned into food for the plants. So, while your health is improved, your plants thrive with food!
Physical benefits - Researchers have found that gardening is a fantastic way to burn calories. One hour of weeding burns up to 300 calories. An hour behind a hand-push lawn mower can burn as many as 500 calories. This is about the same as an hour of playing tennis. The best thing about gardening is that unlike an hour on the treadmill, it doesn’t feel like exercise.
Cognitive benefits - Research has demonstrated that even a short exposure to nature can improve a person’s ability to perform and focus attention on cognitive tasks like mental arithmetic and spelling words backwards.
