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How plants help fight depression and anxiety

Confession: I’m a plant killer.

From disastrous attempts at vegetable gardening to multiple misguided times buying bonsai, who knows how many precious plants I’ve murdered over the years?!

Yet I keep buying plants. And that’s because plants make me unbelievably happy, and I know they improve my mood and health as well.

So, I’ve given up my grand ambitions to be a bonsai master (for now), and have a much more achievable goal:

Choose plants that are impossible to kill, keep them alive, and enjoy.

I now have an abundance of satisfactorily healthy plants in my office, bathroom, and bedroom. I’ve learned which ones to choose and how to take care of them.

If you want to know how plants can help your depression and anxiety, but you don’t know how to get started, read on! I’ll show you the benefits, and pass on my top tips for buying the right plants and keeping them alive.

If you’re not yet convinced that plants are worth the effort, here are five ways plants have been shown to improve our physical and mental health.

All plants clean the air by turning carbon dioxide into oxygen. Some plants do even more, filtering out pollutants and toxins as well!

Getting fresh air is great for people with depression or anxiety. Indoor plants are especially important to those of us who struggle to spend time outdoors. There are many barriers to getting outside.

Sometimes this is related to our jobs or where we live, but it can also be our mental health. We just might not want to go outside where there are noise and people- I know I usually don’t. So, having indoor plants brings some of those benefits to us.

Cleaner air also improves sleep quality, which is super important for us. Some plants such as the Snake Plant- nicknamed the “bedroom plant”- are especially renowned for helping their human neighbors sleep better.

Plants even produce negative ions, which has a positive (pun intended) effect on our well-being.

Negative ions, by the way, have been improving our mood for centuries. Bodies of water produce them; this is why walking along a river or the ocean makes you feel good. You can replicate the effect with houseplants.

Depression and anxiety damage our ability to focus and to be productive, on top of making us feel tired, apprehensive, and under-motivated. Thanks to all that cleaner air and oxygen, plants also help us focus and get things done.

I continue to struggle with my concentration every day. It affects not only my work but also personal projects such as this blog, and even hobbies. It’s so frustrating to feel limited in this way- to feel that our illnesses have such power over our everyday lives!

And so I’m grateful to my plants, which not only put me in a better mood but also help me power through my workday.

There have been specific workplace-based studies that show how office plants help get you through the workday. At last count, I had 8 plants in my office, plus three miniature succulents as well! (I’m lucky my co-workers like plants as much as me.)

These same benefits extend to having plants anywhere else you need to be productive. In my case, I write most of my blog posts at my dining-room table or in my bedroom, hence, there are plenty of plants in these places!

Even if we rarely go outside, we can get some of the benefits of being in nature just from looking at it- whether that’s indoor plants or even pictures of plants.

By all means, try to spend more time outside, but consider compounding those benefits by having indoor plants as well.

The color green is also an energy boost, representing vibrancy, health, and growth. I don’t know about you, but I certainly benefit from having that around me all day!

Think of all the small, deliberate tasks that go into your plants: examining every pot at the nursery for just the right one, re-planting in a pretty container, watering them, moving them in and out of the sun, monitoring their growth…

All of these tasks provide a simple way to focus on one thing, for a small length of time. That’s what mindfulness is all about.

Incorporating mindfulness into your everyday life is a great tool for maintaining your mental health. This doesn’t have to be grand or time-consuming like meditation. Even taking 30 seconds to turn away from your computer screen to admire your office plants counts, and will benefit you!

I found that once I started keeping indoor plants, I became much more aware of the outdoor plants around me as well. Walking around my neighborhood really did turn into mindfulness, as I let my eyes drift from garden to garden.

There’s nothing quite like seeing the physical evidence that you have managed to keep something alive and helped it flourish.

None of my plants grow very quickly, mind you. That’s partly why I chose them: slower growth means less attention is required.

But my peace lilies sometimes sprout white flowers, and my succulents sometimes shoot off little buds. I bought my fiddle-leaf as a wee young lad, and now I get to enjoy his (slow) growth.

I love to see these small changes, and I love to succeed, even at this one small thing. Never mind children or pets; I can keep my snake plants alive, and that’s enough for me!

Relish the small victories. It is so important in keeping up the good fight!

Convinced? Want to give it a go? Wonderful! Here are some pointers to get you started.

Here are my top recommendations for plants that are easy to care for, that clean the air, and are wonderfully vibrant:

Sansevieria trifasciata

This aesthetically pleasing fellow goes by a lot of different names and has a few variations, but all of them will put up with a lot before they give up the fight.

They’ll grow steadily and might even shoot off little babies that you can then re-plant.

They do enjoy sunlight but will cope with dim or indirect light. They only need watering every few weeks or even months, depending on the temperature. They filter the air magnificently.

Best of all, they look incredibly sculptural, with clean sharp lines and splashes of bright green.

Protip: use a fast-draining cactus/succulent soil mix to keep the roots dry; these guys do not like being damp!

Spathiphyllum

There’s a reason these dark-green beauties are staples of the modern office: they don’t die.

Peace lilies only need a small amount of light, and usually cope well with only artificial lighting. They will tell you exactly when they need water: their leaves will droop. Trust me, you’ll know when they need water. They will then thank you by perking back up right away.

They also grow pretty white flowers every now and then. I always feel a childlike excitement when I see a little bud starting to grow.

Keep in mind you can’t keep peace lilies around cats- they’re poisonous to our feline friends.

Get yourself a self-watering pot or watering spikes if you want to spoil your peace lily!

Chlorophytum comosum

I love the lighter green color of the spider plant and their long fine leaves, and the way they trail downwards when they get bigger.

Spider plants don’t need much light or water. I’ve seen these guys happily thrive in rooms with no windows at all. They can grow big and bushy to match the size of your pot.

They’re also very easy to propagate: just cut off and plant one of the mini-“spiders” they shoot off, and you’ll soon have a whole new spider plant.

Yes, it is possible to choose plants that will still be alive in a few months. Even years!

If you’ve tried to keep indoor plants in the past and have failed, cheer up: if I can do it, then there’s still hope for you.

If you choose wisely and put in a little effort, these indoor plants will reward you with cleaner air, improved health and productivity, and the chance to practice mindfulness.

Indoor plants are a way to benefit from nature, even if you find it hard to get outside. And keeping them alive is a great boost of confidence.

I hope this post has inspired you to give it a go. There are abundant resources online to help you choose and care for your plants. Experiment and see what works for you and your space.

Enjoy!

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