A Little Playtime with a Houseplant Brings Big Rewards
If you’re struggling through a stressful workweek, you may feel like you have no time to lower your stress. You’re juggling multiple tasks while your attention springs from one event to another. This is typical as we try to get through the avalanche of work that piles up. By Friday,…
The Four Surprising Physical Benefits of House Plants
It’s January and we’re spending lots of time indoors. That means artificial heat, little daylight, and more inhalation of polluted air that contains volatile organic compounds. The first two conditions lead to drier skin and lowered immunity against diseases like colds and the flu. The third, inhalation of VOCs, can…
How the Fresh Scent of the Forest Can Fight Cancer in Amazing Ways
If you’re anything like me, you get stressed out because of work — or your kids or parents or even an unexpected traffic jam or small injury. Stress is an ongoing issue in our modern world. Sometimes when we’re stressed getting outside and taking a walk can help. Our mind…
Who Offers the Best Information on Plants and Well-Being?
In the past several years, you may have seen headlines claiming that plants can help our mental health. Well, that is indeed true. But how do you know which studies are reputable? Which are woo-woo, feel-good stories stronger on common sense than fact? Which are flat-out misinterpretations meant to excite…
10 Quick Little Ways to Lower Stress Through Plants
In my article about why plants make us happier, I talked about how we’re innately connected to them through our evolutionary history as well as physiological make up. But though our minds and bodies work in concert with plants, we often forget about how powerful they are in lowering our…
Why Do Plants Make Us Happier? Five Fascinating Reasons
When I was a professional gardener, I made a lot of people happy by helping them with their gardens. Usually, I either created and installed a new garden or maintained the one they already had. Regardless, after my work was finished, my clients often told me their garden was their…
My First Nonfiction Book Explores How to be Happy Through Plants!
Hi everyone, You may have noticed that last year I got interested in the mental health benefits of plants. I spent a bunch of time reading up on the latest science to see if a theory I’ve had for a while held any water. Mainly, that plants can help us…
#23 What Happens When We Don’t See Nature as a Necessity to our Well Being?
Yesterday, I recommended the book The Nature Fix for those who want a compendium of the latest research about the healing effects of nature. Today, I want to spotlight a study in that book that I thought was incredibly revealing. It shows how we often miscalculate the benefits of spending…
