Most of us will spend at least a few hours a day sleeping to get energy back after a long day. Many people will spend a lot of effort to decorate their bed room and make it one of the most comfortable rooms in the house. A common decoration for any room is a plant. But can plants survive in the bedroom without sunlight? And what about the fact that plants release CO2 at night? Are all plants good for your bedroom? Here are your answers.
A few small plants in a bedroom won’t release enough CO2 to harm you while sleeping. The best plants for in the bedroom are the type of plants that can stay indoor without direct sunlight and release oxygen at night like: Aloe Vera, Snake Plant, Peace Lily, Spider Plants, etc.
Having plants in the bedroom is nice for decoration but picking the ones that have benefits while you’re sleeping is even better.
Why Do You Need Plants In The Bedroom?
A simple but good bedroom will include a comfortable bed, soft lighting and good air quality to provide a relaxing atmosphere for sleeping. While you can control the quality of bed and lighting easily, the air quality in your bedroom is affected by many factors like dust, humidity and temperature. Did you know that indoor air at night is often worse than daytime? During the night, lower temperatures affect the movement of the air, it traps CO2 and other pollutants in the house down close to the ground. Having indoor plants in your bedroom is a good way to help you improve the quality of air naturally.
Ideally, indoor plants will have the ability to absorb toxins and harmful elements in the air such as formaldehyde, trichloroethylene, xylene, toluene, and benzene. Purifying plants help to filter and purify the air, means your sleeping environment is cleaner and healthier.
Dry air from AC can cause dry eyes a sore throat or even some more severe issues. Some indoors plants can prevent your body from respiratory issues by increasing and maintaining the humidity in your bedroom. Of course cleaning and disinfecting the A/C filter and blower is something that should also be done regularly.
In addition, if you prefer a chemical free way to make your bedroom smell better, some specific types of indoor plants are ideal choices. They can absorb bad smell and/or fragrance your bedroom naturally. It also works for kitchen. Read here to have more tips to make your kitchen smell better without chemicals.
The other benefits of having plants in the bedroom is that it can make your room feel alive and reduces stress. The natural color of plants will brighten up your bedroom and provide comfortable and natural feelings. Interacting with your plants before sleeping by watering, smelling or touching them can help you to feel calmer which promotes better sleep.
So you can see that the benefits of having plants really make it worth it to have some of them in your bedroom. But which one are the best?
What Are The Best Plants For In The Bedroom?
Everyone knows plants will release oxygen during daytime and carbon dioxide at night but please do not worry about having plants in bedroom. Humans and pets release much more CO2 than plants do so plants cannot displace enough oxygen to harm you during the night. Some types of plants even release oxygen at night so it means the level of oxygen will increase.
To incorporate plants in your bedroom, the most important thing is choosing the right types. There are the best types of plants for the bedroom;
- Snake Plants: It is one of NASA’s top rated house plants for indoor air pollution abatement. This plant converts carbon dioxide into oxygen during day and night. It can grow well with low levels of light and doesn’t need much water.
- Aloe Vera: On the top of NASA’s list of house plant for indoor air pollution abatement. This plant is an excellent choice for the bedroom. It can survive up to 3 weeks without water and grows well in bright indirect light. It is one of the easiest plants to take care and if it gets too big, you can use one of the ‘leaves’. You can apply Aloe Vera on cuts and burns to make them feel better.
- Heart Leaf Philodendron: Another plant which is on the NASA house plant list. This one can absorb formaldehyde from indoor air. It grows easily in weak light, doesn’t like heat. But remember to keep this plant away from your children and pet because it’s poisonous when consumed.
- Areca Palm: It can remove benzene, formaldehyde, and trichloroethylene from the air. Indirect light is good enough for this plant to grow. It is one of the best plants to remove carbon dioxide from air.
- Peace Lily: This plant can absorb formaldehyde, benzene, acetone, alcohols, and trichloroethylene from the air. It is the only plant in this list which has beautiful white flowers but also is toxic to pets. You can place them indirect bright place.
- Spider Plant: This is another plant which is easy to care for; it doesn’t need much light and as long as you keep this plant away from hot places, it can grow well. This plant can remove harmful chemicals to purify indoor air.
- English Ivy: Yet another plant which is high up in NASA’s list, it helps to rid indoor air of toxins like formaldehyde, benzene, xylene, toluene, mold and animal feces. It is a climbing plant and can be planted in a container in low sunlight.
- Golden Pothos: Besides filter out toxins like; formaldehyde, carbon monoxide, and benzene from indoor air, this plant can also absorb bad smells. It’s another climbing plant which can be placed in moderate light.
All of the plants above are; houseplants, are not difficult to take care and don’t need direct sunlight. These plants won’t grow too big so they don’t take up much space if your bedroom is small.
Each of plants above has different benefits, you can combine different types to purify the air in which way you want and to get a look you like.
But how many plants is enough in the bedroom? It’s recommended to have at least 2 medium sized plants per every 100 sq. ft./ 9.3 m2. Of course more is fine and you can have as many plants as you want if you have the time and know how to take care of them all and they have enough space to grow.
Tip: Indoor plants in bedrooms can attract irritating bugs, here are some tips to keep bugs away your indoor plants without using chemicals:
- Garlic: put a clove of garlic into the plant’s soil. The garlic’s strong smell will repel bugs
- Herbs: essential oil such as thyme, basil, mint, sage, rosemary, mint, rue and lavender repel some bugs. Mix these oils with water and spray your plants. Shake well before spraying because oil and water don’t mix very well. You can make your own herb water by soaking their crushed leaves in water overnight.
- Pepper: Mix 2 tablespoons of paprika, black pepper, chili pepper or ginger with 6 drops of dish soap and a gallon of water, then spray your plants.