What’s a Really Easy Self-Care Thing to Do for Mental Health?

Summary: A really easy self-care thing to do for mental health is getting a houseplant and taking care of it.

Key Points:

• Self-care is misunderstood.
• Self-care isn’t a novelty behavior that only happens on special occasions.
• You don’t have to go to a spa, get a massage, or learn to meditate to do self-care.
• Any activity you do regularly that improves your overall wellbeing – physical, emotional, social, spiritual – is valid self-care.

Self-Care Made Simple: Caring for Plants

When we read about self-care, we often see tips that revolve around what we call the Big Three:

1. Meditation/Mindfulness
2. Eating Habits
3. Exercise, Activities, and Hobbies

This article is about a type of self-care that seems like a simple activity, but has many of the same benefits of meditation and mindfulness. It’s a really easy self-care thing to do for mental health: caring for houseplants.

Yes, really. For years, evidence has shown us that spending time outdoors in nature – which experts call greenspace – has significant and immediate mental health benefits. Studies indicate spending time in greenspace can improve:

• Memory
• Attention
• Mood

Additional research indicates spending time in greenspace can:

• Decrease stress
• Reduce risk of developing mental health disorders
• Decrease risk of diabetes (type II)
• Reduce risk of cardiovascular problems

We’ve known about these benefits for years, and many therapists and counselors around the world include spending time in greenspace as a self-care activity that can improve mental health. But do the same benefits apply on a much smaller scale? In other words, what’s a really easy self-care thing to for mental health? Something that may be easier than taking a walk in a park?

When we think of greenspace, we think of nature. We think of walking in the woods and forests you can get lost in. We also think of parks, even those in cities. Evidence shows spending time in an urban park – as long as it’s a greenspace – can help almost as much as spending time in a national park with thousands of acres of trees.

But can something far smaller than even a city park lead to emotional and psychological benefits?

In other words:

Does caring for houseplants counts as self-care, in the same way spending time in greenspace counts as self-care?

Creating Beauty at Home

We’ll start with the most obvious benefit of houseplants: creating a home that’s peaceful and promotes positive mental health. Here’s the good news:

Having house plants can make a living environment look and feel healthy.

Having plants in the house is refreshing, whether it’s a little herb garden on your kitchen windowsill, large plants in your living room, or flowers for the dining room table.

Plants at Home: Benefits

Creating green spaces in your home promotes relaxation and reduces stress. Having healthy green plants inside the house is like taking a walk outside or opening your windows to get fresh air.

How? They remind you to be mindful all day every day, simply by being there.

It’s true.

The presence of houseplants alone can improve mood without you doing anything for them. They can calm you down, and in the instance of a panic attack, can help you reduce your breathing to a typical rate. And while we’re on the topic of breathing, houseplants scrub and purify the air all day long: they take in the carbon dioxide we release when we exhale, and release the oxygen we rely on when we inhale.

Caring for Plants and Caring for Yourself

Caring for plants can remind us of the daily maintenance it takes to refuel and rehydrate. Plants provide a reminder that we need a few minutes to take care of ourselves every day. We need quiet moments to reset, drink some water, and make sure we’re well nourished.

Just like plants need water and nutrients to thrive, we do, too. When we take the time to care for our plants in this way, it reminds us that sometimes, water and health nutrition can make all the difference for our own growing and flourishing.

Houseplants and Anxiety

Science shows plants can create a peaceful, relaxing living environment which improves internal calm and tranquility. Houseplants, in particular, can help reduce anxiety. Taking care of plants as part of your daily routine encourages you step outside yourself and think about something other than your current worries or issues. This slowing down creates time and space for stress reduction and other self-care practices, such as mindful meditation or self-guided relaxation.

Caring for Plants, Mental Health, and Emotional Growth

The following two things can help us find peace and emotional stability in the midst of a busy and sometime chaotic life:

1. Practical stress reduction tools.
2. A relaxing living environment.

When you have effective stress reduction tools and a home that’s filled with healthy plants, it’ easier to build a daily self-care routine. The authors of a large-scale meta-analysis published in 2019 that reviewed 45 studies on the impact of houseplants on mental and emotional health concluded:

“Indoor plants can boost positive emotions, reduce negative feelings, and relieve physical discomfort.” 

The research team reported that spending a minimum of 20 minutes within 10 feet of flowers or potted plants with green foliage can have a positive effect on mood, behavior, and emotion.

Caring For Plants Helps Children, Too

It can be humbling to arrive at age 30 – or any adult age, really – and realize that you don’t have basic self-care skills. The good news is that basic self-care is neither complex nor difficult. It revolves around The Big Three, which we mention in the beginning of this article:

1. Meditation/Mindfulness
2. Eating Habits
3. Exercise, Activities, and Hobbies

There are other important things, too, like learning to set healthy boundaries in relationships and staying connected to a healthy social support system. And now we know that something incredibly simple like having and caring for houseplants is as real as any other self-care activity.

Can you imagine if you’d learned the basics of self-care when you were a child, though?

Taking care of houseplants can do that.

Children can participate in the daily activities of running a household, which are important steps that can prepare them for the responsibilities of adolescence and adulthood. Learning to take of living things like pets and plants, can increase their appreciation for all life, and underscores the fact that we all share this one planet, and – although we’re obviously not plants – all living things need the same two things to survive: water and sunlight.