Many factors contribute to good bedroom design that supports healthy sleep. While you shouldn't overlook important details such as choosing the right mattress for your needs or lighting that's calming at night but illuminating during the day, small details matter, too. One of those small but important details is bedroom plant choice.

Finding the right plants for your bedroom can help make your bedroom more comfortable, while also maintaining cleaner air for you to breathe at night. Read on to learn why plants matter in your bedroom, and how you can choose the best ones.

Creating a Healthy Sleep Environment

Good sleep doesn't just happen anywhere. A healthy sleep environment is needed to offer the best place to get a good night's sleep. In general, you should create a room that offers comfort, calmness, and is free of distractions and irritants that can interfere with sleep.

Key factors for a healthy sleep environment include comfortable bedding, minimal noise, darkness at night, and a low temperature. Another important factor is air quality.

Though you can't see it, the air is full of particles. Each night and day, you breathe these particles in and out. While this is natural, not all of those particles are good news for sleep. Some can be harmful, and may contribute to poor sleep quality. Chronic poor air quality in the bedroom could lead to sleep disorders, such as insomnia or sleep apnea. And any airway irritants can exacerbate snoring and may cause a sore throat when you wake up in the morning.

In fact, sleep environments with high air pollution levels can be linked to poor sleep and chronic sleep deprivation. That can hurt your ability to sleep well at night on a regular basis, and in turn, make it difficult to function each day and stay healthy.

How Indoor Plants Help With Sleep Quality

As air quality is important to your sleep health, you should consider how you can keep the air clean in your bedroom. This can be achieved with an air filter, but indoor plants may offer a more natural approach, and could add a measure of comfort to the room at the same time.

Plants can be air cleaners just like air filters. NASA research has found that interior plants can offer indoor air pollution abatement. That means just by existing in your bedroom, indoor plants could improve air quality, and remove harmful chemicals from the air in particular. Specifically, plants in the NASA study were able to effectively remove benzene, trichloroethylene, and formaldehyde from indoor air.

With a plant in your bedroom, you can help clear the air and make your sleep environment feel more natural. Caring for a houseplant can offer a sense of satisfaction, too.

Choosing a Bedroom Plant for Air Quality

Generally, plants can improve indoor air quality, but some are better than others. NASA's research identified several plants that are particularly useful for removing harmful chemicals from your bedroom air. These plants can improve indoor air quality:

• Peace lily

• Chrysanthemum

• English ivy

• Bamboo palm

• Mums

• Gerbera daisies

• Ficus

These plants in particular can be used along with activated carbon plant filters to clear the air of organic pollutants and improve air quality.

Overall, introducing plants to your bedroom is a good idea. They can beautify your bedroom design, offer comfort and satisfaction, and make the air you breathe each night cleaner and more healthy.

Author Bio: Amy Highland is a sleep expert at SleepHelp.org. She loves taking naps during thunderstorms and cuddling up with a blanket, book, and cats.

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