Becoming a plant parent has many health benefits:
Now that hubs and I are finally in the our permanent place I decided it was time to become a parent again.
That’s right a plant parent. To me a home is not complete without bringing in a little bit of nature inside.
Plants make me smile and I actually like taking care of them. I have learned that you need to pay attention to them and if you do they will tell you what they need. Kinda like listening to our own bodies or the non verbal cues you get from a newborn baby. LOL.
A quick story.
I bought three little plants at Home Depot a few years ago. They were about two inches high. I spread them around the house as you do. Only one seemed to thrive.. Hmm.. So I moved the other two to different locations and vola they began to thrive. After a while I re-potted them to give them fresh nutrient and more space to grow. They continued to grow and do well with out too much attention. Or so I thought.
Then one day my favorite plant..started dropping leaves. Panic set in.. Oh no! I was failing as a plant parent. So I began to ask the questions… what’s wrong and what do you need? More water? Too Hot? Not enough morning sun? What ? Tell me, I am listening now.
Nothing I was doing seemed to help… then at a last ditch effect I re-potted the plant, added more nutrient dense soil and hoped and prayed that this was the fix.
It took a couple of weeks but my sweet plant started perk up and the leaves stopped dropping. Turns out that what was need was micronutrients found in rich dark soil. The plant was deficient and it was starting to die right in front of my eyes… Given the right stuff the plant can thrive.
THE WHOLE BODY IS A SYSTEM
I know I being a little bit cute here, however this is a true story and there are a lot of parallels between the plant and the human when it come to thriving. We wait till the leaves fall off before we take care of ourselves. Finding the right formula for you is about listening, asking questions, healthy routines and forward progress.
So what do you need or don’t need and how does your body tell you before the leaves fall?
Is it sunlight: Vitamin D, Is it macronutrient dense soil, like colorful veggies or whole food supplements? Could it be not enough water? Lack of movement? Too much Blue light and not enough sleep???
The body works as a system it not just different pieces that operate independently from one another.
Many of you know that I spend many years studying how the body works and figuring out how to connect the DOTS. I took all that info and made a poster ” THE HUMAN” I proud to say that there are over 500 of My HuMan Posters in Doctor’s office all over the USA.
This last few months has made it very clear to all of us that we need to treat people not body parts and we need to treat the cause of disease not the symptoms… Symptoms are clues that led us to the cause.
Like the leaves dropping of the plant. It was a symptom or a sign that something deeper needed attention.
I am here to offer you the support you need to help connect the dots as you work on your journey to Good Health and Resilience.
BACK TO PLANT PARENTING
I recently watched an amazing documentary. A Scandinavian couple decided to build an indoor greenhouse around their house to support their autistic son. How he responded and how he thrived was amazing to watch. The real message though was how the parents listened to the nonverbal cues of their son and provided him with what he needed to thrive. What they did was take Plant Parenting to the next level and clearly showed the health benefits of bringing nature into the home.
Researchers have also studied the relationship between nature and human well-being for decades, and it has gained renewed focus in recent years as more people remain sedentary and glued to their screens.
Studies also show that interacting with indoor plants may help ease stress, and a Texas A&M University study found that filling your space with plants can help fuel creativity. Not to mention, plants are natural air purifiers.
NASA researchers conducted one of the most well-known studies on the matter in 1989. Looking for ways to curb air pollution in confined spaces, like on a space station, they found that ordinary daisies, chrysanthemums and other common house plants were able to remove as much as 90 percent of certain toxins from the air in just 24 hours.
Before I left CA, I all my plants were adopted and went to good homes.
Seriously though, Plants offer lots of health benefits and I am excited to have two new teenagers to help purify and humidify the air in the house. Wish me luck as a plant parent.
Take care and have a healthy week.
Dr Pia
