Houseplants not only look gorgeous and brighten up our home, but they can also be great for our mental and physical health.
Good health depends on more than just diet and exercise. Without a doubt your environment affects your health too, and the right houseplant can actually make a big difference in your mood, your stress level, your sleep quality and even your breathing.
It’s common knowledge that one benefit of having plants indoors is that they help improve air quality by circulating oxygen freely.
Your brain needs a sufficient supply of oxygen to function properly. Scientific research has already shown direct relationships between stress and tainted oxygen levels. When toxins exist in the indoor air spike, so do levels of stress/anxiety, which can lead to feelings of despair and hopelessness, otherwise known as depression.
Looking at flowers is known to speed up the recovery of surgery patients. It makes them more secure, relaxed and peaceful. Plants help against loneliness and depression providing a constant companion.
The fragrance from jasmine blooms is one of the most sought-after smells, in products including expensive perfumes or flavored teas.
Growing jasmine plants indoors gives an attractive and fragrant atmosphere to the dull winter months.
Jasmine is an elegant climber with attractive dark green leaves. The plant and its vines look beautiful and become a focal point in the room delighting its viewers with its small white star-shaped flowers, and delicious aromas!
They act as a natural air freshener giving off a sweet aroma wherever placed.
Jasmine has been used for centuries in Asia as a natural remedy for depression, anxiety, emotional distress, low libido, and insomnia.
In Chinese medicine Jasmine flowers are known to “cool” the blood and have a strong antibacterial, antiviral, and anti-tumor properties. Because they cool the blood they help with reducing a fever or cooling an overheated person (from the sun).
The word Jasmine has evolved from the Persian yasmin, meaning “a gift from God” due to the patently strong aroma created by the jasmine flower.
Its flower are highly sacred in India and the Himalayas.
Jasmine is known in India as the “Queen of the Night” because of its intoxicating perfume that is released at night. It is considered the essence of mystery and magic, Indian women use it to scent their hair and call it “moonlight of the grove.” In parts of India, in particular, bunches and garlands of jasmine are sold outside temples, just as candles might be sold outside of some Catholic churches. Jasmine is not only used to honor gods, but also the dead. Many believe that jasmine has the ability to purify an individual, specifically when they grow into different life stages, which is why it is also symbolic of hope and spirituality.
Jasmine is the national flower of Pakistan and the sacred flower of Kama, the God of Love. On the day before a wedding, the bride to be wears a garland of jasmine and roses around her neck as sensual symbol of her purity and passion.
In the symbolism of flowers Jasmine represents purity, simplicity, modesty and strength. The plant is also the national flower of the Philippines and has an international reputation with many nicknames such as Maid of Orleans, Belle of India, and Duce di Toscane.
You may often find Jasmine flowers used to decorate religious buildings too both in the East and the West. Many religions all over the world, since ancient times, have valued the spiritual message that this simple flower is able to transmit.
According to legend, a Tuscan gardener received a jasmine plant from Persian traders and planted it in his private garden. He refused to let anyone cut the flowers from his garden. One day, he presented a branch of the jasmine flowers to his beloved. She was so taken by the fragrance she agreed to marry him – thus began the Tuscan tradition of including jasmine in the bridal bouquet.
Jasmine is also linked to prophetic dreaming, something rife in Greek and Roman mythology. The Greek god Aphrodite and Roman, that counterpart Venus, are both linked to jasmine. Their purity, devotion and love, being represented and symbolic of jasmine.
The intoxicating scent of the flowers is most powerful in the evening after the sun has set and is said to be even stronger during a waning moon.
Keep jasmine near your bed for a good peaceful and tranquil state of mind.
Jasmine’s scent directly impacts a brain/central nervous system chemical known as GABA, which results in the calming of the nerves, a soothing of anxiety/mild depression, and the facilitating of rest. This GABA effect was bolstered by more than five times when exposed to jasmine fragrance, to be more precise, overshadowing the same effect caused by other scents.
Jasmine was also shown to be more effective than anti-anxiety meds and sleeping pills in promoting quality sleep.
Sleep plays an important role in our physical and mental wellbeing. If you’re lacking in sleep, you may find you have trouble making decisions, controlling your emotions, solving problems and coping with change.
A study by Dr Raudenbush at wheeling Jesuit university studied the results of 20 people’s sleeping patterns when exposed to jasmine. He concluded that those who were exposed to jasmine slept more deeply and effectively.
Another study indicated that the disbursement of jasmine fragrance into a roomful of sleeping test subjects noticeably led to less tossing and turning and heightened sleep efficiency, even without additional sleep time.
Dried jasmine is used to make tea and is also used to cure headaches.
You can also make delicious jasmine infusions by infusing 20g of flowers in one liter of water. Drink two cups in the day time and one more before sleeping for a restful sleep.
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