Can You Have Houseplants In The Bedroom?

When they are in sunlight, plants produce oxygen through photosynthesis, and then during the night plants respire, taking in oxygen and producing carbon dioxide.

A number of years ago, plants used to be removed from hospital wards, and from the bedrooms of sick people, in the evenings, because it was thought that the unwell people would be subject to too much carbon dioxide, as well as having to compete with the plants for oxygen.

However nowadays it is thought that the amount of carbon dioxide that the plants produce at night, as well as the oxygen that they use, is so minimal as to barely make a difference to the air quality. Additionally, if the room is well-ventillated as it should be, the presence of plants at night will not make any adverse difference to the air quality.

A certain number of houseplants, such as the spiderplant, are thought to actively improve the air of the rooms that they are kept in.