Add a few power plants to clean up your indoor air.
Plants make nice decorations and, like flowers, they’re great mood boosters. But there’s another reason to add plants to your home or office—they’re air-cleaning machines!
You might not hear a lot about it, but indoor air pollution is a big deal. In fact, according to the American Lung Association, indoor air can be more harmful to your health than some outdoor air. It can even cause the symptoms of health conditions like asthma, allergies and COPD to get worse. Indoor air pollution can come from almost anything in your house—from furniture and cleaning supplies to air fresheners and cigarettes. Since you probably spend most of your time inside, taking steps to clear the air can make a big difference for your health.
Plants first became known for their air-cleaning benefits after a NASA study in the 1980s. Since then, scientists have continued to test different plants and their effects on indoor air pollution.
In his book How to Grow Fresh Air: 50 Houseplants that Purify Your Home or Office, Dr. B.C. Wolverton highlights the best plants for cleaning indoor air. “Houseplants are no longer luxuries, but essential to health. They are nature’s ‘eco-friendly’ living air-purifiers, with years of documented scientific evidence to prove it,” Wolverton says.
So how do plants do this? According to Wolverton, the plants move the air pollution to their roots where it’s turned into food for the plant. Plants also help keep mold and other bacteria out of the air, and they work as natural humidifiers, adding moisture to dry air. Just be sure to keep the leaves dusted (wipe with a moist cloth), so you don’t collect dust that could aggravate allergies.
Indoor Air Spoilers
Formaldehyde: in pressed wood products like plywood and particle board in walls and furniture, tobacco smoke, textiles like upholstery, carpets, curtains and clothing
Benzene: in tobacco smoke, paints
Trichloroethylene: in cleaners, paints, dry cleaning, adhesives