Plants for Health: Improve Your Indoor Air Quality

We are well aware of the danger posed by pollution from cars, power plants and factories and all the things that are affecting our outdoor air quality.  Indoor air quality however, sometimes gets overlooked, even though it can pose a more serious health risk. 

Toxic chemicals like formaldehyde, benzene, radon, trichloroethylene and carbon monoxide can come from a variety of seemingly innocuous household sources like cleaning materials, your furnace, and even your house itself.  These chemicals can contribute to allergies, asthma and a host of other conditions including cancer. 

NASA studies have shown that the presences of plants in your indoor environment can significantly reduce your exposure to these toxic airborne chemicals and greatly improve the quality of living.  Since many of us spend so much time indoors at home and at work it’s very important that we bring some of the outdoors in and here are some of the best plants to do that with…

Good Magazine has published this very informative Plants for Your Health Chart that outlines three common household airborne toxins and the plants that assuage their effects. The chart visually lays out the chemicals trichloroethylene, formaldehyde and benzene, the potential household sources for each toxin and the specific plants that best counteract the toxins.  It also give you a visual reference key of each plant, just incase you have forgotten what Warneckei looks like…

Here are some resources where you can learn more about plants and the other things you can do to improve your indoor air quality…

• Good Magazine’s Plants for Your Health Chart
• US EPA’s indoor air quality
• Medline Plus Indoor Air Pollution
• Zone 10’s article on Plants & Indoor Air Quality
• National Safety Council