Houseplants help support a healthy lifestyle! Plants not only make you happy but help purify your indoor air environment by absorbing some of the many toxins found in our homes.
Houseplants Can Help Remove VOCs to Support a Healthy Lifestyle
In the late 1980s NASA performed a study to determine the effect houseplants have on purifying indoor air. Houseplants were found to grab and filter out volatile organic compounds or VOCs. Based on the study, however, you would need a lot of houseplants to purify a room so the concept of houseplants as air purifiers can be a bit controversial.
Experts suggest that you would have to place roughly 10 plants per square foot of home or office space to have any significant impact the overall air quality. That’s a lot of plants!
Other Pollutants Houseplants Can Absorb
A variety of common products used around the home or office can contain non-threatening amounts of chemicals but that can contribute to unhealthy air. These include things like paint, adhesives, and household cleaners. Many plants do have the ability to remove common air pollutants that may be found in these products such as: formaldehyde, benzene, ammonia, xylene, and toluene.
Houseplants Improve General Health
Since most of us don’t have the space or time to support the number of plants it would take to filter the air in a room, it’s good to know that houseplants have lots of other benefits to offer.
Plants can provide a calming, comforting effect on us. Some studies have shown that indoor plants can actually help in speeding up recovery time from illness. Other known benefits of indoor houseplants are: stress reduction, increase of moisture levels in your home (reducing dry skin), improvement in sleep, and even aid in congestion, headaches and allergies.
So not only do houseplants look great and add some color to your home décor, they also help with our health. For those who spend much of their life in an office environment, see our list of 10 Indoor Plants for a Healthier Office.
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