Healthier and Happier with Houseplants

Many of us live busy lives that allow us to see very little of the green outdoors. We go from our home, to the car, to an office, and back home again. The gray, rainy Northwest weather can also discourage us from enjoying the outdoors and the fresh air. We find ourselves taking quick gulps of air as we race from one place to the next, instead of enjoying deep, relaxing breaths of clean, fresh air.

 

Vital to our environment and our utility bill, our living and working spaces have become more energy efficient. As a result of being efficient, we have reduced the air exchange between the indoor air that surrounds us and the fresh, revitalizing air outdoors. Daily we breathe our same air over and over again. We are no longer receiving the fresh oxygen supplied by our green plant friends. Research from University of Agriculture in Norway, found that a lack of fresh air has a direct relationship to many rising health issues. To compound this situation many modern synthetic furnishings, computer and electrical equipment, plus everyday household products such as cleaning materials, emit various harmful gases in small amounts, which can transform our living and working spaces into unhealthy environments. 

 

The wonderful news is that improving your indoor air quality is easy and inexpensive. Many research studies have found that houseplants help you live a healthier and happier life. Whether in your home or workplace, by simply placing a plant nearby you can improve air quality, reduce temperatures and possibly cause people to feel happier. NASA space research found that formaldehyde from tissues, carpets and furniture can cause asthma and other respiratory problems. Houseplants remove formaldehyde from the air. A spider plant placed in a small enclosed space can remove 96% of the carbon monoxide, the toxic gas from car exhaust, from the air. (attribution needed)

NASA space research also found, inside airtight space habitats, showed that ordinary houseplants had amazing capabilities in fighting air pollution. In the NASA tests, in addition to formaldehyde and carbon monoxide, houseplants absorbed benzene (found in car exhaust fumes and cigarette smoke) and fumes from trichloroethylene (TCE) or dry-cleaning fluid. Nasa found that the most effective air cleaning plant, besides the spider plant, are palms including lady palm (Raphis excelsa) and parlour palm (Chamaedorea elegans), ficus, peace lily (Spathiphyllum), dragon tree (Dracaena); along with Boston fern (Nephrolepsis exaltata), chrysanthemum and gerbera. Also plants with large leaves generally have a higher transpiration rate and increased ability to reduce toxins than plants with smaller leaves.

To improve your indoor air quality they suggest using:

 

 

In addition to improving air quality, research by Oxford Brook University found that inner spaces with houseplants have shown:

 

 

You can live happier and healthier by simply adding houseplants to your indoor environment.