22
2017
Refreshing Ideas
6 PLANTS KEEP FRESH
Placing a few plants around your house is a great way to instantly decorate and brighten up any indoor space. Not only
do houseplants look fresh and attractive, they can also help to clean and purify the air in our homes.
Breathing in cleaner, fresher air can do wonders for our minds, bodies, and souls. With less toxins floating around in the
air we’re able to breathe in cleaner oxygen, which reduces our overall chances of becoming ill or sick. It also makes us
healthier all around by boosting our mood and energy levels, thereby reducing depression and lethargy in the process.
While the natural air filtering abilities of plants have been known for some time, they were further backed by science
after NASA conducted its Clean Air Study to find out which plants work the best. The space program had been looking
for ways to clean the air up in its space stations while also boosting oxygen levels in the process. What they found was
that certain plants filter out common volatile organic compounds (VOCs) a lot better than the rest. VOCs are toxic to
human health and include nasty chemicals such as formaldehyde, ammonia, benzene, and toluene.
While many plants are beautiful and good to have around, here is a list of the best ones that have been found to be more
effective than the rest at naturally filtering out VOCs and other air pollutants:
Bamboo Palm
Removes benzene, formaldehyde,
and trichloroethylene. Bamboo is
among the top performing air filtering
plant on this list. It prefers shade over
direct sunlight and so you can stick it
anywhere you have room or in a spot
that could use a little greenery!
Chrysanthemum
Spider Plant
Removes formaldehyde, xylene and
toluene. Spider plants are one of the
easiest plants to care for and grow.
They flourish with indirect sunlight and
are quite resilient. They’re also safe for
animals and are specifically non-toxic
to dogs and cats, so if you have pets
at home this is a plant you should defi-
nitely consider getting!
Snake Plant
Peace Lily
Removes benzene, formaldehyde,
trichloroethylene, xylene and toluene,
ammonia. This hardy, shade loving
plant is the one other plant, besides
Chrysanthemums, on NASA’s list
that removed all of the most common
VOCs. However, they are highly toxic
to dogs and cats, so keep that in mind
if you have a pet that loves to chew
on stuff, especially plants.
Removes benzene, formaldehyde,
trichloroethylene, xylene and toluene,
ammonia. The beautiful, colorful flow-
ering plant removes all of the toxins
on the list that NASA specifically
tested for, making it one of the top two
most effective air purifiers in the study.
The pretty flowers do best in direct
sunlight and come in all variety of col-
ors so pick up a few the next time
you’re out!
Aloe Vera-
Removes benzene and formalde-
hyde. Aloe is one of the easiest, har-
diest, and most widely available plants
on this list. It’s long been used for a
variety of health related issues and
people use the gel found in it to treat
burns, sunburns, constipation,
scrapes, cuts, and other minor skin
related conditions.
Removes benzene, formaldehyde,
trichloroethylene, xylene and toluene.
Snake plants do well in extremely low-
light areas which makes them a great
plant to stick in a humid bathroom
where most other plants would suffer.
They’re also super low maintenance
and really hard to kill, which makes
them ideal for those of us with not so
green thumbs!