PLANTS A QUICK AND EASY SOLUTION TO BREATHING EASIER

PLANTS FRESHEN THE AIR IN OUR HOMES

You could lock yourself in a bubble to deal with allergy season, or fill your house with plants. Yes, you read that right, plants!! Decades of research show that houseplants can greatly reduce the levels of substances that can make hay feverish people in your family miserable, including pollen, dust mites, airborne molds and other common household allergy triggers.

Beginning in 1980, as a part of efforts to design moon bases and skylabs, scientists at NASA began investigating ways to provide clean air in enclosed spaces.

They established, and years of subsequent research has confirmed, that plants improve indoor air quality in a variety of ways, says B.C. Wolverton, Ph.D., the scientist behind much of NASA’s research and author of "How To Grow Fresh Air".

Plants do this by breathing in dirty air and trapping pollutants within their structures. Then they exhale oxygen-rich clean air.

They also rid the air of volatile compounds. Harmful substances such as formaldehyde, benzene and ammonia; while keeping humidity at proper levels. This is a key to keeping allergies at bay.

You might expect to find benzene, formaldehyde and similar chemicals outside factories and industrial parks, not in your home. In fact, pollution of this sort tends to be at far higher levels inside homes than in the outside air.

Many of the things that make life easy and comfortable, carpets, plastics, cleaning products, nail polish remover; also give off vapors that are especially troublesome to those prone to allergies.

You do not have to live in a greenhouse to get the maximum benefit from potted plants. A couple per room is plenty.

If you are bothered by mold, put an inch or so of aquarium gravel on top of the potting soil. This will also keep your cat from digging in the soil as a substitute cat box. Also put a plant beside your bed, on your desk or anywhere else in the house where you spend a lot of time. The air you breathe most will be nice and fresh.

AIR CLEANING PLANTS

Although any kind of plant is beneficial, some plants do a better job of cleaning the air than others. A few are easier to grow (and harder to kill). Fortunately, many of the best plants for cleaning the air are also traditional household favorites, such as these:

Bamboo Palm Rubber Plant