Do Indoor Plants Help to Purify the Air?

All the air that we breathe on this planet is purified by trees, which are essentially grown plants.
The air around us is full of toxins from multiple sources, the very air we breathe is no longer just a mix of oxygen, nitrogen, and other gases like carbon dioxide and argon, but a good percentage of it has become air pollutants. The rising air pollution has given almost all of us some health problem or the other like asthma, allergies, skin, and eye irritation, and in the worst of scenarios cancer.

Do plants help purify air should really not even be a question?

It’s not only the outdoor air but the indoor air that is equally polluted and these pollutants don’t enter our homes from outside but are rather generated by several indoor sources of pollution. Let’s first take a look at the indoor sources of pollution.
Our modern homes have several indoor pollutant sources that are filling the air we breathe with toxins and we don’t even realize it. Everyday things like plywood furniture, cleaning solutions, and agents like floor and bathroom cleaners, detergents, dry cleaned clothes, wall paints, cooking stoves, ACs and fridges, kids coloring crayons, heating systems, and so many more. It is almost impossible to do away with these life essentials, but we can surely make amends to purify the sir within our homes with the help of indoor plants.

But Why Should We Purify Indoor Air?

Good air quality is related to the quality of life we lead and our overall health. The air we breathe not only affects our lungs and other sensory organs but also the way in which we oxidize food to produce energy and the immunity of our body. A person who breathes in lower quality air will be more susceptible to diseases and infections as compared to someone who breathes in cleaner air.
Superior quality indoor air becomes all the more important if you have toddlers or the elderly at home. Both toddlers and elderly people breathe in more volume of air per minute as compared to a regular adults, meaning that their lungs process out more toxins per minute to get a certain amount of oxygen. Adding to that is the fact that both the elderly and the toddlers have lower immunity and are more susceptible to falling ill in such situations. So it becomes all the more important to maintain an excellent quality of air indoors.
While there are a million air purifiers in the market that do an excellent job of cleaning your air, they recirculate the same air into the room. Whereas with plants, the plants literally breathe fresh air into the room. Furthermore, they also increase the oxygen saturation by taking in the CO2 and breathing out oxygen. One more major advantage that plants have over indoor air purifiers is that they are a one-time investment and do not require daily electricity to run and keep cleaning your indoor air. Furthermore, indoor plants not only clean the air in your home and increase oxygen saturation, but they are also proven to have helped reduce mental health conditions, improve mood, reduce anxiety, lower temperature, optimize humidity, and also make the home welcoming and calming to our senses.
Several studies have been conducted to study the air-purifying capabilities of indoor plants and all have come back with the same result – indoor plants have a positive effect on improving the indoor air quality of our homes. NASA has conducted several extensive studies over years to measure the effect of indoor plants. Several other universities have studied the effects of indoor plants in office and commercial places and other places with central air-conditioning and heating systems. They all have come back with the conclusion that indoor air purifying plants not only improve air quality, but reduce chances of infection, improve immunity, better overall mental health, and also have a positive impact on productivity and creativity.
Speaking entirely from the POV of purifying indoor air, the indoor plants absorb several pollutants commonly found in homes across the globe, such as volatile organic compounds (commonly referred to as VOCs), several oxides, volatile gases, particulate matter, and other air pollutants including microbes. Not only the leaves but the healthy microflora and fauna present in the soul absorb the particulate matter and other airborne microbes and break them down to convert them into plant food while also cleaning the air.
There are several plants that have a higher air purifying power as compared to others and can eliminate one group of VOC or the other. Here is a list of plants that can be kept indoors to ensure the better health of your family. All these plants thrive in bright indirect to medium sunlight and are suitable for thriving indoors with little care and effort.

1. Sansevierias or Snake Plants
2. Areca palm
3. Peace lily
4. Zamioculcas zamiifolia (ZZ)
5. Aglaonema
6. Bamboo palm
7. Calatheas
8. Ferns
9. Philodendrons
10. Rubber plant

To know how to care for these plants and get a more detailed list of indoor plants, do visit Ugaoo.