TYLER TOLMAN BLOG
Indoor Pollution | How to Get Clean Air in Your Home
Indoor Pollution | How to Get Clean Air in Your Home
Many health-conscious people go to great lengths ensuring that their food, water and cosmetics are organic and free from toxins, but how many of us are conscious about the quality of air we are breathing? Air is our most vital requirement to stay alive and the first of the 7 Principles of Health that I teach.
What is Causing Indoor Air Pollution?
We think of our homes as our sanctuaries, a safe haven from the outside world, but the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) ranked indoor air pollution among the top 5 greatest risks to public health! Poor airflow in many homes allows pollutants to stagnate and affect indoor air quality.
So how can the air in our homes and offices be a hazard? Where are these toxins coming from?
Well, most people don’t even realise that paint, carpet, new furniture, appliances, etc off-gas toxic chemicals benzene, trichloroethylene and formaldehyde. These chemicals can cause weakness in the immune system leading to flu, constant coughs, fluid in the lungs, blocked sinuses and could pose long term health problems also. This is something I certainly don’t want for any of my family, or yours!!
Did you know many wealthy families will actually purchase furniture and have it kept in a warehouse for 6 months to off-gas the formaldehyde before bringing it into their home?! I don’t know about you but that’s not in my budget or in my patience zone!
How to Clean the Air in Your Home or Office in Less Than 24 Hours
Don’t worry, I’m here to make your life easier, not scarier. And yes, I’ll let you in on an amazing solution! There are these brilliant air filters called “PLANTS”. They’re cheap, they clean the air constantly, they last a long time, come in a variety of shapes and sizes and they look brilliant in any home.
There is science behind this too. In 1989 NASA did this really cool experiment where a sealed chamber was filled with indoor pollutants and then many varieties of plants were put inside.
They found that Mother-In-Law’s Tongue, Florist’s Chrysanthemum, Money Plant (also knowns as “Devil’s Ivy”) and Peace Lilies were amongst the best air cleaners and eliminated over 95% of the toxins. AND did so in less than 24 hours!! They also found the Areca Palm and Mother-In-Law’s Tongue were among the best at producing oxygen.
They found with the right mix of plants cleaning the air and producing oxygen you could breathe indefinitely inside a sealed chamber. Wow! That’s pretty cool.
What Are You and Your Family Breathing in?
If you have a newborn baby consider all the new things in the nursery that could be off-gassing toxins that are affecting their development. If you run a business and have an office full of tired lethargic employees, could it be the air they’re breathing?
I don’t know about you but I don’t want to be breathing in toxic air that is low in oxygen, so after figuring this all out I decided to deck out every room of my house with plants! It didn’t cost much and they will last a long time. I just take them outside on the weekends for some sun and that keeps them healthy and happy!
Here are a few I really like:
Areca Palm is brilliant at pumping out oxygen. It’s not as good at cleaning the air though, so it’s important to have a mix of plants for optimal air quality.
Peace Lilies complement the Areca Palm nicely as they are great for removing benzene, formaldehyde, and trichloroethylene from the air. Plus, they look pretty nice when they flower too.
Mother-in-Law’s Tongue or “Snake Plant”, looks like a cactus and off-gases oxygen, specifically at night, so I have this one in all bedrooms throughout my house. It’s just nice knowing while that I’m sleeping I’m getting more oxygen and not breathing in nasty toxins. This way I wake up feeling fresh, energised and alive!!
Fun Fact: In Vegas, they pump oxygen into the gambling rooms to keep people more alert – because it works! Imagine the added benefit from sleeping or working in a room full of fresh oxygen.
The Colour Green is Healing and Proven to Instantly Relax
So do yourself a favour!! If you read this and it sounds cool, go out today (otherwise you will forget) and go buy some plants and start breathing in the benefits.
The results go beyond the air improvement too! Studies also show having plants around us naturally causes us to breathe deeper and the colour green is healing for the eyes and calming to the nerves.
So take a big breath in and relax!
Thanks for reading!
