How to make your home more beautiful and healthy with plants

Did you know that plants can help you be healthier at home?

You may have answered yes, after all, plants bring more beauty to our homes and create a cozier atmosphere. Right?

Yes, but our beloved plants are even more powerful than we think. They can improve the air quality in our homes, but before I tell you how, we need to talk about how the air quality in our homes is.

According to an American survey carried out before the pandemic, we lived about 90% of our time indoors. Today this rate is probably even higher, meaning that we are increasingly disconnected from nature and the benefits we get when we are in contact with it, such as reducing anxiety, stress, depression, respiratory diseases, and others. That's why it's so important to bring nature into our homes.

As air quality is not visible to the eye, we may not pay attention to it, but the fact is that the concentration of pollutants in our homes is two to five times higher than outside. This is because in recent decades the concentration of pollutants inside homes has increased considerably, due to inadequately ventilated buildings, the use of synthetic materials, personal hygiene products, pesticides and cleaning products containing toxic substances.

The effects of poor air quality on human health

These substances are associated with a range of effects on human health, including irritation of the eyes, nose and throat; headaches, dizziness and fatigue; respiratory and heart diseases and even cancer.

But don't worry, by taking a few steps you can improve the air quality in your home. Take a look:

1º - Opt for products without VOCs (volatile organic compounds) when choosing paints, sealants, adhesives, cleaning products, cosmetics, pesticides and others.

2º - Always remember to open the windows in your home, let it ventilate.

3rd - Use plants. In addition to carbon dioxide, plants absorb gases such as toluene, benzene and other types of VOCs.

That's right, we've finally reached them, the plants. A study carried out by NASA in the 1980s showed that some plants are able to absorb some of these compounds through their leaves and roots. Take a look at some of these species to make your home more beautiful and healthy: