Plants That Can Actually Help You Breathe Easier
If you’re anything like us, you love natural, easy ways to keep your home’s air clean and toxin-free. One of the easiest ways to ensure that your home is set up for optimal wellness is a simple houseplant.
Houseplants are one of the easiest ways to purify and add oxygen to your home’s air, increase humidity for sinus health, and improve overall immunity. Here are a few of the top plants you may want to consider adding to your home to create a healthy environment for respiratory health.
Mother-In-Law’s Tongue (aka Sansevieria)
This plant gets its name from its long, tongue-like leaves with sharp, pointy tips - which is why they’re also commonly called snake plants. Not only are these plants one of the best air purifying houseplants available, but they are also nearly impossible to kill. With low-light requirements and drastically little need for water (as in, 9-12 waterings per year), you won’t have to do much to reap the benefits of this gorgeous plant.
Sansevieria plants have been proven by NASA to remove 107 air pollutants, including formaldehyde and carbon monoxide. Also, this plant doesn’t bloom or require pollen for reproduction, so it’s incredibly easy on your sinuses.
Areca Palm
One of the best reasons to bring home an areca palm, especially if you deal with any sort of sinus issue? Areca palms not only purify the air, but they also are a great air humidifier. Lack of moisture in the air can actually lead to sinus infections and sinusitis. Your home should be kept at a humidity level between 35 and 65 percent. Too dry, and you may end up with irritated sinuses. Too humid and you risk mold and bacteria growth that can also lead to sickness.
Especially in the winter, dry air can negatively impact your sinus health, so housing an areca palm will keep your home from getting too dry. A 6-foot areca palm can release up to a quart of water into the air every 24 hours.
Peace Lily
Like sansevieria, peace lilies are one of the best air purifiers you can find for your home. With gorgeous, dramatic white blooms and dark green leaves, peace lilies are a beautiful addition to your home that can also break down and neutralize formaldehyde, carbon monoxide, and benzene gases in the air. Exposure to too much formaldehyde gas in the air can lead to symptoms like tightness in the chest and wheezing, so a peace lily can have a big impact on your breathing.
Peace lilies are fairly moderate in their need for air and water. In fact, it’s easy to tell when you need to water it: the leaves start to droop, letting you know when it needs a drink. With benefits ranging from cleaner air to better humidity levels, peace lilies will add color, texture, and health to your home.
Bamboo Palm
A sunny spot is all that bamboo palms require to make your home a healthier one. Bamboo palms break down harmful toxins in the air that can be damaging to your respiratory system, like formaldehyde, trichloroethylene, and benzene, leaving behind clean oxygen and moist air so you can breathe easy.
Eager to create a healthier sleep environment? Find a sunny spot in your bedroom where you can keep a cluster of bamboo palms. It will keep the humidity levels in your bedroom up where they should be and you can even increase their humidifying potential by adding small pebbles to the saucers underneath the plants and filling them with small amounts of water. It will keep your palms happy and humidify your room. Just don’t forget to empty and rinse the pebbles frequently to keep algae from growing, which can affect your allergies and your sinuses.
Red-Edged Dracaena
According to NASA, this variety of dracaena is one of the most efficient air purifying plants you can keep in your home. It eliminates formaldehyde, trichloroethylene, benzene, and xylene from the air, and requires very little care with slightly moist soil and indirect sunlight. Two or three 8-to-10 inch plants per every 100 square feet will adequately keep your air clean and add more oxygen to your home.
Red-edged dracaena, also known as a Madagascar dragon tree, can grow up to 8 feet tall if you let them. However, these plants grow relatively slowly and can be pruned smaller to match the size of your space.
Breathe Easy at Home
With these houseplants, your home will not only be a healthier environment for your sinuses and respiratory system, but it will be greener, more beautiful, and more tranquil. We think you’ll love the improved air quality, better humidity levels, and increased oxygen these houseplants will bring to your home.
Looking for other ways to improve your respiratory health? Airloom supplements support your immune and respiratory systems, encouraging healthy histamine responses to irritants in the air with safe, all-natural, pronounceable ingredients. Make Airloom a regular part of your daily routine so you can breathe easier. Questions about how Airloom works?
