Your body is your temple. Your home is your temple too, for god’s sake! Your cabinets are stocked with “clean” products for scrubbing your face and your floors. You’ve got everything covered, right?
Turns out there is one thing you might not have thought about. The air around you. It might surprise you, but the air inside your home is actually up to five times more polluted than the air outside. Pretty insane. And considering how much time we all spend indoors, particularly in these arctic Dutch winters, it is as important to detox your air as it is your diet.
The good news is that all of these chic, Instagrammable plants we all covet are as beneficial to the toxicity levels in our homes as they are the number of likes on our latest posts. These detox plants absorb the harmful toxins floating around in the air, process them and spit out clean toxin-free oxygen. In essence, they remove some of the bad stuff, pumping the good stuff back out for you to breathe free and easy.
While you don’t really need to fill your house to the brim with plants, turning it into a veritable jungle, the more detoxifying plants you can find little corners for, the better. This increases the amount of toxins that will be absorbed, as well as the pure air that will be cycled through your home.
Don’t really have a green thumb and not sure what to buy? We’ve got five of the best air-purifying plants for you here to help you join the green party.
Aloe Vera: Aloe Vera is probably one of the very best options out there. Not only will it help to clean and detoxify your air but the clear liquid hiding within its leaves is full of vitamins, enzymes and amino acids that have anti-inflammatory, anti-bacterial and healing properties. And the fact that they are super low maintenance (read, almost impossible to kill) makes them perfect for first time gardeners.
Snake plant: This is another plant that will resist all your attempts to murder it. They love a dry environment, so even if you forget to water this little guy when you go on vacation, he’ll still be a champ, detoxifying your air, when you return.
Boston fern: These lovely, leafy plants give you bang for your buck. They are inexpensive and easy to find, and they rank up there at number 9 on NASA’s list of the top purifying plants on the planet.
Garden mum: Looking for something a bit more festive? These gorgeous flowers are proven to remove ammonia, formaldehyde, benzene and xylene from the air around them. Once they’ve reached full bloom, you can also move them outside to your balcony to keep the air out there extra clean for a summer drink in the sun.
Spider plant: Another house plant so easy to care for you could basically do it in your sleep, the spider plant is perfect if you want to step up your game and get a little variety in your indoor garden. Best thing about them? Eventually they will send out little shoots with flowers that will grow into baby spider plants called spiderettes! Adorable.