As we move into the crisp fall weather, inevitably, we’ll be spending more time indoors with the windows closed. The tail end of fire season can also bring smoky days that force us to hunker down at home. With less fresh air circulating inside and with the smoke potentially lingering outside, it’s more important than ever to understand that indoor air quality is an essential part of family health.
Time indoors
According to the United States Environmental Protection Agency, “Americans, on average, spend approximately 90 percent of their time indoors, where the concentrations of some pollutants are often two to five times higher than typical outdoor concentrations.” Common household cleaning items, synthetic building materials, home furnishings, personal care products, pesticides, carpets and paint can all release invisible pollutants such as formaldehyde, benzene and ammonia—volatile organic chemicals linked to skin irritation and respiratory problems.
Fortunately, there are many proactive steps we can take to clean and detoxify our home’s air and lessen the number of pollutants we breathe. Investing in a high-quality HEPA filter air purifier is a great start, but there are other budget-friendly, all-natural solutions, as well.
Toxens
For starters, we can look at the products we’re bringing into our homes and make conscious steps to swap out the offenders. Follow your nose and start with what you can smell: consider your dishwashing soap, laundry detergent and other everyday cleaning supplies. Are they rife with synthetic chemicals that may smell good, but which release harmful chemicals? Look for scentless, eco-friendly alternatives that don’t contain hormone-disrupting substances such as ammonia or phthalates.
So-called “air fresheners,” for example, pollute the home’s air far more than they freshen it. If you’re dealing with unpleasant odors, try cleaning with natural products such as baking soda and vinegar to reduce smells, then vaporize all natural essential oils instead of air fresheners to create a pleasant aromatic ambiance.
Likewise, traditional paraffin wax candles release small amounts of aerosolized pollutants into the air, which can harm overall health with extended exposure. Swapping paraffin wax for all natural beeswax candles can make a difference in lessening the overall toxic load.
Before purchasing expensive new pieces of furniture or painting your walls with a fresh coat of color, consider not just the cost and quality of the item, but also the effect on your family’s health. Many new wooden products are coated with chemical sealants that can release volatile organic chemicals, as can house paint. Fortunately, low-VOC and no-VOC alternatives exist for both wooden furniture sealants and house paints, so be a savvy consumer and make smart choices.
Mother nature’s cure
One of the very best cures comes straight from mother nature—plants. Science supports investing in indoor house plants as an eco-friendly cleaner–plus plants create a lovely home environment and can teach kids responsibility as they water and take care of them.
In the famous 1989 clean air study conducted by NASA, it was discovered that certain plants act as natural air filters to remove organic air pollutants. Since astronauts in outer space are subjected to recycled air, NASA wanted to find out how to keep the air as clean as possible. They spent two years studying a collection of plants in a sealed air chamber that was exposed to high concentrations of benzene, formaldehyde and trichloroethylene–all common household pollutants–and documented the percentage of each chemical that was removed by the plants. Incredibly, they realized that many plants scrubbed the air of these toxins over time. Plants can improve not only the health of astronauts in space but also the health of families at home.
The most effective plants in the study included: English and devil’s ivy, pothos plant, peace lily, Chinese evergreen, bamboo palm, variegated sansevieria or ‘snake plant,’ aloe vera, philodendron, chrysanthemum and spider plants. Likely you would need dozens of plants per room to get close to the effects seen by NASA, but even a few plants can help freshen and detoxify the air. All these plants look nice and are easily found in local plant nurseries.
Fresh air
Let’s not forget, the easiest mitigator of indoor air quality is also the cheapest: ventilation. Nothing beats opening a window, turning on a fan and letting in the breeze. So long as it’s not smoky, try to remember to crack windows often—it’s not only refreshing but clears the air of harmful chemicals.
This article appears in BendNest Fall 2025.
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