Looking for ways to purify your personal space in the name of wellness? Turns out incorporating some indoor foliage into your décor scheme is so much more than an aesthetic endeavor. Simply put, you can use houseplants to clean the air. "While humans breathe in oxygen and breathe out carbon dioxide, plants do the opposite—they absorb carbon dioxide and convert that into fresh oxygen, which then humans can inhale and start the cycle all over again," explains Washington, D.C.–based plant feng shui expert Clara Leung, who is also the owner of the wildly successful Facebook Marketplace shop Clara's Green House. "During this process, plants are also able to remove toxins from the air we breathe."
The aforementioned toxins are volatile organic compounds (known as VOCs), which can be found in household items and paints, with examples including formaldehyde, benzene, and trichlorethylene, explains Alfred Palomares, vice president of merchandising and resident plant dad at 1-800-Flowers.com. Studies have found that indoor houseplants can cause up to a whopping 89% reduction in VOCs in the air, he adds, proving the undeniable link between keeping your place full of plants and cleaner air.