Plants in the bedroom to clean the night-time air

23 April 2012

As Earth Day has passed (22nd April 2012), the Huffington Post carries a report that suggests we should consider air pollution as a serious matter.

But not just during the day but night too.  Author of the article Rubin Naiman says that indoor air is often more polluted than outdoor air, something that eFIG members have known for some time.  He cites bed linen, wall and floor coverings, dust mites and many other usual suspects of polluting the night time air.

He has a number of remedies from choosing organic bed linens to using VOC free paints etc, managing dust mites and ventilating the bedroom.  He also quotes NASA’s research about plants cleaning the air of the nasty pollutants.  He quotes many of the best known plants from the NASA list.

What he has failed to mention is a further study also undertaken by Bill Wolverton who was responsible for the much quoted NASA research.  Wolverton found that orchids, Bromeliads and succulents were the best for cleaning night air as they conducted photosynthesis at night, during which natural air cleaning takes place.

Naiman adds, “Not surprisingly, what we do to support Earth Night will also support Earth Day.”