Grow an Indoor Garden

Houseplants release blood-enriching oxygen, and the ones on this list can also cleanse your indoor air of chemicals, according to NASA research (conducted to find ways to clean air in space stations–cool!) They’re also black-thumb-proof. NASA’s suggestion: For a 1,800-square-foot house, place 15-18 of these plants in 6- to 8-inch-diameter containers. (Take care where you place them if you have young children or pets–some are poisonous if ingested.)

 Bamboo palm or reed palm

Chinese evergreen

Cornstalk dracaena

Elephant ear philodendron

English ivy

Gerbera daisy or Barberton daisy

Golden pothos (devil’s ivy)

Heartleaf philodendron

Janet Craig dracaena

Peace lily

Pot mum or florist’s chrysanthemum

Red-edged dracaena

Rubber plant

Selloum philodendron

Snake plant or mother-in-law’s tongue

Spider plant

Warneck dracaena

Weeping fig

You may think of pollution as just an outdoor issue, but studies of human exposure to air pollutants shown by the EPA indicate indoor levels of pollutants may be 2-5 times higher than outdoor pollutant levels–but, if the windows are closed, say all winter, these levels could even be 100 times higher. Did you know?: Many of the materials used inside homes, schools, and office buildings  continue to off-gas tons of nasty chemicals for 2 or more years? (Yuck.)  Read more up on VOC levels and how to clean them up–without using cleansers that conveniently omit different harmful chemicals! Visit: acleanfit.co/cleanser/