Did you know that indoor air pollution can be extremely dangerous to your health?

Tuesday, February 23, 2016 by: L.J. Devon, Staff Writer
Tags: air quality, cleansing plants, toxic chemicals

---

(NaturalNews) As we become conscious of our health decisions, we often focus solely on what we are putting in our bodies. The connection between what we eat and drink and how it affects our health has long been established. As the father of medicine Hippocrates once said, "Let food be your medicine, and medicine your food." Modern health movements have become obsessed with dieting, and while it's important to eat and digest nutritious foods, we often forget about other, equally-important facets of our health.

The largest organ on the body, the skin, isn't just a barrier, separating us from the outside world. The skin absorbs its environment and acts as a portal communicating between our inner world and the outside environment that we connect with. The substances we put on our bodies can either nourish the blood or they can poison it, interfering with normal body functions.

Similarly, the strongest muscle in our body, the heart, does more than just pump blood. The emotionally-charged feelings we have in our hearts send messages to our brains, regulating hormones and cellular functions, while sending messages through us and outside our bodies to the people we come in contact with.

In much the same way, we are quick to overlook the most abundant resource that connects us all. The connection between our breath and our health is easily overlooked, because breathing is an automatic reflex and we cannot see the air we are breathing. Oftentimes we feel separated from one another, but when we envision the air for what it truly is, we see how we are truly connected to one another and how air quality affects our inner health.

Today so many of us spend most of our time indoors, disconnected from fresh air. We stay cooped up in our indoor environments, constantly breathing in the same polluted air. As we stay in our boxes, we do not truly adapt to the world that is around us. In this way, our bodies become more susceptible to the ill effects of pathogens. Incorporating fresh air into our lives on a daily basis could be a more essential habit than eating an apple a day. Breathing fresh air through the nose is important because the nose acts as a first line of defense, filtering out undesirables from the outside world. The nose also warms the air, preparing it for the lungs. The more we properly breathe fresh air, the more we nourish the blood, strengthening entire systems of the body.

Indoor air pollution could be one of the most overlooked, most dangerous threats to our health. As HealthNutNews reports, "... indoor air toxicity is often up to twice that of outdoor, which can lead to asthma, headaches, allergies, hormone imbalances and other health problems."

The quality of our indoor air is significantly reduced in the presence of household chemicals. Synthetic cleaning products, pesticides, perfumes and fragrances, can negatively affect hormones, leading to mood changes, weight gain and sleep disturbances. Even carpets, synthetic furniture, dry-cleaned clothes, paints and computers, all release indoor air pollution, reducing the quality of the air we breathe.

The mold in our indoor environments can be one of the most debilitating forces to our bodies, infecting the sinuses, interfering with healthy breathing patterns, sleep patterns and heart rhythms.

There are several ways to purify the air to improve our breathing experience. There are many great indoor air purifiers on the market. It's important to replace chemical-based cleaning products, artificial fragrances and perfumes with natural, essential oil-based products.

The most natural way to purify the air is to bring air-purifying plants into the home setting. Plants such as Areca palm release moisture in the air and convert carbon dioxide into oxygen. A plant called Mother-in-law's Tongue removes formaldehyde, trichloroethylene, xylene, toluene and benzene from the air. Gerbera Jamesonii (Gerbera Daisy) oxygenates the room and takes out a host of airborne chemicals too. All three plants are great to grow indoors for anyone experiencing asthma or breathing problems in their home environment. NASA recommends that homeowners maintain 15 plants for a 2,000 square-foot home.

The more we reconnect with the natural environment and remove the chemicals polluting our air, the more we become in touch with ourselves, one another and our health freedom. The quality of the air and how we breathe it affects every system of our bodies.

Sources include:

HealthNutNews.com

Gutenberg.org