I was talking to my mam the other week, she was telling me that when you buy seaweed in an restaurant I need to check that its real and not deep fried cabbage, that’s my mam always coming out with random things. I don’t know how we got onto the topic of itchy skin, my mam asked if I still had my Aloe Vera plant which I do its not the most attractive plant we have but it doesn’t need to much attention so it suits us. We got talking about the benefits of the plant as we have always used the gel that comes out when you break the leaves for dry skin and itchy spots. You can also use the gel on your dog if they have dry/itchy skin but to make sure they cannot lick it as they will get a bad stomach.
My mam said to put the plant in the bedroom as it is good for oxygen, this made me laugh always quick to say ‘where did you get this from ‘Facebook’ my mam answer ‘I never listen, in our homes, indoor air is more and more important to be healthy’ my mam loves plants and I am sure she talks to them. So, she asked me to look into for myself, then got talking about chesses scones and pies and there is no plain flour in the shops.
So, I thought I would investigate my mam’s facts that aloe vera plants clean the air.
Well in fact, the air inside our homes is more polluted than the air outside, so it’s important to take care of it however possible. What is the best way to purify the air indoors? What we have to do to protect ourselves from toxic gases in our homes?
All we need to do is to keep houseplants that work as air purifiers in our homes which keeps us healthy. When it comes to houseplants, aloe vera comes into picture as one of the best plants to be placed indoors.
Of course yes, aloe vera plant helps to remove harmful pollutants known as VOCs from the air and takes up carbon dioxide and provides abundant oxygen back into the air around it. This is a succulent so it’s easy to maintain and doesn’t require much water as well.
The “NASA” plants offered the additional benefit of eliminating all toxic compounds or volatile organic compounds in the air. All the toxic chemicals released from building materials, furniture, cleaning supplies, and other products into the air.
The specific plants from the NASA study are most effective at removing all these toxins and let’s see how aloe vera cleans the air.
Aloe vera was shown to remove benzene, formaldehyde in the air around us. This plant is good at filtering out formaldehyde over a continuous period of time. Even though it is easy to maintain, it develops brown spots if there is a high level of certain toxins, so the plant itself serves as a natural air quality monitor.
This plant also has some ability to remove Xylene it’s typically found in paints, solvents, and varnishes inside your home.
When shopping your own aloe vera indoor plant, make sure you need several aloe vera plants to achieve the same results as some of the other, larger tropical plants have achieved. Otherwise, the aloe vera plant performed average to well during the study.
Aloe vera is also a great plant to remove carbon dioxide especially more at night and releases oxygen when it’s exposed to light again. This is the reason why it is also called an oxygen bomb.
If you are looking for a plant in your bedroom to take up carbon dioxide you breathe, aloe vera is a good choice. In fact, the principal scientist of NASA recommends that every bedroom should have an aloe vera plant. Generally, the aloe vera plant needs low maintenance and little water to survive easily.
So I am sorry mam for laughing at you about plants in doors. I now will be looking into how cows know when its going to rain, one of my mams facts again.
Chris Hutchinson
