The usual suspects that cause asthma, such as secondhand smoking, dust mites, mold, pests like cockroaches, and pets, are well known to all of us. Did you know that the indoor air quality and your asthma might be impacted by your houseplants?
The Good: Many Common Houseplants Improve Indoor Air Quality
The impacts of pollution and pollutants in our external environment are typically mitigated by plants. The poisons that can be found in our interior settings include volatile organic compounds (VOCs). Benzene and formaldehyde are two typical indoor VOC contaminants. Plastics, textiles, insecticides, and cigarette smoke all contain benzene. Formaldehyde may be present in common household products including carpet cleaners, fabric softeners, and dish detergent.
Asthma and more severe disorders like cancer and respiratory ailments have been related to VOCs. Through their leaves and roots, plants serve as filters to filter out these dangerous contaminants. Additionally, the soil’s microbial inhabitants play a significant role in air neutralization. The Peace Lily, Golden Pothos, Red-Edged Dracaena, Snake Plant, and Asparagus Fern are plants that are good for the air.
The Bad: These Houseplants are Indoor Irritants
The sap from your amiable ficus, which fills a vacant corner, contains allergies. Male palms produce an excessive amount of pollen. If you want to find a “female” palm that doesn’t produce pollen, check with your neighborhood nursery. English ivy can irritate the skin. Although African violets have lovely blossoms, their leaves tend to collect dust.
Cut flowers shouldn’t be overlooked! If there are allergy sufferers in your home, you might wish to choose flowers like lilies, iris, roses, and zinnias that produce less pollen. Avoid including sunflowers, chrysanthemums, and daisies in your tabletop arrangements.
Healthy Plants Mean Healthier Air: Avoid the Ugly Reality of Mold and Fungi
Overwatering your plants might result in the growth of mold and fungus, which are well-known asthma triggers. To maintain their health and reduce overwatering, put plants like ferns in areas with greater humidity levels, like your bathroom.
Do houseplants contribute to asthma?
House Plants While some indoor plants, such as the Peace Lily or English Ivy, can actually assist in removing airborne contaminants, many indoor plants can exacerbate asthma symptoms when they grow mildew due to over-watering. In order to obtain a plant that will assist in purifying the air in your home, contact your neighborhood nursery.
Are indoor plants beneficial for asthma?
Plants can affect asthma both favorably and unfavorably. Plants can generally alleviate asthma symptoms and reduce air pollution, despite the fact that many of them are known to make cases of pollen allergy worse. Your condition may be impacted by how you care for your plants, both indoor and outdoor.
Which plants cause asthma to flare up?
Some people’s hay fever and asthma symptoms have been linked to a variety of plants.
Wind-pollinated plants typically provide more of a threat than insect- or bird-pollinated plants because their lighter, smaller pollen is more likely to fly airborne and be ingested.
This category includes deciduous plants that produce pollen from unimpressive-looking blooms.
In New Zealand, “problem plants” are typically found there.
produce a lot of pollen, the most of which falls to the ground within 15 meters. Some people find the scent of privet offensive
As they are growing more frequently here, olive trees have also recently been noted as posing an increasing problem.
Alder, ash, coprosma, cypress, elm, liquidambar, maple, mulberry, and plane trees are other very widespread shrubs and trees that some people may be sensitive to.
The Asteraceae family of flowers, which includes chrysanthemums, marigolds, and daisies, can also act as a trigger.
Large, colorful flowers on plants that are pollinated by birds and insects are less likely to bother asthmatics and allergy sufferers.
The best course of action for those who are impacted is avoidance:
- Any plants in your garden that give you trouble, remove.
- Avoid venturing outside on windy days.
- Keep the windows closed, especially when driving outside. The amount of pollen brought into the car is decreased by the air intake filters installed in some vehicles.
- As your asthma grows worse or better, use your self-management plan to help you alter your prescription.
- If you have a nasal spray, keep using it to treat the symptoms of hay fever.
- You can estimate the likelihood of risk from exposure to your triggers by using pollen forecasts. Pollen counts are included in MetService’s forecasts. www.metservice.co.nz
- Try a skin prick test to learn more about the things that make you allergic (see our Asthma and allergy fact sheet for more information.)
- Close quarters inhalation of pollen, dust, and spores can result from mowing, weeding, and pruning of hedges. If you are sensitive to any of these, get your lawns mowed and your hedges pruned, and stay inside while they are being done. Wear a mask to help limit exposure if you have to do these things alone.
- You might want to think about replacing lawns with concrete or plantings over the long run, and fencing or trellis over hedges. Use the right mulches and ground cover plants to reduce the amount of weeding you do.
- Avoid organic mulches like tree bark and manures if mold spores are an asthma trigger, and use gravel mulch in their place. Have someone else maintain your compost because moulds and bacteria are both necessary for composting. When opening packages of potting mix, be careful to do so gently and away from your face.
Which plants are a cause of respiratory issues?
Less likely to cause allergic symptoms are these plants:
- Delphinium. According to the National Gardening Association, delphinium is a majestic perennial that is frequently planted for its brilliant, spurred blooms. Early summer is when it blooms and produces the most pollen. Delphinium, often known as larkspur, thrives in regions with chilly, wet summers, such as the Pacific Northwest and the Northeast.
- Daffodil. Daffodils thrive all over the United States because they can withstand the cold. According to the American Daffodil Society, they bloom in the early spring and can endure anywhere from six weeks and six months, depending on where you reside.
- Plum tree with purple leaves. Early spring, when this tree blossoms, is when it produces the most pollen. All around the country, it can be found in gardens and yards.
- evergreen plants and trees There are many different types of evergreen trees and bushes, which are so-called because their leaves or needles last all year. Conifers, the most of which are evergreen, occasionally drop pollen in the spring.
Respiratory allergies might be made worse by some trees. Those to be clear of are:
- Ash (Fraxinus). According to the Irish Asthma Society, ash trees produce a lot of pollen. Although ash can be found all over North America, invasive insects have been causing the species to go extinct.
- Birch (Betula). Birch trees, which may be found in almost all states, flower in the spring and then release pollen.
- Oak (Quercus). There are more than 80 different species of oak trees in North America, and they can be found all over the world. They begin to bloom in the spring and grow throughout the summer. The next spring, the pollen that sets off your allergy symptoms emerges. Your neighborhood garden center or nursery should be able to assist you in determining which oak trees are male and which are the less pollen-producing female trees if you have oak trees in your yard and wish to remove them.
According to the Asthma Society of Ireland, shrubs can be male or female, just like trees, and those who suffer from respiratory allergies should avoid male shrubs because they produce more pollen. Shrubs to stay away from generally include:
- Forsythia. As spring is just getting started, this is one of the first shrubs to bloom at the end of winter. According to the Arbor Day Foundation, this is the time when it releases the most pollen. Except for Florida, southern Texas, California, and the colder regions of Montana, Minnesota, and North Dakota, forsythia thrives everywhere else.
- Holly. Spring is when holly bushes bloom. They can be found all around the country, although the southern states seem to have the most of the tree kind, which can reach a height of 40 feet.
There is one main culprit when it comes to grasses:
- the zoysia grass According to the Missouri Botanical Garden, zoysia grass is among the greatest pollen offenders despite being well-known for being drought-tolerant and sun-loving. From the Gulf Coast through Texas and from the northern Atlantic states to Florida, zoysia grass is grown. Early spring to late October constitute the growth season. In order to reduce blooming and pollen output, keep this grass short.
According to the American Academy of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology, allergy testing is the best method for figuring out which plants make you allergic. Your allergist can also provide you advice on how to control your allergy symptoms and stay away from bothersome plants.
Can houseplants indoors induce allergies?
Allergic To Houseplants: Can Houseplants Cause Allergies. Home plants: Can they trigger allergies? The answer is yes, and allergies can be brought on by either inhaling or handling plant parts.
Which indoor plants cause allergies?
The following houseplants have a history of causing allergies: Hoya carnosa, waxplant (respiratory tract reaction) ferns (respiratory tract reaction) Calm lily Wallisii Spathiphyllum (runny nose, respiratory tract reaction, contact allergy) species of philodendron Ph.
Can houseplants give you the flu?
indoor plants in pots When you keep a potted plant in your house or place of business, the mold spores it releases can irritate your respiratory system. The usual coughing and sneezing that characterize an allergic reaction result from this.
Can too many indoor plants be unhealthy?
By removing mold from your indoor plants’ leaves, you can lessen your exposure to it. On living plants, mold is readily removed with a damp cloth. Never use a dry paper towel for this; doing so will cause the air to become more contaminated with mold spores.
When cleaning, swap out the paper towels to stop the accumulation of dust and mold from spreading. Use a spray bottle to make cleaning easier overall and make sure you’re cleaning in a well-ventilated location.
It will take some extra work to get the mold out of the soil itself. A spade or spoon should be used to remove the moldy top layer of soil, which should then be put into a plastic bag for convenient disposal.
After getting rid of any indications of visible mold, replace the top layer of stripped soil with fresh potting soil. To stop additional exposure to mold, you may need to replace more than just the top layer if the infestation has spread too far.
To prevent the growth of any mold spores, add a natural, organic anti-fungal product to your soil. A fantastic alternative that will prevent mold growth and is safe for the plant itself is cinnamon.
Put a thin layer of gravel on the bottom of your potting mix to prevent mold from returning and to provide a much better drainage system.
Place your indoor plants in a room with good ventilation. Make sure to open a window, use a dehumidifier, or turn on adequate ventilation fans because mold loves to grow in places with low ventilation.
HOUSEPLANTS, AVOIDING MOLD EXPOSURE:
Start with clean ground. If you buy a new plant, repot it in sterile soil because the soil may have been moldy when you brought it home from the store. Repot the plant after carefully removing all of the soil from its root ball.
Only water your houseplants when the soil is dry. A plant is typically exposed to mold when it is kept consistently damp. When you either overwater your houseplants or water on a schedule rather than by touch, this occurs. Before watering a houseplant, make sure the soil at the top is dry.
Increase the light. Making sure that indoor plants receive plenty of sunlight and, more importantly, that the sunlight falls on the soil is a terrific strategy to reduce moisture since mold adores the dark.
Insert a fan. As was said above, adding a fan will lessen your exposure to mold since excellent air circulation around the plant will prevent mold growth in the soil. This can be helped with a basic oscillating fan that is set to low.
Organize your indoor plants. Mold exposure is made worse by dead leaves and other organic debris. Regularly clip any dead stems and leaves.
Houseplants are not the only source of mold exposure. Mold is sly, which is the worst. Check these odd locations where mold can get the food and water it needs to grow to locate it:
Not to be overlooked are your home’s internal workings, which include:
The HVAC ducting, subflooring, heating and air conditioning filters, and drywall
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) state that exposure to mold can result in symptoms like stuffy nose, itchy eyes, wheezing, and skin rashes. Serious mold allergies can cause more severe symptoms in people, such as fever and shortness of breath. People with chronic lung conditions, such as obstructive lung disease, may potentially become infected with mold in their lungs.
Infants and young children are especially vulnerable to mold spore inhalation due to their immature immune systems. Infants spend more time on or near the floor than adults do, making them more susceptible to hazardous exposures and inhaling more dust. Scientists previously believed that lead poisoning in children was caused by them chewing on windowsills, but we now know that lead is actually the cause since it is a component of poisonous dust and mold. According to the Environmental Working Group, consuming these spores can impair the development of motor skills, memory, and learning.
To make an appointment with an AdvantaClean mold specialist right now, call 877-957-5670.
Is it acceptable to keep plants in a bedroom?
Bedroom plants are capable of more than merely enhancing the brightness of your bookshelf. Additionally, they can improve your mood, raise your creativity, lower your stress levels, boost your productivity, filter air pollutants organically, and do a lot more.
Many of us are unaware of how crucial air quality is. The insulation, paint, and furnishings in our homes frequently release poisons like formaldehyde and benzene into the air we breathe inside. Consider adding plants to your home to help filter the air. Through the holes in their leaves, plants can absorb hazardous pollutants, filtering and purifying the air you breathe every day.
In addition to their numerous health advantages, bedroom plants can provide a lovely decorative touch and a vivacious spirit to any indoor environment. Here are 10 of the greatest plants to keep in your bedroom if you want to add some greenery.