As our modern world becomes increasingly overloaded with an alphabet soup of chemicals, we’re often being affected without even realising we’re at risk. So, even if you choose natural products wherever you can — swapping citronella candles for mosquito spray and using face creams with natural ingredients such as green tea and almond oil — you may still be soaking up a cocktail of unseen chemicals at home, at work or while walking in the park or washing your hair.

Contact with harmful chemicals is a constant feature of daily life. We sleep on synthetic mattresses that have been treated with chemicals, breathe in vaporised chlorine from our shower water, use products on our skin that can contain harmful additives, clean our homes with harsh detergents, rely on electrical goods that release chemical vapours and eat and drink from plastic containers that can leach harmful chemicals into our food.

Limiting your exposure to this melting pot of environmental pollutants will not only keep your body healthy and looking younger for longer, it may also protect your genes from disease-related changes that can make you unwell and be passed on to your children.

Sick houses and buildings

In our Brave New World, chemical companies produce 400 million tonnes of chemicals and concoct a thousand new synthetic substances every year. Wood-burning stoves, open fires and gas heaters can lead to a buildup of toxic nitrogen dioxide, nitric oxide and other respirable particles, particularly if not well maintained and flued. Then there are the gases and chemicals we breathe in every day from glues, varnishes and treated components used in building materials, furniture/office equipment and chemical treatments on stain-resistant couches and carpets. Called volatile organic compounds (VOCs), these contaminants also emanate from lighting, computers, desks and couches. A number of materials, including insulation, carpet glue, finishes, resins and particleboard used for walls and ceilings also outgas VOCS in the form of heavy-duty chemicals, including formaldehyde and solvents such as styrene (used in the manufacture of rubber, plastic and other materials).

The problem with VOCS is they remain trapped inside homes and office buildings, where they circulate and are breathed into our bodies again and again, entering the bloodstream, brain and nervous system. This can lead to chronic health problems, often referred to as “sick building syndrome”. Many of these chemicals are lipid-soluble, which means they can enter your cell membranes and cause all manner of symptoms including depression, anxiety, poor memory and feelings of grogginess.

Links are now being made between indoor pollution and certain cancers, respiratory illness, immune system changes, allergies and behavioural and learning disorders. The burden of eliminating these chemicals from your body plus the damage they cause to your genes and the components of your cells can lead to premature ageing.

Obviously, opening windows and doors to air your home is a good strategy for improving air quality, but even this approach does not completely clear these chemicals and, in many office buildings, windows are small and fixed closed. That’s why indoor plants are an important addition — because they help to naturally filter the air.

Plants to the rescue

When scientists were working on the space shuttle Skylab 3, they found the indoor air was contaminated with more than 100 chemicals. But since plants recycle oxygen, they reasoned that plants might have a hidden talent for breaking down pollutants as well — and they were right. NASA research that focused on keeping the air for astronauts as clean as possible has found that plants can do a great deal to remove pollutants from indoor air. They absorb and break down chemicals through their leaves, roots and the micro-organisms in the soil.

The NASA studies have found that one potted plant per 100 square feet of floor space is the minimum needed to improve indoor air quality. The plants found to be most effective at removing indoor chemical pollution include dracaenas, bamboo palm, fig species, peace lily, philodendron, chrysanthemums, gerbera daisies, aloe vera and spider plants. By placing several varieties of indoor plants in different locations around your home and office you will ensure you get the maximum chemical filtering benefits from your plants and boost your longevity in the process.