Air Quality: The Forgotten Pillar of a Healthy Life
- Ellen Rabaey
- Dec 2
- 4 min read
We spend hours cleaning our homes, choosing the right foods, or filtering our drinking water. But one element we often overlook: the air we breathe day in, day out. Ironically, we spend about 90% of our time indoors, while indoor air is on average 2 to 5 times more polluted than outdoor air. Sometimes even up to 100 times more polluted, depending on ventilation, materials, and lifestyle (EPA, WHO).
It's a silent burden: you don't see it, you usually don't smell it, but your body certainly feels it.
What pollutes our indoor air?
The biggest culprits are often surprisingly mundane.
PM2.5: ultrafine particles that can penetrate deep into our lungs and even the bloodstream. They come from cooking, fireplaces, candles, particulate matter from outdoors, and some cleaning methods.
VOCs (Volatile Organic Compounds): chemical fumes from paint, furniture, adhesives, cosmetics, cleaning products, and even scented candles or diffusers.
Microorganisms: mold, bacteria, pollen—often due to excessive humidity or poor maintenance.
Lifestyle habits such as smoking, fireplaces, deep frying, or frequent candle burning contribute significantly to indoor air pollution.
In therapies related to stress and burnout, I see how air quality subtly plays a role. A space that feels heavy, smells musty, or is insufficiently ventilated increases physiological arousal. Your nervous system then uses more energy to constantly monitor whether it's safe enough. This can affect your window of tolerance.
Because when we look at nutrition, what we eat, how we eat it, and the state of our digestive system are important.
At the cellular level, we get energy through the mitochondria in the cell, but also from glucose (food) and oxygen (air), so just like nutrition, air quality is very important.
How do we improve our indoor air?
1. Ventilation: the basics, always
Research is crystal clear on this: ventilation is the most important step. Fresh outside air dilutes pollutants, reduces CO₂, and supports cognitive functions.
Open windows daily (preferably short cross-ventilation, 10–15 minutes).
Maintain the ventilation system (replace filters regularly).
Avoid drying laundry indoors whenever possible.
It's simple, but underestimated in many homes.
2. Air purification: useful, if applied correctly
Air purifiers can help, especially in:
rooms where people spend a lot of time (living room, bedroom),
homes on busy streets,
periods with pollen or smoke from nearby fireplaces.
Choose a device with a HEPA filter (H13 or H14) and an activated carbon filter. Avoid devices that produce ozone—that actually leads to more air pollution and irritation.
Note: an air purifier never replaces ventilation. It's an extra layer, not a solution in itself.
3. Avoid polluting sources
This is where the greatest gains can be made. We often pollute our air ourselves without realizing it.
Candles → use natural wax (beeswax/soy wax), unscented, and burn them sparingly.
Cleaning products → choose products with low VOCs (ecolabels are useful here).
Fireplaces → cozy, but a significant source of ultrafine dust. Use seasonally dried wood and ensure draft and ventilation.
New furniture → especially MDF, glues, and lacquers can emit VOCs for weeks. Allow air to circulate and avoid buying new furniture just before using a room (such as a child's room).
Cooking → always turn on the extractor hood, even when baking at a low temperature.
Smoking → never okay indoors, even with an open window; smoke penetrates deeply into materials.
4. Plants: aesthetics, well-being, and a limited but valuable filtering function
Plants are often promoted as the solution for indoor air purification. This image stems primarily from the well-known NASA Clean Air Study from 1989, where a few plants were able to remove VOCs from sealed test chambers. That research was valuable, but it was conducted under laboratory conditions: small, closed spaces, little air movement, and one plant per cubic meter.
In a real home, the effect is more subtle. Plants don't replace ventilation or air purifiers, but they do contribute to:
reducing certain VOCs (albeit to a limited extent),
improving humidity,
increasing thermal comfort and acoustics,
calming the nervous system (biophilia),
and creating a space that naturally encourages calmer breathing.
And that's precisely what makes them valuable for a living environment that supports health and recovery.
Plants with proven filtering capacity (NASA & follow-up studies)
Here are species for which there is sufficient research on VOC reduction and indoor climate:
1. Peace Lily (Spathiphyllum)
Filters: benzene, formaldehyde, trichloroethylene.
Ideal for: living space,
Bedroom (preferably not next to the bed due to moisture)
2. Sansevieria / Mother-in-law's Tongue (Sansevieria trifasciata)
Filters: benzene, formaldehyde.
Unique: continues to convert CO₂ at night (CAM plant).
Ideal for: bedroom.
3. Ivy (Hedera helix)
Filters: benzene, xylene, formaldehyde.
Ideal for: damp bathrooms (effective against mold spores).
4. Areca Palm (Dypsis lutescens)
Filters: xylene, toluene.
Helps regulate humidity (natural humidifier).
Ideal for: living space, workspace.
5. Rubber Plant (Ficus elastica)
Filters: formaldehyde.
Strong in large spaces due to leaf surface area.
Ideal for: living spaces with plenty of light.
6. Boston fern (Nephrolepis exaltata)
Filters: formaldehyde.
Very efficient for humidity control.
Ideal for: bathroom or kitchen.
7. Dragon tree (Dracaena species)
Filters: benzene, trichloroethylene, formaldehyde.
Ideal for: entryway, living room.
8. Pothos / Epipremnum aureum
Filters: formaldehyde, benzene.
Ideal for: low-light areas; easy to maintain.
And then: how do we actually breathe?
Good air quality is one side of the story. The way we breathe is the other.
The nose is a powerful filtering system:
It warms and humidifies the air,
Filters microparticles,
Activates nitric oxide production, which helps with vasodilation and oxygen transport,
And stimulates the parasympathetic nervous system.
Mouth breathing, especially chronically, is linked to:
poorer sleep,
increased stress response,
more respiratory infections,
less concentration.
A simple yet powerful habit: nasal breathing during daily activities—walking, light exercise, working, resting. It's a nudge that costs virtually nothing but yields a lot.
What can you do today?
Open windows twice a day.
Avoid scented candles and harsh cleaning products.
Keep candles and fireplaces to a minimum.
Invest in a good air purifier as a supplement.
Breathe consciously through your nose.
Include plants (for well-being, not as a primary filter).
Create a calming, clean, and uncluttered living space.
Small steps, big impact.
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