What is true for maintaining a healthy office environment holds doubly true for the home.
      When you consider the artificial fibers and plastics that make up contemporary furniture, draperies and accesories, and the array of cleaning agents, insecticides, glues, tobacco smoke and beauty and grooming aids that are a part of daily life, you have a considerable collection of contaminants.

      Plants are extremely beneficial in this regard. Using clay pots, a lightweight, non-soil hydroponic medium (such as Hoffman's Fertilmix: A.H. Hoffman, Inc., Landisville, PA 17538) and natural insecticides such as orange oil derivatives (citrus oils kill insects, most probably by attacking the insect's nervous systems much like the organophosphates) or Neem (an extract from seeds of the neem tree(Azadirachata indica) contains a complex molecule, azadirachtin, that protects plants against 200 different insects), avoids allergic reactions.
     A 2% peppermint soap solution (Dr. Bronner's Peppermint 18-in-1) in distilled water makes an excellent cleaning/shining spray.

      Indoor light gardens are especially helpful in rooms which can be closed off from the rest of the house, such as bedrooms, dens, rec rooms, etc. In the usual house, the air is exchanged about once every hour or two. For plants alone to affect air quality, they must remove the contaminants faster than the normal ventilation system.

      In a closed room, air exchange can be controlled. The addition of ionizers/air filterers, fluroescent light-gardens and or pollutant-specific plants with pots modified to allow their roots to assist in pollution control, can make a profound difference in air quality, especially for asthmatics or others suffering from respiratory problems.

      Expert consensus favors air cleaning devices that combine technologies. Negative ion generators emit charged ions that act like magnets on pollution particles; thus, an air cleaner's effectiveness is enhanced by such a device.

      For full effectiveness, 8 to 15 plants in 12 in. or larger pots are required for an average sized home if used alone. Dr. Wolverton of NASA built a solarium across the front of his house and filled it with pollutant-specific plants. The ventilation system was modified so that a fan pulls all the air in the house through the solarium and across the filtering leaves.

      If full-spectrum fluorescents are used for lighting, benefits are enhanced even further. Research suggests that full-spectrum lighting can reverse seasonal depression (SAD) and stimulate the immune system. They also impact on PMS. Scientists at the National Institute of Mental Health found that it helps women to sit before fluorescent lights for five hours every evening from the time PMS begins until her menstrual period.

      Full-spectrum fluorescents are general stress-relievers. Plants impact on stress by virtue of their mere existence.
      Slides of vegetation shown to students after a test reduced stress. Horticultural researchers at Kansas State University have proven that plants (gardening) can significantly reduce physical stress by lowering blood pressure and pulse rate.

      Hospital patients in rooms with views of natural beauty need less medication than patients with comparable injuries and generally have faster recovery rates and slightly fewer complications.

      Matt Leahy, an interior landscaper for the Lombard office of Foliage Design Systems of Chicago, says that his business is in a constant state of growth because more and more companies want plants in their offices. Says Leahy:
          "Everyone loves plants. I service a dentist who says his plants act as anesthesia. He told me his customers say he is painless. His entire window in the office is covered with various plants. They calm people down and soften the hard lines in the office. The color green is very soothing."

      John Cheffers, a Boston University consultant on sports violence, said in an article in Psychology Today that the best way to keep angry sports fans from tearing up a stadium is to plant flowers. Cheffers says that:
          "We will jump over ropes, knock down barricades, tear up lawns, but it takes a lot to make us walk through a flower bed."

      At Morton Arboretum in Lisle, IL., horticulturist Charles Lewis has been studying 'plant-people' relationships for more than 20 years, and says that the relationship goes back to the prehistoric days. Lewis says that:
          "If man was fearful, he might hide in the edge of a forest. It made him feel safe. Or he would eat a particular vegetation, and that made him feel happy and content."
        Additionally, he reports that gardens in low- income housing have led to enhanced self-esteem and reduced vandalism and crime.

      Gardening has been widely used since the 1920's as therapy for mental patients, by putting them to work in fields and greenhouses. Gardening is widely used today for prisoners, the mentally retarded, the blind, physically handicapped and nursing-home patients.

High Humidity

      Houses that trap humidity promote the growth of molds and mildew. Sweating windowpanes are a tipoff that the house or apartment contains too much humidity.
      Molds are a matter of particular concern, because they are thought to give off gases that may produce allergic reactions or contribute to respiratory problems.

      Dust mites, another respiratory irritant, also thrive in warm damp interiors. The EPA estimates that exposure to dust mites, molds and similar irritants causes 20,000 hospital visits annually by asthma patients.

      When ingestion of molds and related organisms is high, it can trigger an immune response from the body that can lead to mild, and sometimes severe, psychological disorders.

      Interior humidity levels should remain between 30 and 50 percent.
      Sources: the bathroom (showers are a main source of moisture), the kitchen (steam from cooking adds humidity to a house), windows (condensing moisture can run down inside walls, damaging them), firewood (drying firewood releases moisture), attic (moisture is trapped and can rot beams), laundry room (unvented clothes dryers add admpness) and the basement (exterior moisture from downspouts and snow can seep in).

      Evaporative humidifiers, if used at all, should be cleaned at least once a week using a cup of bleach per gallon of water. Then rinse the tank thoroughly with plain water before refilling. Ultrasonics and spray humidifiers should be cleaned this way every day.

      Cool-mist vaporizers can spray live organisms into the air, and should not be used by people with respiratory problems.
Carbon Monoxide

     In the home, carbon monoxide poisoning resulting from faulty furnaces, water heaters, fireplaces, gas stoves and gas or kerosene room heaters can mimic the symptoms of flu.
     Dr. Paul S. Heckerling of the U. of Illinois Hospital estimates that 3 to 5 percent of patients coming into the emergency room in the winter of 1985-86 complaining of headache, sore throat and nausea were suffering from CO poisoning, with blood levels of the gas higher than 10 percent.

      CO displaces oxygen in the blood.
      Sources: CO results from the incomplete combustion of organic fuels such as coal, oil, wood, kerosene and natural gas. Check heaters , furnaces, fireplaces, gas stoves and kerosene roomheaters regularly.
     When CO is present, water produced from combustion is not being vented outside, so excess moisture will build up on windows and walls. That samw moisture will cause premature rusting of the venting pipe.      If the air smells stuffy or stale, CO may be present. If the flame on the gas burner of the stove is a bright, luminous yellow, it means the burner is not getting enough air to support combustion. Natural gas burns with a blue flame, or ocassionally with streaks of orange which are dust particles drawn in by the air.