The world has become health crazy. There is no getting around it, we are turning towards healthier whole grain cereals and breads, we're exercising more, and we're cleaning our homes like fanatical lunatics. Included in this cleaning craze is the obsession with cleaning our air. We've got air purifiers in just about every room. This leads to just one question.

Does it do any good?

To begin with, getting an air purifier for your home can be confusing as anything. With all the different brands to choose from and different types of air purification systems it's almost impossible to know which one is any good, if any of them are.

Then of course there is the burning question, "Do we really need an air purifier anyway?". Is the air in our homes really that bad? Haven't we been breathing this same air long before there ever were air purification systems? What's changed?

All of these questions are enough to give us a headache if not outright drive us crazy. Well, let's deal with one question that we at last can answer.

While it is true that we have been breathing the same air for thousands of years, we really haven't. With the industrial revolution and all the garbage that is sent into our air from factories, the truth is, the air is not as clean as it used to be. All you have to do is take a drive down to the factory district in Trenton, NJ and take a whiff. There will be no doubt in your mind that the air down there is dirty.

But the problem goes much deeper than that. If you're wondering why scientists are so concerned about plants it is because they give off the one thing we need to breathe, oxygen. They take in carbon dioxide to do this. So if the plants die, we die. It's that simple. The plants are actually are a true air purification system. Still, people feel they need electronic air purification systems. Why? How do they work and what good are they if any at all?

Actually, there are many types of systems and each one works differently. We're not going to go into detail of how each one works as that could take a book in itself. But the main types of systems are HEPA Filter Systems, which draw the air through the filter and clean it; Ozone Air Purifiers, which work by generating more ozone molecules in the air; Ionic Air Cleaners, which work by negatively charging the air particles in the room; Electrostatic Precipitators, which work by using positive and negative charges to collect particles and Electrostatic Filters which work by creating a static charge which attracts and collects particles in the air.

Supposedly, these various technologies produce the end result of cleaning your air. Do they? Well, there are tests you can run to determine if the amount of allergens in your home have been reduced but ultimately it is all going to come down to one thing.

Do you feel better? Does the air smell cleaner? Do you notice a difference?

Air purifiers. Help or hype?

We may never really know.