These are the most common pollutants found in your house:
- lead, VOC’s, formaldehyde
- tobacco smoke
- mold and fungus
- dust mites, bacteria, and pet dander
- asbestos
- carbon monoxide, nitrogen oxides and radon
- toxins from household cleaners, fragrances and pesticides
Some of these pollutants were linked to cancer, asthma, allergies and other health problems. If you or your family member is experience symptoms like headaches, nausea, congestion, difficulty breathing, itchy eyes or sore throat, skin irritation and coughing and sneezing, cleaning your air should be your priority.
Here are some tips how to maintain better indoor air quality in your home.
- You should inspect your HVAC equipment regularly and change your filters at least every 3 months.
- Make sure that your fuel burning equipment and appliances (exhaust fans, furnace, fireplace, heaters, range tops, etc.) are properly vented outside but away from windows, doors and HVAC intakes.
- Do not smoke cigarettes inside your home.
- Install high efficiency particulate air filter (HEPA).
- Turn on A/C unit in the summer. Air condition will remove pollen and particulate matter and also will keep house humidity down which will help to reduce the dust mites.
- Install whole house humidifier to control moisture in your house at the winter time (we recommend to keep humidity level around 35%). Portable humidifiers used in the bedrooms usually do not have these settings and will give you too much moisture which is the best case scenario for mold and mildew growth in your house.
- Change your household cleaning supplies and laundry detergents for non-toxic and eco-friendly ones. Avoid burning scent candles and stop using toxic air fresheners. Everything you use in your house has better and healthier alternative. The Honest Company makes great non-toxic natural cleaning products and much more. You can also find great stuff in Whole Foods or organic section of your grocery store. Some of these products might be a little more expensive but you will save money on the long run because doctor’s visits are much more costly. Besides, your health is priceless. You can find a lot of helpful information and recipes for natural cleaners on http://healthychild.org/easy-steps/spaces/ .
There is a lot of toxic chemicals and pollutants in our indoor air. We can’t change the chemical industry, but we can make better choices for ourselves. In 35 years the EPA has restricted only 5 toxic substances and FDA has banned 11 of them, where at the same time Europe has banned more than 1,100 chemicals that are considered unsafe in personal care products alone! Start making your healthier choices today. Do not wait.