Your home is your sanctuary. It’s where you feel safe, cozy and most comfortable. It’s the place where you should have the least worry, unless you’re the mother of boys who won’t hang up their coats or remember to pick up their dirty clothes. LOL! Other than that, life at home is meant to be fairly easy. However, many people are suffering from something other than their young boys. They can barely breathe! If you’re having trouble breathing in your home, we’re here to help you to improve indoor air quality of your home.
So why is the air quality of your home so important and how does it affect your family? The American Lung Association stated that poor air circulation in a home can promote the spread of bacteria and viruses. Once you inhale such bacteria or viruses, coughs, colds and flu can spread. In addition, asthma and allergy sufferers may experience worsening symptoms due endotoxins, which are substances that come from the broken-down cells of dead bacteria. That’s the why and how, now for the how-to.
5 Tips to Improve Indoor Air Quality
Use Natural Cleaning Solutions
Consistently using chemicals throughout your home is not good for your health. Not only is it bad to inhale consistently, but having everything full of chemicals is dangerous for babies that like to put things in their mouths. Heavy chemicals that are solvent-based and have strong fragrances can affect the quality of the air of your home negatively. However, using natural cleaning solutions will get the job done and protect the indoor air quality. Natural solutions such as vinegar, lemons, cooking oils, etc. are not only effective, but they are also safe for babies and small children
Take the Cigarettes, Cigars and Hookah Outdoors
What’s the fastest way to kill the indoor air quality of your home? Tobacco! Not only is it hard to breathe with smoke throughout a home, it is also hard on the body of the ones that you love the most. Secondhand smoke has been known to cause more health problems than firsthand smoke, especially in babies and children. The health problems that smoke causes in babies and children, includes severe asthma attacks and respiratory infections. I’m sure that tobacco smokers care about their young and wouldn’t do anything to harm them. However, if you’re smoking indoors, you are doing just that. The best solution here is to simply keep the smoke outdoors.
Four to the Floor
Four to the floor is a musical term that describes a song in which the kick drum hits in an unaccented 4/4 manner. Think of electronic music or disco if I lost you there. However, we’re going to borrow this terminology to discuss four things to do to your floor regularly to help improve indoor air quality.
- Vacuum it! By vacuuming often, you reduce lead, brominated fire-retardant chemicals (PBDEs), pollen, pet dander, and dust mites. Keeping these out of your home reduces the chances of allergies and chemical buildup in your home.
- Mop it! Mopping helps kill the bacteria and germs that are partying on hard floors. When you mop with a natural solution, you will end this party before someone gets hurt.
- Mat it! Require people to wipe their feet on the doormat. Shoes carry all sorts of chemicals, dirt, pesticides, and other pollutants into your home.
- Take it off! If you want to be safer, don’t only require people to wipe their shoes on the doormat, but require them to take their shoes off at the door. This will be a lot more effective then just simply wiping off your shoes on the mat. Also remember to clean and replace this mat often.
Stay Mold-Safe
Take the necessary steps to keep mold growth from happening in your home. Keep humidity levels low, properly ventilate bathrooms and kitchens, dry the shower after use, etc. To learn more about mold prevention and ways to improve indoor air quality, read our Mold Prevention article and our What is Mold? page.
