Making Your Home a Healthier Place-Cleaning the Air in Your Home
Courtesy of James Budrow, American Pride Inspection Services
Today most of us are aware of the dangers posed by pollutants in our environment. We read about smog, the ozone, and chemicals spewed by vehicles and factories. But research has shown that some of the dirtiest air we breathe is in our own homes. It is ironic that our homes now contain many of the irritants that we have worked so hard to reduce in the outdoor environment. Though a certain amount of dust and pollution is unavoidable, there are various measures you can take to improve the air quality in your house and make your home a healthier place.
Service the Household Systems
If the air ducts contain dust and dirt build-up then it stands to reason that the air they deliver will be dusty and dirty. Hire a duct cleaning service to clean out the air vents and ducts. The furnace filter also requires attention: change the filter regularly to keep the furnace running efficiently. You can dispense with the traditional filter and buy a more sophisticated one that is designed to trap small particles that affect breathing.
Invest in an Air Cleaning System
A professionally installed electronic air cleaner can extract thirty times the dust and harmful airborne particles as ordinary filters. The cost generally ranges in the hundreds of dollars, but these systems typically offer substantial results for easier breathing. On the less expensive side, you can buy portable units to clean the air in just one room.
Reduce Household Chemical Use
A significant amount of household pollution comes from everyday cleaning products. Although you are combating other allergens by keeping your home clean, you are contributing to the problem with chemical-laden cleaners and pesticides. Over time, even low levels of these compounds can affect the quality of the air in your home. Along with the wide range of organic foods and textiles in our stores today, there are also several earth-friendly alternatives to the standard cleaning products. Compare labels to find natural products that contain fewer toxic chemicals. When you must use stronger chemicals, do so sparingly and carefully.
Air-Out Dry Cleaned Items
Items that have been dry cleaned emit a number of chemicals that are used in the cleaning process. Before you put those items away with your other things, let them air out in a ventilated space, such as near an open window, and then cover again with the plastic bags.
Combat Common Irritants
Everyday nuisances such as dust mites, pollen, and smoke infiltrate most areas of the house. Containing these elements as much as possible will benefit everyone in the household, especially people with allergies and other respiratory ailments. Take simple steps, such as regularly dusting surfaces and replacing vacuum cleaner bags, to reduce the number of contaminants in your home.
Cleaning Tips for ealthy Home and Body – Below Content Courtesy of womenshealth.org
Good Health Starts with a Clean House
For many of us, housecleaning is simply a necessary evil – a chore we delay as long as possible and then rush through quickly. (That’s why the dirty socks get stuffed under the sofa cushions!)
It may be time to rethink that philosophy. Cleaning your living space has real benefits beyond making the place presentable. How you clean and what you choose to use when you clean can help you reduce some medical problems and even help you stay fit and trim.
Breathe Easier
Heidi Waterfield was suffering. The San Francisco woman had severe, cold-like symptoms and frequent sinus infections that were interfering with her work and family life. When testing showed that she was highly allergic to dust, the treatment plan included changing the Waterfield household’s approach to cleaning.
With much regret, three bookshelves filled with dust-attracting volumes were banished to the garage, along with toys and other items. Heidi and her husband pared down clutter in the bedrooms as well and started using a HEPA (high-efficiency particulate air-filtered) vacuum cleaner. Use of HEPA equipment has been shown to substantially remove allergens and contaminants from carpets and surfaces. According to Heidi, those cleaning changes, along with generic allergy medications, have significantly improved her health.
Environmental scientist Carol Westinghouse explains why a properly sealed and filtered HEPA vacuum can make such a difference. “With a regular vacuum cleaner, you’re sucking the dust in at one end and spewing it out at the other,” she says. That process can irritate everyone’s breathing, but is especially bad for those with asthma, allergies and other breathing or skin sensitivities.
Consumers can find HEPA vacuum cleaners and microfiber products in many stores, including discount retailers and online.
Less-toxic Cleaning
What you spray, wipe, scrub or slosh on surfaces when you clean affects the health of everyone in your household. And, as the ingredients in those cleaners release fumes into the air or rinse down the drain, they affect environmental health as well.
General household cleaners often contain certain chemicals such as bleach or phthalates that can irritate skin and lungs, interfere with liver function, affect the reproductive system or even cause some cancers. Phthalates – esters of phthalic acid that are mainly used as plasticizers (substances added to plastics to increase their flexibility, transparency, durability, and longevity) – are being phased out of many products in the United States and European Union over health concerns.
Research has long shown that cleaning chemicals worsen asthma and trigger attacks in asthmatics, so people with asthma are cautioned about using cleaners containing more toxic chemicals in work settings or at home. Recently, scientists have found that these ingredients also trigger first episodes of asthma in people who did not have the condition before. In studies, users experiencing new-onset asthma triggered by cleaning products included adults cleaning in their own homes and nurses with occupational exposure to cleaners and disinfectants.
Of course, adults aren’t the only ones affected. Westinghouse says, according to a recent study, “prenatal exposure to the use of disinfectants, bleach, carpet cleaner, window cleaner, air fresheners, paints, dry cleaning fluid, aerosols and pesticides increased the risk that the young child would have persistent wheezing.”
Surprisingly, toxic chemicals might not even be listed on labels for products marketed for home use. “Manufacturers are only required to list (certain) ingredients in institutional and industrial cleaners,” Westinghouse explains. Companies that sell less-toxic cleaning products often fully disclose ingredients on their labels. The Cleaning for Health program advises choosing home-use cleaners that are:
- Plant- or bio-based, not petroleum-based.
- Biodegradable.
- pH neutral.
- Packaged in recyclable, pump-spray bottles, not aerosol cans.
For more about cleaning safely at home or work, visit Women’s Voices for the Earth.
