The Environmental Protection Agency confirms it: indoor air can be much more polluted than the air outside. It can be anywhere between two-to-five times or a hundred times more polluted.
Why is that? Well, of course, there’s a lot more air circulation outdoors than there is indoors. After all, the air circulation indoors relies on that of the outdoors. It could also have something to do with the preventative measures taken. The EPA is out there battling zone, smog and other airborne chemicals. But protecting the air of your home is mostly your responsibility.
Breathing in pollutants can cause loads of health problems. They will generally affect the lungs and throat. Coughing, shortness of breath, chest pain and an irritated throat are all possibilities. They can also worsen existing respiratory conditions including asthma and allergies. Here are the dangers in many homes that you need to look out for.
Air conditioning
Air conditioning in and of itself is fine. But it’s the first thing we should look at because it can exacerbate other problems. Some people believe it makes the air fresher, but this isn’t really the case. When other aspects of the home are emitting toxins, the air conditioner can help spread them around. If you have an air conditioner, make sure you’re keeping everything around it clean.
If the air conditioner itself is faulty or the filter is contaminated, it will be causing airborne problems of its own. Get some air conditioning repairs arranged if you have reason to believe this could be the case.
Carpets
Carpets are great at keeping hold of dirt, dust mites and other unhealthy particles. You probably already know this, and you probably vacuum your carpet often to tackle this. But you know that distinctive carpet smell? That’ll be the smell of the chemicals used to manufacture carpets. The most common is formaldehyde, which is also used to manufacture other types of furniture.
The American Lung Association actually recommends avoiding them completely. You can get carpets that are made with nontoxic materials, but they still harbour all the other damaging substances. That rug may really tie the room together, but it may be causing you some long-term health problems. Wooden flooring is the most hygienic flooring. It absorbs little-to-no toxins and is incredibly easy to clean. Consider it!
Cleaning products
An alarming amount of the cleaning products you can buy from supermarkets are passively dangerous. They contain powerful toxic solvents, as well as antibiotic pesticides. Many contain chlorine, which is a very dangerous and poisonous substance.
So many cleaning products are available for so many different things. This means you usually end up having several different products in one place. This leads to the risk of these items mixing. If a chlorine-based cleaner mixes with an acid-based one (ammonia or vinegar), it creates a potent and often deadly chlorine gas. Needless to say, you don’t want this in your house.
The problem with all these chemicals in cleaning products is that they are usually unnecessary. So many of the cleaning jobs these products supposedly excel at can be tackled with baking soda and vinegar. Consider more eco-friendly cleaning methods going forward!
