The air inside your home is contaminated! Stunned? Heating equipments (like, chimneys, heaters, fireplaces and stoves), adhesives and glues, paints, electronic and plastic products, upholstered furniture, new carpets, broken fluorescent light, etc. emit volatile organic compounds, which affects the quality of indoor air. Breathing in contaminated air, on a daily basis, can worsen asthma and result in allergies.
Here are some natural tips to improve the air quality of your home.
1. Adjust Humidity and Temperature
High level of humidity can increase dampness and moisture inside your home, thereby favoring the growth of mold, which deteriorates your health. In order to keep mold and bacteria in control, maintain indoor temperature between 18-22° C and humidity around 40-50%.
2. Wash It Out!
To prevent the growth of mites, wash the pillow cases and bed sheets frequently. Carpets are the big source of dust and detrimental particles, so cleanse them regularly. Use chlorine bleach to remove stains from the mattress.
3. Let the Clothes Dry in Sunlight
Don’t dry clothes inside the house. Let the clothes just pulled out from a dry cleaner, to dry outside for at least one hour. The chemicals used in dry cleaning products may affect indoor air quality.
4. Proper Ventilation
The best way to improve indoor air quality is to ventilate your home in a proper way. Gas stove emits nitrogen dioxide which is hazardous to breathe. Thus, while cooking food, open a kitchen window or ventilate the stove directly outside. Avoid ventilation during early morning and late nights because during this time, the outside air comprises lots of pollutants.
5. Rely on Air Purifier
Run air-purifier for 24 hours. If your house is not appropriately ventilated, air purifier may do a great job in decontaminating the inner atmosphere. While purchasing an air purifier, ensure that it generates ozone not more than 0.005 ppm, makes less noise. Make sure that it is equipped with dust collector, and easy to maintain and clean.
6. Grow Indoor Plants
Plants work as a natural filter of air. They also help in maintaining the humidity of the house and guard us against the harmful effects of benzene, formaldehyde and ammonia. Select evergreen plants without flowers (but with thick leaves). Plants give you a feeling of being close to nature, every day.
7. Choose Eco-friendly Interior Design
Adorn your house with ecological interior materials. Choose environment friendly roofing, germ-resistant flooring, non-toxic paints, and natural wallpapers for designing the interior of your house.
8. A Big ‘No’ to Smoking
Cigarette smoke is a key source of indoor formaldehyde (a toxic colorless gas). Therefore, never allow anyone to smoke inside your home.
9. Don’t Run Car in the Garage
Fumes emitted from cars and burning fuels consist of carbon monoxide, exposure to which may cause unconsciousness, nausea, disorientation and weakness. Thus, never run a car or other fuel-burning engines inside the garage.
10. Refrain Toxic Household Products
Minimize the use of synthetic detergents, pesticides, insecticides and disinfectants as they contain harmful chemicals, which may endanger your health. Use natural and herbal soaps, shampoos, hair colors and cosmetic products.
“We must limit our technological interventions into nature long before we have definitive scientific proof of harm. This is the principle of precautionary action, and if we don’t adopt it, nature will get along just fine without us.” – Peter Montague