{"id":58777,"date":"2009-11-28T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2009-11-28T05:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"tag:www.infinitehealthresources.com:\/\/5efb86fc59c1714355de52835983f298"},"modified":"2009-11-28T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2009-11-28T05:00:00","slug":"ten-steps-to-indoor-air-quality","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/58777","title":{"rendered":"Ten Steps to Indoor Air Quality"},"content":{"rendered":"

Ten Steps to Indoor Air Quality
<\/strong>Think your house is clean? Consider this: The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) finds that the air inside your house is dirtier than the air outside. Blame tighter construction techniques that enable fumes from paint, plastics and other synthetic materials used in our furniture and carpeting, toxins from cleaning products, pets, secondhand smoke, carbon monoxide, dust mites, and pet dander&mdash among other things&mdash to build up in our homes.<\/p>\n

&ldquo With outdoor air there are regulations for the major pollutants,&rdquo said Neil Schachter, M.D., a New York City pulmonologist and author of the book Life and Breath, &ldquo but with the exception of cigarette smoke, we haven’t gotten a handle on our most common and long-lasting source of pollution, which is the indoor environment.&rdquo Whether pollutants in the indoor environment are irritants or allergens, he said, &ldquo Everyone is at risk.&rdquo Indeed, common symptoms resulting from indoor air pollution include eye, nose and throat irritation, headaches, skin irritation, shortness of breath or cough, and fatigue. Some of the most dangerous indoor toxins come from a relatively benign source: water. &ldquo I can’t tell you the number of people who come to me whose apartments or even homes have been water damaged,&rdquo said Dr. Schachter, &ldquo and that’s a recipe for disaster.&rdquo That’s because any type of dampness promotes the growth of living things like molds and fungi that contribute to bad reactions, he said. Another pollution pitfall is indoor carpeting. Even the EPA notes that carpet can act as &ldquo a sink for chemical and biological pollutants including pesticides, dust mites and fungi.&rdquo Anyone with any type of underlying respiratory problem, whether chronic
obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), asthma, allergies or hay fever should assume that &ldquo unless you’re very careful, your home is going to be contributing to your problem,&rdquo Dr. Schachter said. The good news is that there are a number
of actions you can take to significantly reduce indoor air irritants and allergens.<\/p>\n

For starters:
1. Use the right cleaning products. Products
that contain ammonia and chlorine
can irritate the respiratory tract,
causing watery eyes and sore throats
and even triggering coughing and
shortness of breath, said Dr. Schachter.
Choose milder yet effective cleaning
aids that use baking soda, vinegar, hydrogen
peroxide and citrus oils.
2. Add houseplants. Some common indoor
houseplants, such as bamboo
plants, English ivy and peace lilies, provide
a natural way to help fight rising
levels of indoor air pollution by absorbing
potentially harmful gases. They
work fast: a six-inch potted green plant
can clean a room of excess carbon dioxide
in eight hours.
3. Nix the carpeting. Instead, choose hardsurface
flooring like hardwood, tile or
laminate and opt for area rugs instead
of wall-to-wall carpeting. Once a year
send the rugs out for deep cleaning.
4. Use high-performance (HEPA) air filters
in vents. These filters capture particles
such as pollen, smoke, dust mite debris
and pet dander as air passes through
the filter. They only work if they’re
cleaned or changed regularly, however.
So put reminders on your calendar to
change them every three months, or at
the start of each season.
5. Turn up the air conditioning. Air conditioners
not only cool the air but can reduce
humidity levels, preventing mold
growth during warmer months.
6. Turn off the humidifier. This is a corollary
to the previous tip. Room air
humidifiers are moisture-generating
sources that serve as reservoirs for bacteria
and mold. Maintain your home’s
humidity between 30 and 50 percent
to prevent mold growth.
7. Ditch the shoes at the front door. That
way you won’t track outdoor pollutants
like pesticides, animal dander, mold
spores and pollen into your home.
8. Make some space. Increase airflow and
help control humidity levels by moving
furniture away from walls and opening
closet doors to air out what can be a
dank, smelly space.
9. Go for quality. Cheap vacuum bags can
stir up allergens when vacuuming so
use bags that contain a HEPA filter.
10. Use a fan. Showers, especially in smaller
bathrooms, can raise humidity levels
and create condensation on walls and
ceilings so install and use an exhaust
fan in the bathroom.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Ten Steps to Indoor Air QualityThink your house is clean? Consider this: The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) finds that the air inside your house is dirtier than the air outside. Blame tighter construction techniques that enable fumes from paint, plastics and other synthetic materials used in our furniture and carpeting, toxins from cleaning products, pets, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":149,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-58777","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/58777","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/149"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=58777"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/58777\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=58777"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=58777"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=58777"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}