Forest wildfires are currently ravaging the West Coast. A highly infectious, flu-like disease has placed the world in a state of calamity. We are fighting a slew of invisible enemies—smoke, harmful pollutants, and potentially an airborne disease.
With the intermittent lockdowns and quarantines, more people are forced to spend most of their day at home. There has never been a better time to make sure you’re breathing clean air at home.
Here are a few tricks and strategies you can do to improve your home’s air quality.
Know your home’s indoor quality and see how you can improve it.
There are several indoor air-quality monitors in the market. They assess the levels of common pollutants and other air conditions inside your home and report to you in real-time. Some monitors even have access to other smart appliances—they can automatically turn on your fan, purifier, or dehumidifier when the air quality reaches hazardous levels.
The first step to addressing a problem is to understand what it is. So check what pollutants you have to contend with, so you know exactly how to combat them.
Wage war against pollutants.
Some indoor air pollutants include but are not limited to excessive moisture, dust particles, viruses, bacteria, volatile organic compounds (VOCs), combustion products, and other microorganisms that are harmful to your health.
To combat them, consider having an excellent residential air purifier installed into your home. Having a UV purifier helps make sure you’re breathing clean air all day as they are designed to inactivate airborne pathogens.
Clean and maintain your home’s air filters and air ducts.
Air-conditioning systems don’t just keep the temperature in your home bearable; they also filter out some common air pollutants. As time goes on, though, their filters fill up, causing this function to stop. So make a habit of checking and replacing your AC filters regularly, especially if you’re prone to allergies or live in a highly polluted city. Make sure to check the filters of your other appliances, like your kitchen vents, vacuum cleaners, clothes dryer, and others. Clean and replace them regularly.
Another factor to watch out for is your home’s air ducts, which work to distribute hot and cold air throughout your house. Make sure the air ducts do not accumulate dust, mold, and other pollutants. Don’t hesitate to hire experts to do the necessary maintenance so that your ducts continue to circulate clean air.
Make use of kitchen vents.
Many indoor air pollutants thrive in the kitchen, especially those that make use of gas stoves. Some kitchen contaminants include harmful gases like carbon monoxide and nitrogen dioxide. Electric burners also release these gases into the air, although not the same extent as gas stoves.
So when you’re cooking, make a habit of opening a window or turning on your kitchen vents to help purify and filter out the air in your home.
Regulate the humidity in your home.
It’s essential to have the right humidity level in your home because it also contributes greatly to your overall health. Low humidity can trigger asthma attacks as well as aggravate other pre-existing conditions like bronchitis. It can also contribute to excessively dry skin, chapped lips, dry sinuses, and other uncomfortable conditions. High humidity or an abnormal increase in moisture, on the other hand, allows numerous harmful microorganisms to grow, including mold, dust mites, and bacteria. Some of these can cause some serious health problems.
One way to regulate the humidity in your home is by investing in a high-quality humidifier and dehumidifier. If your home is on the larger side, consider investing in a whole-home humidifier, a fail-safe unit for your home’s humidity levels.
Get some indoor plants to boost fresh air.
Plants and greenery are natural air filters. They don’t only beautify a space, but they also do wonders for improving the air quality in your home. Scientists found that plants are wonderfully capable of absorbing gases through pores on the surface of their leaves.
Inhale, Exhale
At the end of the day, our homes are our haven, the place we escape to when the outside world is falling apart. With quarantines and lockdowns in place in many states, many of us are stuck at home. We need to do all that we can to ensure it is a safe and healthy place to spend our time. In a pandemic and a recession, our health is the most vital wealth we have, and we need to take care of it and protect it by making sure we are breathing pure and clean air.
