Be it outdoors or indoors, the quality of the air we breathe will have a big impact on health. As per the Harvard School of Public Health, air pollution causes 3.3 million deaths worldwide each year.
On the contrary, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) says that the air inside our home is more polluted than the air outside. Also, the research shows that most of our time is spent indoors.
Just in case you think spraying scented air freshener will clean air, think again. Most of the air fresheners release more potentially harmful chemicals into our homes. According to a 2016 study published in the Lancet, these chemicals cost about $340 billion a year in treatment.
Let us have a read at some tips on improving the indoor air quality sans any chemicals:
1. Open your windows: Open your windows for even just five minutes a day to relieve the accumulation of harmful air pollutants in indoor air.
2. Beautify the décor with houseplants: Having indoor houseplants can help improve indoor air quality. For example, spider plants are effective at reducing benzene, formaldehyde, carbon monoxide and xylene.
3. Try different essential oil diffusers: Some essential oils, like tea tree oil, have antibacterial properties and can be added to homemade household cleaners or even applied topically to your skin to treat a small cut. It has been proven that essential oils like eucalyptus, clove, and rosemary help to reduce the number of dust mites in our house, too
4. Take the shoes off: The dirt outside can carry some contaminated stuff. When we walk inside our house, any or all of that could be on the bottom of our shoes, so it’s always best to take them off when we get inside.
5. Run the AC: Air conditioning works as a whole-house air filtration system at our disposal. It works by pulling air out of the house, cooling it and pumping it back in. Most systems have a filter that we need to change regularly, and this filter can trap particles while it does its job.
6. Use an air purifier: Air purifiers can be an effective way to reduce harmful particles in the air. If any child has asthma, it may be worthwhile to have one in his/her room.
7. Use cooking oils with higher smoke points: To avoid a kitchen filled with smoke and a lingering smell of burnt oil drifting through the house for hours, use cooking oil that smokes at higher temperatures. Extra virgin olive oil has a lower smoke point compared to avocado, peanut, canola, corn and sunflower oil.
Image Credits – Dr. Kara Fitzgerald
Any information taken from here should be credited to Skymet Weather
