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5 Ways to Reduce Toxicity and Improve Air Quality of your Home

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Many of us may be unaware of a sick building syndrome termed as Toxic Home Syndrome. Air pollution has degraded the indoor air quality for decades. According to Harvard School of Public Health, air pollution causes 3.3 million deaths, globally, every year. And some of these are also caused due to poor indoor quality of air.Now that we all are stuck indoors due to the COVID-19 pandemic, it is high time we start reducing indoor toxicity. Are you wondering how? Read on!

1. How can we remove air pollutants?

• Regular Cleaning: Cleaning regularly can help improve indoor air quality. This is because, with consistent cleaning, you avoid the settlement of germs, grimes, or toxic pollutants in your home.However, cleaning doesn’t only include surface cleaning, but also deep cleaning. This includes cleaning the sofas and beds, floor, furniture, and all the corners of your home.

  Some tips for cleaning:

  • Do not use toxic chemicals while cleaning. It has been recommended mixing bleach and water to clean and disinfect the indoors of your homes.

  • While cleaning, wear protective gear like non-porous boots (eg. rubber), gloves, and eye protection.

  • Keep the windows open to avoid inhaling a lot of fumes of cleaning agents.

  • Clean hot-touch surfaces thoroughly

  It’s a myth that keeping the windows open may invite unwanted air pollution indoors. On the contrary, open windows help with ventilation and recycle the existing indoor air diluting the contamination.

• Air-Conditioning: Proper ventilation helps improve indoor air quality by reducing indoor air pollutants. And one of the best ways to maintain proper ventilation is by running an air-conditioner.Air-conditioning helps in bringing filtrated outdoor air, indoors and lets the contaminated air trapped indoors to move out. This not only reduces air pollutants in your house, but also helps you breathe fresh air.With the help of air-conditioning you can also regulate room temperature, which, in turn, can help in regulating the growth of germs. Air conditioning also controls humidity levels by keeping it at the optimum level to help reduce germ growth as well as air pollution level.

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2. How do I purify the air in my house naturally?

• Avoid Smoking Indoors: Smoking cigarettes, or anything for that matter, leaves behind toxic compounds. This greatly hampers the air quality inside your house. You may be a non-smoker, but if someone else in your family smokes, you are inhaling the smoke indirectly. This is called second hand smoking or passive smoking. According to the CDC, second hand smoking is as harmful as smoking itself.

• Proper Ventilation:  Another natural way of purifying the indoor air and staying away from environmental effects is proper ventilation. It helps ensure free flow of fresh air, and removal of contaminated air. This not only cleanses the air, but also helps in good energy and harmony among your family.One simple practice of natural ventilation is opening the doors and windows and window shading such as closing the blinds. You can use mechanical devices such as AC for ventilation. However, natural ventilation is more effective in reducing air pollutants.

• Indoor Plants: Indoor plants help to filter out toxins and any other air pollutants by absorbing them. They are not only great indoor décor, but they also act like natural purifiers that bring air-quality to good levels. They help remove harmful toxins such as carbon monoxide. You use any kind of indoor plants, but avoid overwatering the plants.Overwatering will damp the soil and promote microorganism growth, leading to allergic reactions in some people.

However, there are no scientific studies that support the notion that houseplants are good for indoor air quality. But since they do not cost much and are purely natural ways of dealing with toxicity, it can be tried out.

Conclusion

Reducing environmental effects and indoor air toxicity can help you live a healthy life. Cleaning the air can be easy if you are consistent. Which is the best method to do it? It completely depends on you. You can either choose to use a device such as an air purifier or air-conditioner or go with the natural process like natural ventilation, etc.Whichever method you use, remember, healthy indoor air quality means a healthier you.

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