The air you breathe contributes to your overall health. According to EPA studies, poor air quality increases the risk of cardiovascular disease and lung cancer.
Pollutants, cleaning chemicals, allergens, and cigarette smoke can lower the air quality in your house. While there’s very little that you can do about power stations and congestion on the roads, there’s plenty that you can do to keep the air inside your home as high-quality as possible.
How to Keep Your Air Clean at Home
Remember that simply spraying some air freshener or lighting a candle doesn’t clean your air properly. Instead, they cover up smells and pollutants but leave them lingering in the air.
Luckily, you can use a plethora of smart home devices and tools to maximize air quality. Below, we’ve compiled a list of great things that you can do to clean the air inside your property.
Purchase an air purifier
Air purifiers are electronic devices that use a fan to suck air into the machine, where it then gets filtered. The best air purifier brands can drastically improve the quality of the air in your property within just a day or two of use.
Air purifiers use specialized filters to remove pollutants and allergens from the air. The newly-cleaned air is then released back into the room. This suctioning and filtering action occurs constantly while the air purifier is on.
You can leave your device running for several hours while you’re sitting in your home office or relaxing on the sofa in the living room. They can sit neatly in the corner of the room to avoid cluttering up your floor space.
Open the Windows
One of the cheapest and most effective ways to improve the air quality in your house is to open up your windows. While this might sound counterproductive, considering most pollutants originate from outside, an open window increases airflow through your property and helps to remove stale air.
Even in the middle of winter, make a conscious effort to open your windows for at least an hour a day to keep your air nice and clean. During summer, you could even sleep with your window open overnight. However, keep your safety in mind!
Use cleaning products with non-toxic chemicals
A large majority of household cleaning products contain toxic chemicals that can linger in the air for days. If you need to use strong cleaning products, make sure to open the windows and always use protective gloves when handling them.
Ideally, you should choose non-toxic products to keep your air clean. Consider using natural cleaning products or even creating your own home-made cleaners. This will reduce the number of pollutants that get released into the air.
Remove mold as quickly as possible
Mold can be toxic and has been linked to an increase in autoimmune reactions and respiratory problems, such as asthma. Some people are extremely sensitive to mold and can have life-threatening allergic reactions to it.
As soon as you spot mold in your home, whether it’s in the bathroom, kitchen, or bedroom, you must get rid of it. You can use bleach diluted with warm water to scrub away the mold but make sure you wear thick rubber gloves and open the windows.
Keep the windows open or use an extractor fan while cooking
If you’re somebody who loves cooking, you’ll need to take a few extra steps to keep the air clean in your home.
While you’re cooking with oil in a pan, your kitchen can quickly fill up with smoke, which leaves a nasty odor that just doesn’t seem to budge for hours. Firstly, open up the kitchen window to allow the smell to leave your kitchen and the fresh air to enter.
Secondly, switch on your extractor fan if you have one in your kitchen. This will further improve airflow in your house and maintain great air quality.
Wherever possible, avoid cooking with oils that have a low smoking temperature, as they tend to leave a strong burnt smell more than those that smoke at a lower temperature.
Choose your candles carefully
Calling all candle lovers! This tip is for you! If you’re somebody who loves lighting a candle while you’re relaxing at home, you could be impacting your air quality without realizing it.
Candles that are made of paraffin wax or lead-core wicks can release pollutants called particulate matter into the air (known as soot). This is caused by the release of hydrogen and carbon into the air.
When hydrogen and carbon combine with oxygen in the air, it causes the production of carbon dioxide. While there is a small amount of carbon dioxide found naturally in the air that we breathe, too much of it can be harmful to us and the environment.
Scented candles can sometimes contain volatile organic compounds (VOCs), which have been associated with an increase in allergies and respiratory issues.
So, what can you do about this? Switch from paraffin-based candles to beeswax or soy candles. They are environmentally friendly, non-toxic, and won’t negatively impact the air quality in your house.
Place plants around your house
Remember biology class when you were at school? If so, you will recall that plants absorb carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and convert it into oxygen. They can also remove VOCs from the air.
You can use plants to significantly improve the air quality inside your home and to spread health, happiness, and prosperity. Certain plants are particularly effective at improving air quality, including:
- Aloe (Aloe barbadensis)
- English Ivy (Hedera helix)
- Peace Lily (Spathiphyllum wallisii)
- Spider Plant (Chlorophytum comosum)
- Snake Plant (Sansevieria trifasciata)
- Weeping Fig (Ficus benjamina)
Place some plants in the corners of your rooms, hang some plant pots by the front door, and place some small succulents on your kitchen countertop to keep the air clean in every room of your house.
