Indoor air quality isn’t something you should take lightly. There are many toxins in the air that can damage your health, and many of them are in consumer products you buy and use every day. These toxins can disrupt your body’s endocrine system, cause both acute and long-term health problems, and some of them are known carcinogens (they cause cancer).
Some pollutants can even damage your home.
They Can Make You Sick
Pollutants like formaldehyde are released into the air because they become a gas at room temperature. This chemical is especially noxious, creating a strong pickle smell. It’s primarily found in adhesives or bonding agents used in the construction of many household items.
For example, it’s used in bonding agents for carpets, upholstery, particleboard, and plywood paneling. But, it can also be found in cigarettes (once they are lit), pesticides, personal care products like shampoos, soaps, and makeup. Paints contain them, as do a variety of consumer products.
Reactions vary and can range from dizziness to respiratory tract irritation, nausea, and various allergic-type reactions. Long-term exposure may cause cancer.
They Can Cause Mold Problems
Some pollutants can help contribute to mold problems, especially when those pollutants increase or contribute to moisture buildup or humidity within wood or other mold-susceptible materials.
For example, a mold that takes hold in the walls of your home can spread if the humidity or moisture levels aren’t property dealt with. Bacteria, viruses, and animal dander can cause or contribute to illness, and dust mites and cockroaches can make life unpleasant.
These biological pollutants can cause missed days at work, make you more susceptible to infection, and cause or spread disease.
Pets pose a special problem because they are often susceptible to parasitical infections, which they bring into the home. Children and pet-loves in close contact with their furry friends then become exposed to those parasites and may become infected themselves.
Solutions to these types of problems usually mean cleaning and purifying the air, keeping known infected pets away from people and especially children, and being vigilant about maintaining a clean home.
This is where the services of a company can help. An air purification and circulation system can clean the air you breathe, reduce biologicals, and reduce your risk of infections.
They Can Affect Your Health
Secondhand smoke, biologicals, combustion pollutants, and radioactive gases like Radon are all serious health risks. Asbestos is a risk in older homes, but may be a risk in newer construction where it is still found in cement and some other building materials.
Asbestos removal is inherently expensive, so many companies choose to seal it in to the best of their ability.
Radon is a natural radioactive gas which is elevated in 1 in every 15 homes in the U.S. Long-term exposure can cause lung cancer. Mitigation systems are the only effective means of reducing the gas in the home.
Fortunately, pollutants, like secondhand smoke and CO and NO2 can all be mitigated by not smoking in the house, and having proper ventilation systems when working with dangerous chemicals or while burning firewood or other chemicals in the home.
Kimberly R. Mann works as a family health and relationship counselor. She loves writing about her experiences with families and finances. You can find her articles on many health and lifestyle websites.
18 Comments
Home care assistance becomes a necessity which enables a family caregiver to spare more time on priorities rather than routine tasks which can be done by a home care specialist trained for that specific job.
Caregivers can help the elder maintain the lifestyle that he or she was once accustomed to. Its part of a caregiver’s training to sustain the momentum and not let the person in their care slide into diffidence and depression.
In most cases, keeping your elderly loved ones at home costs considerably less per hour than it would to send them to your local elder care home or traditional sitter. This is even more true when the home care company you choose to take care of your elders have reasonable rates and simple pricing models that do not involve the use of monthly or annual contracts.
If your immune system is weak, it is really important the you’re aware of the air you’re breathing. Coz air is one of the important factor for a healthy living.
Yes its true that you check your home for some molds or some stinky smell coz it’s one of the reasons we get sick. If there are too many to fix, might as well you find another property that is ok and affordable.
It’s true. Specially to those who has a lung problem or allergies or something else. Clean air could give you more peaceful mind.
Air is air. But if air is compromised with other chemicals, it might be bad for our help sometimes. Our lungs is some kind of adapting always everywhere we go. If its too harsh, them you might get sick or fatal death. And when you get older, our lungs becomes weaker and weaker. So we need to stay out of harsh air.
Receiving home health care helps to reduce unavoidable readmissions to the hospital, and studies have shown that patients recuperating from illness, injury, or surgical procedures heal more quickly and more successfully when recovering at home versus in a medical facility.
With the help of a caregiver an older adult is able to improve their quality of life. Help is immediately available so there’s no need to struggle with chores in the home. Caregivers are trained to anticipate the needs of the elder in their charge and are ever willing to do what it takes to make life simpler. And you can choose the level of care according to the need – from just a few hours a day to round-the-clock companionship and assistance.
By providing ongoing, consistent care, personal caregivers are able to help aging individuals continue living independently, comfortably and socially at home. A little extra support can be all that is needed to extend an older adult’s sense of independence in his or her own home, and this goes a long way toward improving their outlook on life and boosting self-confidence. Most aging individuals are comforted by being in familiar surroundings where they have spent much of their life, and a professional caregiver can help them stay there longer than they would be able to on their own.
If you hire an at-home caregiver through an agency, hourly rates tend to be higher (often significantly higher), but the agency will pay the FICA taxes, cover the worker’s liability insurance, and fill out the W-4 and W-2 forms. “Once you factor in taxes and insurance, it really comes out to close to the same price,” says Jacqueline Dollar, a geriatric care manager in Des Moines, Iowa.
Air is air. One of the most important thing we need to live with. What is going to happen to us if its being compromised.
It’s been a while since I visited this site. All in all, it’s a good article.
With in-home care, families that are unable to serve as primary caregivers have the benefit of knowing that their loved ones are receiving professional, compassionate, and personalized care in the convenience of their own homes.
This is very important specially for the seniors. They are the one that’s critical with this conditions.
The most important aspect of care in your own home is the fact that you or your loved one will be surrounded by their own comforts, their own bed, their favourite mug, the neighbours they’ve known for years. This especially helps with progressive conditions that affect the memory such as dementia.
I didn’t get it. Why do we need to bother the air we breathe? As long as we’re in the clean environment, we don’t have to problem anything.
I really got worried when you said that 1 out of 15 homes in the US has alarming radon levels. I can’t expose my family members to high risks of lung cancer, so I think I need to take precautionary measures now. Maybe I can reach out to professionals who can inspect if the property needs radon mitigation services.