Simple Ways You Can Improve Your Air Quality for Better Health

Image source: Allabouthealth.org

Being a pet owner, and someone who suffers from allergies like crazy, I've been learning how to tackle and combat allergens in the home for the last several months now. Some of you may recall when I posted my experience trying an air purifier that plugs into the wall a few months ago. 

Maintaining quality air inside your house is complicated enough what with things like nature throwing pollen at you every once and a while, and that pesky dust that floats around in the air. 

Add a few pets to those typical air quality-reducing factors and it gets even harder. 

It just so happens that having a house full of pets (a wiener dog, 2 lovely cats, and a turtle that smells like pure sewage every 3-5 days) takes a lot of work if you want to keep the smells, allergens, dander, dust, and other cruddy air problems under control. 

So on my journey to try and get my air quality (and allergies) back under control, I've been experimenting with several easy and simple things you can do that's supposed to improve the air. Below are a few things I've found helpful. 

Helpful enough that I'm not sneezing my head off everyday when I wake up, if that tells you anything. 
 


Use HEPA

From HEPA (High Efficiency Particulate Arresting) air purifiers -- something on my to-buy-soon list right now -- to HEPA vacuum filters, using HEPA technology can help cut down on everyday allergens and asthma symptoms. HEPA filters are able to catch the tiniest of particles that cause us to suffer so much. That's why they're so popular today. 


Add Activated Carbon to Your Air Purifiers
Combine activated carbon with HEPA and you get a filter that'll not only remove those tiny, allergy-causing particles, but also reduce the chemicals, gases and even odors that are harmful to breathe.

Vacuum The Bed
Vacuuming is something you already know to do,  and something that's likely not necessary to put on a list like this one (I do not want to insult your intelligence, dear reader,) but I have noticed a fairly drastic improvement in my sneezing and sinus issues when I began vacuuming my entire bedroom every single day, and that includes vacuuming my bed! 

Pillows, sheets, covers. I take the vacuum and run it over all of that, right after running it over my hard flooring. 

If you do not have pets who sleep in your bed, you may not require such an extensive daily vacuuming, but if you've not tried vacuuming your bedding on a very regular basis (like I do, daily), then this added tip might be useful to you to try.

Adopt House Plants
Many common house plants are effective in renewing air, and they're nature's natural toxin and pollutant filters. 

I know, I talk about aloe vera here at Healthy, Happy, Wholesome like it's the panacea, the cure-all to all of life's difficulties and problems and stresses... 

Well, it basically is.

When I discuss aloe vera (which is frequent, I know), I always make sure to mention the plant's awesome air-cleansing properties. However, there are a few more plants worthy of mentioning in this department.

• Aside from aloe, Philodendrons, Spider Plant and Devil's Ivy are all also capable of removing formaldehyde from the air indoors, although according to NASA, Philodendrons are best at removing high concentrations of it from indoor air, while aloe is best for removing it in lower concentrations.

• Chrysanthemum and Gerbera Daisies remove the carcinogen benzene from air.

Reduce Your Usage of Smell-Goods!
I know, it's one of the toughest things to cut for many folks. 

Putting a stop to using your chemical-laden perfumes and cleaners that work so well sounds like a life of hell, right?

I mean that Scrubbin' Bubbles (or Foamtastic) stuff works like magic, right? 

I know, but if you're suffering from migraines and allergies and you're using these chemical-filled products often, then you might  want to at least try cutting some of it out.

I love my easy cleaners as much as the next gal. I mean, nothing cleans the shower/tub out like Scrubbin' Bubbles! 

But, these migraines won't tolerate it. 

So, use the products you can't go without, but try to replace a few (especially the rip-off air "re-fresheners" that are basically just a bottle of synthetic fragrances (chemicals) that are sprayed into the air. They're useless. 

Instead, try essential oils, which are safe, natural and allergy-friendly. Peppermint will leave a truly lasting, clean scent. Vinegar will too, and it'll remove and prevent mold! 

Even lemon is a natural cleaner. Tea tree oil is an anti-microbial and anti-bacterial that has one heck of a strong, clean smell. 

Prevent and Remove Mildew
...Speaking of vinegar, use it to prevent and remove mildew, too. Mildew is a cause of wheezing and allergy symptoms. 

Add a de-humidifier into the mix (which will also reduce dust mites), and you should be just dandy. 

Clean it Like You Mean it
Don't forget to clean out small, odd spaces like the inside of your air conditioners, air purifiers, vacuums, heater vents, etc. These places are notorious for harboring dust and crud without you noticing it. Vacuum them up, wipe them down, and you'll be taking your allergy fight one step further. 

Give Your Duct-work a cleaning
While it's not something I've personally gotten around to doing at this point in my life, as an allergy sufferer, if you've already tried most of the solutions available to you like those listed in this article, you can take it one step further and have your duct-work cleaned. The accumulated debris within duct-work can unfortunately wreak havoc on your air quality, and allergies.

There are companies out there that do this cleaning for you, using their own duct-work cleaning tools like what AeroSeal Solutions offers, which has a camera attached to the tool to see everything within the duct-work (and make sure that all the built up debris and fuzz and nasties are cleaned out.)

So what do you do to keep your air quality up and allergies down?