Stale, toxic indoor air isn’t good for your health. But it is especially dangerous to your children.
Did you know that a child’s lungs continue to grow and develop all the way into adulthood? As the American Lung Association explains, this is especially true of the tiny air sacs inside the lungs, called alveoli.
For this reason, while maintaining pure, breathable indoor air is important to all of us, it is especially vital to help the very young grow into strong, healthy adults.
In this post, learn what you can do to ensure your home is a safe, healthy place for your children.
Our Indoor Air Quality Is Worse Than Our Outdoor Air Quality
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s “Report on the Environment” startled North America by announcing that our indoor air is up to five times more toxic than our outdoor air.
This is not good news, but at least now that we know, we can do something about it.
As with all health-related issues, the very young, the elderly and those with compromised immune system function are most at risk for lung and respiratory system damage.
Two Types of Airborne Pollutants of Special Concern
There are two main types of airborne toxins that you need to be especially concerned about. The first type is gaseous and the second type is particulate.
1. Gaseous toxins
Gaseous toxins include ozone, radon, carbon monoxide, butane, toluene and volatile organic compounds such as formaldehyde, methyl chloride, nitrogen oxide, acetone, carbon disulfide and many others too difficult to spell, let alone pronounce.
Many of these toxins are found in home renovation and craft supplies such as paint, primer, glue, adhesive.
Volatile gaseous compounds are also commonly found in personal care products such as air fresheners, cleaning supplies, nail polish and remover, as well as home appliances such as the beloved backyard grill, the home office scanner and the HVAC system.
2. Particulate toxins
Particulates can include cigarette ash, mould and mildew spores, pet dander, dust and dust mites, pollen, mineral and metallic dust, bacteria and fungi, virus germs, soot and smoke, and liquid micro-particles from cleaning supplies, sprays and paints.
Here again, these particulates are more commonly introduced into our indoor air through products we purchase than from any other source.
Indoor Air Pollution and Pregnancy
One of the most concerning aspects of the ever-increasing indoor air pollution is the risk to pregnant women and their unborn children, especially during the first and third trimesters.
If you or someone in your family is pregnant or trying to conceive, it is vital to know that multiple research studies have proven there is a direct link between indoor air pollution and preterm birth and low birth weight.
Indoor Air Pollution and Young Children
Children who grow up breathing toxic indoor air show commensurate developmental lung damage to what they might experience if one or both parents smoke.
The most concerning issue is slow lung growth and lower-than-average lung capacity. Children who regularly breathe polluted air also experience more respiratory symptoms as they grow up.
On a happier note, making improvements to indoor air quality can have an immediate health impact. Studies show that children breathing cleaner air demonstrate fewer symptoms of respiratory and bronchial distress, increased lung capacity and decreased risk of asthma.
5 Steps to Clean Up Your Indoor Air
If you are reading this and starting to panic, thinking about your unborn baby or your young children who are playing right now in the family room, this is only natural. You love your kids and want the very best for them in life!
Now that you know indoor air pollution can hurt your children, you want to take action. These five steps outline a simple, effective, immediate plan to do just that.
1. Change your home habits
The easiest, fastest change you can make is one you can start on right now! Head for your cleaning closet and discard everything you use for cleaning, crafts or home care that has unpronounceable ingredients on the label.
You can quickly mix up your own home cleaning products using these easy, homemade cleaning recipes. If you like to do crafting at home, move your projects outdoors where any toxins can readily dissipate.
2. Schedule an indoor air duct cleaning
Even if you wanted to, you couldn’t count all the toxins – gaseous and particulates – stowed away inside the average air duct system.
Scheduling a professional air duct cleaning is like hitting the “reset” button on your entire home air supply system.
3. Install heat recovery ventilation
What gets rid of polluted, stale indoor air better than fresh, oxygenated air? We can’t think of anything!
A heat recovery ventilator separates stale outgoing air and fresh incoming air while balancing indoor air humidity levels and saving energy.
4. Upgrade to a HEPA air filtering system
HEPA technology was invented during World War II to protect laboratory researchers from radioactive particulate matter. There is still nothing better on the market today.
HEPA filters will trap particulates as small as 1/100th of a single strand of human hair.
5. Add ultraviolet air purification
HEPA filters are great for trapping particulate toxins, but they can’t address gaseous toxins. For this, you need a UV air purifier.
An ultraviolet air purifier uses UV-C light to damage the molecular structure of airborne gas particles so they can’t do any harm.
Get in Touch
Are you ready to start the process of cleaning up your indoor air supply for your family’s safety and your own?
To help you, right now save 10 percent on any of our popular air duct cleaning packages!
Contact us online or give us a call at 905-544-2470.
