Have you ever asked yourself how many hours you spend indoors? Including outgoing people who want to take in all the wonders of the world, 80 to 90% of people stay indoors for an average of 20 hours a day. This is especially true nowadays since authorities worldwide have been encouraging individuals to stay home in the face of a global health crisis.
Since we are staying at home most of the time, it is even more crucial that we prioritize our indoor air quality. Recent government agencies and research have encouraged us to pay some time and attention to our home’s air quality since this can significantly affect our well being.
Not only will air circulation and quality affect our well-being, but it also has a lasting effect on the respiratory of our family. In most cases, respiratory illnesses manifest when most families don’t place the necessary attention to their ventilation and home’s air quality.
What Is Indoor Quality and What Affects It?
It’s important not to confuse Indoor Air Quality (IAQ) with air pressure and ventilation, which are often measured in different quantities. However, ventilation is also a factor that can affect air quality. Indoor Air Quality (IAQ) is calculated using a variety of various factors. Some of these factors include the following:
- How effective the HVAC systems work and how air passes inside and out of the building.
- More two-way airways may mean better air quality.
- Several different equipment and furniture that might emit particular synthetic pollutants can have a negative effect on air quality, such as formaldehyde.
- If windows can be opened with ease, overall air quality increases.
- Several chemicals being produced indoors can affect air quality. This includes body odor and several airborne chemicals.
- Waste and pollutants that are entering the facility
- Essential supplies and materials that are used as raw materials for manufacturing indoors can also affect air quality.
In most cases, homeowners won’t really need to worry about the majority of these factors since some are limited to the workplace, it’s still important to keep the air quality of our home clean, especially when we have children to take care of.
Properly Using Different Means of Improving Air Quality
So what are some means of improving hair quality? Common knowledge would tell us that herbal alternatives and disinfectants are generally “good” and positively affect general air quality. But contrary to what most people believe, some substances diffused in the air can potentially do more harm than good.
Essential Oils and Diffusers
In particular, research that did a comprehensive analysis of essential oils has found that essential oils have the following effect on air quality.
- There is a significant increase in carbon monoxide and carbon dioxide.
- Microbial activity only ceased during the first hour before resuming activity in the next few hours.
- Coniferous plants and insects secrete high emissions of chemicals.
It’s also important to note that everybody will have their unique biology, and most individuals are allergic to certain substances. While there are allergic symptoms that are just a mild annoyance, there are also allergic reactions considered severe. Thus, it’s important to get you, and your child tested for an allergic reaction to some essential oils essential.
Equipment
When it doubt, you can always invest in different equipment types that can help “purify” the air, such as a HEPA air purifier. It’s important to note that the UV feature usually marketed by air purifiers hasn’t been confirmed as a good way of killing airborne viral agents.
Another great way of retaining good indoor air quality even when your home has multiple entryways for air is installing commercial air curtains, which can form a barrier and prevent virulent agents and contaminants from moving towards your home’s interiors. This is also a great way of preventing dust, particles, and pests from entering your home.
There are different ways of improving air quality at home. Although it’s important to do some background research on whatever we are buying for our home’s air quality since different types of chemicals in the air can affect our overall health. While different substances have a positive effect on our body, there are also some chemicals that our body won’t sit well.
When you have children at home, it’s important to sit down with them to explain air quality and safety precautions that they have to take, especially when COVID-19 and several other diseases are airborne. When in doubt about what you and your children are allergic to, you can always ask professional medical practitioners instead.
