The air in your home can be five times dirtier than the air outside. It’s full of toxins, allergens, and all kinds of germs. Let that sink in.
Without purifying your home air, you’re likely to breathe in all kinds of germs, including the flu. Make sure you keep your air clean to keep everyone in your home safe this flu season.
The flu is a highly contagious virus. This flu season, use these 5 influenza prevention tips to make your home safer for you and your company.
How Does Air Purification Help Your Home?
Without a way to purify it, the air in your house becomes stale, especially with the lack of circulation during winter. Purification techniques rid the toxins in the air so that your family doesn’t breathe air that might make them sick.
Easy Breathing
If the air in your house is low quality, your body recognizes it. Your breathing can become shallow, putting stress on your body. It makes it difficult to do your daily tasks.
Clean air means big, easy breaths. This is because you’re giving your body the oxygen it needs.
Good Sleep
Breathing clean air is important even in you’re asleep. If you’re breathing in unclean air, your sleep will become uncomfortable. Airborne allergens affect your sleep and can lead to sleep-disordered breathing.
Balanced Humidity
Too much humidity leads to all kinds of issues. The moisture can create mold as well as invite dust mites and pests. Clean air means balanced humidity.
Eliminating Allergens
Possibly the most important reason to purify your air is to get rid of those nasty allergens. 10-30 percent of the global population suffers from allergens that live in our home.
The most common are:
- Dust
- Dander
- Mold
- Cockroach debris
- pollen
Allergens float in the air and settle in your home. They irritate your eyes, nose, throat, and make you feel sick. The thicker the allergen, the quicker it settles.
Purifying your air clears out the allergens, making you feel healthier in your own home.
How To Purify Your Air
There are a number of easy and affordable solutions that can help you purify your air at home.
1. Teach Preventive Measures
Many of the germs that can be found in the air can be avoided by simply teaching some helpful hygiene tips.
Teach children how to cover their nose and mouth when sneezing or coughing. Practice cleanliness products by dusting and disinfecting regularly, and pay special attention to transferring germs during flu season.
You may even decide to keep your child home from school when a flu outbreak occurs. All of these steps will help prevent the virus from entering your home in the first place.
2. Natural Cleaners for Influenza Prevention
Many store-bought cleaners contain chemicals that may be just as bad for you as the germs they claim to kill. The majority of these cleaners have VOCs (volatile organic compounds).
When the cleaners are used, VOCs release into the air. They can be extremely hazardous to our health, leading to irritation, nausea, and damage to your nervous system. Instead of introducing your home to these chemicals, try using a natural cleaner.
A mixture of vinegar and baking soda work together to scrub away grime. Hydrogen peroxide and club soda also make a good cleaning product without residual effects.
3. Indoor Plants
Decorating your home with real plants brings some natural air indoors. They naturally filter the air, purifying it to keep you germ-free.
It’s common knowledge that plants absorb the carbon dioxide around them. Then, they release clean oxygen. Studies show there’s a little more to it. Certain plants actually help eliminate benzene, formaldehyde, and trichloroethylene. This means they’re actually acting to purify the air in your home and provide clean oxygen to breathe.
Try putting house plants throughout your home to get a little breath of fresh air no matter where you are.
Some popular plants to clean your air are:
- weeping fig
- snake plant
- golden pothos
- peace lily
- Boston fern
- English ivy
- dracaena
- bamboo palm
- dragon tree
- lady palm
- spider plant
4. Protect Your Outdoor Space
While they may not cause influenza, there are thousands of different types of toxins right outside your doors and windows, threatening your family’s health.
It’s wise to do everything you can to eliminate toxic exposure outside, to reduce the toxins inside.
There are plenty of ways to do this including switching to hand-powered gardening tools, avoiding leaving your car on while sitting in the driveway, and avoiding any kind of backyard-burning.
5. Activated Charcoal
For many years, we’ve used charcoal to purify our water. Now, you can find charcoal in several everyday products (facial cleaners, toothbrushes, hair products, etc). This is because charcoal has toxin-removing effects.
These effects can benefit your air, too. You can find linen bags filled with high-density charcoal. Placing them in your home allows them to remove bacteria, pollutants, and allergens from your air.
They also absorb moisture and trap impurities in their porous structure. There’s no need to wash them, but you can rejuvenate them by placing them in sunlight every few weeks.
Air Purification Creates a Safer Home
This flu season, get a head start at keeping the air in your home clean. Stuff your room with plants. Use preventive measures. Scatter charcoal-filled air purifier bags, or even utilize an air purifier.
Getting rid of the toxins and allergens in your home is key to keeping clear of nasty, contagious germs. Purifying your air is a great start to influenza prevention.
A healthy home creates a healthy family. Take the first step towards a healthier home by picking up your new air filter today.
