Let’s compare drinking water and breathing air. Lots and lots of folks filter the water they drink because they have learned of the importance to their health of pure, clean water. Did you know that we breathe on average 20,000 liters of air a day compared to drinking about an average of 2 liters of water per day.
Should we be thinking more about the air we breathe? When you consider that the toxins in the air are directly absorbed by the lungs, maybe we should.
Indoor air pollution has been tagged by the EPA (Environmental Protection Agency) as our number one environmental health concern.
It is estimated that some 40 million Americans have allergies and 17 million have asthma. Millions more have other lung or breathing challenges. And recently more serious problems like reproductive illnesses and cancer have been associated with indoor air pollution.
Consider some factors that have increased our air pollution:
1) We use more chemicals
2) Our homes are closed up tighter than they used to be, trapping those chemicals, toxins and fumes in the air in our homes.
The closed environment of our homes also presents problems such as mold and bacteria growth.
Indoor air pollutants total quite a list. Here are some: molds, fungus, virus, bacteria, glues, carpeting, dry cleaning chemicals, dust mites and other allergens, cooking odors, pet odors, smoke, personal care items such as hair spray and nail products, and cleaning products.
We can’t control all of these pollutants or remove them all from our homes. However, we do have choices. Choices that will help make our health better now and for our future.
Two choices we definitely have that can make immediate improvement toward a healthier home are also environmentally favorable.
One is to take all of the cleaning products that have harmful toxins, chemicals and fumes out of our homes and choose a safe, green, environmentally friendly brand. There are products that actually work better than popular store brands and will save you money too.
Another is to get a quality air purifier that will remove from the indoor air, the toxins and chemicals and fumes that we have less control over their presence in our homes. An air purification system that actually drops these particulates from the air we breathe down to the lowest surface in the home means that we do not breathe them into our bodies.
These may seem like simple choices, but they are powerful choices where you feel an immediate change in the air quality of your home. No more smelling cleaning products that are offensive and risking your health to have your home clean. And no more breathing in particles you can’t even see or hear but can contribute to your developing chronic illnesses and serious diseases.