Home - it holds a special place in our hearts and minds, but this most favorite of spaces is also where 65% of colds and more than half of all food-borne illnesses are caught. Some of the most common, most everyday things you do at home actually have a big impact on your health, including being the starting point of allergy causes.
1. Using a sponge
The dirtiest part of any home is the kitchen, and the one tool that's a part of so many of them is the common kitchen sponge.
It sops up liquids but also commonly caries germs like E. coli and fecal bacteria. It's the dirtiest thing in your kitchen, along with that dishcloth.
To protect yourself, dip your kitchen sponge in a solution of bleach and water before you use it. This is a super easy, and super affordable, way to keep microbes under control. Also, let your sponge air dry as this kills off organisms. Another method is to microwave the sponge in a microwave safe dish with a bit of water for a minute or two each week.
2. Vacuuming
The ordinary vacuum is made to pick up an retain pieces of dirt, but tiny dust particles are able to pass right through the porous vacuum bags and go up into the air - where you're breathing.
So while the floor might look cleaner after a vacuuming, there's still plenty of dust and other contaminants in the air. Pet allergens, indoor dust and other materials are found in higher concentrations in the smallest, tiniest particles of this dust.
You'll want to look for a vacuum cleaner with a high efficiency particulate air (HEPA) filter. These filters are able to hold onto the small particles and keep them from getting back into the air you're breathing.
3. Sleeping with Pillows and a Mattress
Okay this is just strange...
The average person sheds almost 1.5 million skin cells an hour, and sweats out one quart of liquid every day. These cells build up in our pillows and on our mattresses, dust mites grow too. And then there's this, a mattress doubles in weight every 10 years because of the buildup of a variety of things; human hair and body secretions, pet hair and dander, fungal mold and spores, bacteria, dust and lint fibers and many other things too disturbing to list.
If your pillow is older than five years, 10% of the weight is dust mites - and you're breathing them in as you sleep.
To help yourself, wrap your pillows and mattresses in an allergy proof covering that keeps things from getting in (or out) of your sleeping surfaces. Wash sheets weekly in hot water (130 to 150 degrees Fahrenheit) to keep them fresh and free of things you can't see, and certainly don't want to sleep with.
4. Grilling Meat
Barbecuing meat creates cancer causing compounds polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) and heterocyclic amines (HCAs), but it also gives the familiar charred markings that make our mouths water for a burger.
There are some steps you can take to make grilling healthier - wrap meat in foil, microwave it first or limit your cooking on the grill. Of course you'll want to start with lean cuts of meat to keep unhealthy saturated fats to a minimum.
5. Opening Your Windows
While you'd think that throwing open a window to fresh air would be a good thing, it also lets in allergens and brings the poor air quality of many cities in the U.S. inside your home.
According to a report by the American Lung Association, sixty percent of us are breathing unhealthy air. What's more, the Environmental Protection Agency puts poor indoor air quality as the fourth largest environmental threat in the U.S.
The solution is to shut the windows and run the air conditioning instead, these units have filters that keep the debris from getting into the equipment, and thus inside.
There are also filters to remove particles small enough to inhale on the market, and some work rather well in negating allergy causes. These are especially helpful in the bedroom. A recent study found that cleaner air might add as much as five months to your life.
Related : Asbestos Replacement Tooth Nourishing Cream
No comments:
Post a Comment