What comes to mind when you think about improving your health? Diet, your sleeping habits, or exercise. While these are all good ways to maintain and improve your health, your home is where you spend most of your time. Therefore, it’s crucial that you think about how you can improve the atmosphere in your home. From purifying the air and filtering pollutants to swapping the dirty rags and adding a green touch, there are several approaches to making your home healthier.
11 Ways to Creating a Healthier Home
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Use low-VOC paint
Are you planning to paint a room in your home? According to the EPA (Environmental Protection Agency), paints and stains produce approximately 13% of VOC emissions. This makes them the second-largest source after emissions from automobiles. Therefore, you may want to consider using low or no VOC paints when repainting your home. VOCs are chemicals that are released in the air in gaseous forms, and they can have some harmful side effects like cancer or harming your central nervous system.
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Let fresh air in
A simple way to make your home healthier is to just open your windows. This lets in fresh air into your home and removes polluted indoor air. Failing to allow fresh outdoor air into your home can lead to the accumulation of pollutants in your home. Therefore, the best way to improve indoor air is by ventilating it with outdoor air.
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Create a personal plant sanctuary
Houseplants from Forever Flowers help to beautify your home. However, did you know that plants can also help your health by just being inside your home? Results from a 1989 experiment by NASA proved that some indoor plants can help to improve indoor air quality by absorbing harmful chemicals like formaldehyde and benzene from the air. Additionally, several researchers have discovered house plants that can act as natural air filters.
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Wash your towels frequently
Most people remember to wash their clothes but forget to launder their towels more often. According to Healthline, bath towels and other bathroom linens make great breeding grounds for fungi and bacteria due to moisture, dead skin cells, and warmth. Therefore, you should ensure that you wash your towels after using them three to four times (assuming that they completely dry between uses). Also, avoid sharing your towels to avoid exposing your body to microbes it isn’t used to.
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Carefully select cleaning products
Most cleaning products on the market today contain harmful chemicals that contribute to allergic reactions, respiratory problems, and headaches. To prevent these dangerous side effects, consider purchasing cleaning products with low VOC levels. If possible, you can make your own natural cleaning products using readily available ingredients like lemon juice, baking soda, and white vinegar.
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Install water filters for drinking water
You can determine the quality of the water in your home by conducting a water test. This will help you to determine whether you need to act quickly. While doing a water test is crucial, one of the best things you can do to make your home a healthy place is to install water filters for your drinking water. A water filtration system will filter out all harmful pollutants in water like radium and ammonia from your tap.
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Diffuse essential oils
You can use essential oils for various reasons, from relieving headaches to add a calming aroma to your home and boosting your mood. According to a recent study, researchers discovered that orange oil helps to promote a positive mood and also boosts the level of calmness. Diffusers release the pleasant vapours into the air and help to calm your mind. What’s more, some of these diffusers automatically shut down when they run out of water, which means that you can leave yours running all day.
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Turn the thermostat down
In order to get cosy at night, most people opt to increase the heat levels. However, it’s healthier to turn down the thermostat than up. In a recent study, it was discovered that maintaining low temperatures of around 66 degrees in your bedroom can help to stimulate brown fat. This can help to reduce the risk of some metabolic disorders like diabetes. After all, you’ll also be saving money on energy bills.
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Prevent mould growth
Moisture and food are the key ingredients to mould growth. If you own an old home or your home has poor insulation, moisture may condense on the exterior of your walls and seep through the drywall. Therefore, check your windows for condensation and plumbing fixtures for leaks, and ensure that humidity levels are always low in winter to prevent mould growth. Also, ensure that the kitchen and bathroom exhausts have clean filters.
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Ventilate your home
Energy efficiency is one of the features that attract most new homebuyers. However, most of these homes tend to be tightly sealed so that there are no leaks to allow in the fresh air. If you own such a home, you should install a ventilation system to remove the stale air and supply your home with fresh air. Ensure that the ventilation system you get is suitable for the size of your home, structural tightness, number of occupants, and climate
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Control dust
You can control the dust in your home using these simple tips:
- Reduce the accumulation of dust on hard-to-clean collectibles by displaying them behind glass doors.
- After completing your home remodelling project, hire a licensed cleaning company to clean your home and the duct system.
- Place allergy-control covers on pillows and mattresses to keep away dust mites. Also, remember to wash your beddings every week in hot water and dry them on high heat.
- Install easy-to-clean window treatments to minimise the dust in your living space. Some of the ideal selections include linen fabrics and flat-weave cotton. However, avoid heavily textured blinds as they can easily collect dust.
Bottom Line
Your home affects both your physical and mental health. In fact, recent research has proven that appealing surroundings can accelerate the healing process. Therefore, it’s vital that you follow the above tips to improve your well-being.
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