The importance of ventilation and air quality to your health
Are you aware that we spend most of our lives indoors? No matter, whether at home on your own four walls or in the office … unfortunately the ventilation and air quality often leave a lot to be desired.
What importance of ventilation and air quality for your health do you consider in everyday life? Does frequent ventilation of the rooms make sense? How can energy savings and healthy air be cleverly combined? Today we will tell you how to ensure good air quality and which tricks you can use to ventilate optimally.
Basic knowledge about ventilation and air quality – what are the problems?
Room air is not just room air. Most people are unaware that air pollution affects their spaces at home or in the office. Results from various international studies show that indoor air can be five times more polluted than the air outside. Common substances that contribute to air pollution include chemicals from household cleaners, as well as vapors from furniture and fibers. The following overview summarizes substances that can negatively affect good air quality:
- Chemical substances from cleaning agents
- Vapors from building products such as glue, wall paint, wallpaper
- Fabrics from objects of our facility
- Contamination from active sources such as smoking, scented oils, burning candles
- Substances from animals such as animal hair
- Exhalation and exhalation from people, especially in offices with many colleagues
- Substances that get into the room air because of moisture, such as mold spores
Carbon monoxide (CO particularly affected ventilation and indoor air quality) and nitrogen dioxide (NO2). They include tobacco smoke, radon, lead, pesticides, and volatile organic compounds such as benzene, formaldehyde, and naphthalene. This can lead to irritation, but also to health impairments of the central nervous system up to the development of diseases such as cancer.
Good air quality depends heavily on the mixture of pollutants in the air and the moisture it contains. But what is the importance of ventilation and air quality for your health and the moisture content of your indoor air?
Why can bad air and humidity lead to health problems?
Showering, bathing, cooking, hanging out the laundry… These activities can lead to increased humidity in rooms. But what is the importance of ventilation and air quality for your health at this point? The dampness in indoor air can irritate the respiratory tract and cause allergies and asthma. In addition, high indoor humidity promotes the formation of microorganisms such as bacteria and mold.
Because of insufficient ventilation, the concentration of pollutants and the humidity increase.
Our tricks for clean room air – frequent ventilation of the rooms recommended?
The importance of ventilation and air quality is closely related. Unfortunately, you can make several mistakes when airing that make it difficult to reconcile energy savings and healthy air:
Typical mistakes during ventilation:
- Long ventilation and tilted windows for several hours
- Ventilate humid rooms such as bathrooms and kitchens rarely or not at all
- Disregard rooms such as bedrooms, children’s rooms, or guest rooms with ventilation
To ensure adequate ventilation and air quality:
- Frequent ventilation of the rooms
- we recommend airing the rooms for 10 minutes three to four times a day
- Boost ventilation–open several windows at the same time
- Always air the bedroom before going to bed, and after getting up
- Regular professional cleaning and airing of household textiles and carpets
- Reducing humidity by, for example, not hanging damp laundry in living areas
- Selected potted plants promote good indoor air quality
- Reconsider using air filters and air purifiers as an option
- When buying items related to the facility, pay attention to ecological materials and possible pollution.
Pets, cleaning, and indoor air – did you know? Management of pets can also increase good indoor air quality. If you are an allergy sufferer, you should carefully reconsider keeping pets. For all animal lovers, it is crucial how the animals are kept. Pets can increase the concentration of fine dust and other harmful substances indoors. For this reason, ensure that we cleaned the toilets daily and vacuumed thoroughly to avoid pollutants in the air.
Use a vacuum cleaner with a so-called HEPA filter for this purpose. These have a high level of efficiency and remove even the smallest particles from the floor. In this way, pollutants with a size of up to 0.3 cm do not first get into the room air.
In addition, mop your hard floors regularly to avoid spreading pollutants. When cleaning, household remedies such as baking soda, baking powder, lemon juice, or vinegar can keep further pollution as low as possible.
Read More: Check latest Air Purifier Here
Can we reconcile energy savings and healthy air at all?
Yes, if you ventilate properly and follow our tricks for clean room air. Not only do you regularly ensure the excellent air quality in your interior, you also save energy and money at the same time.
Saving energy through forced ventilation? In particular, frequent ventilation of the rooms through multiple shock ventilation ensures efficient energy savings and healthy air. But how is that even possible and what does forced ventilation mean in this context?
Forced airing is interior ventilation in which we open the windows wide for several minutes in order to replace used air in the interior with fresh air. While doing so, turn off the thermostatic valves. For example, you can save around $200 every year in a single-family house and simultaneously prevent the emission of around 550 kg of CO2! Interesting right?
Try it. You will soon notice how close the connection between ventilation and air quality and your performance is. Incidentally, this also quickly becomes clear when working in the office. Fresh air clears your head, increases your body’s performance, and reduces health risks. Incidentally, you can protect the environment with intelligent ventilation of your interior at home and at work.
Good air quality for an active life! After reading our article, you will know the importance of ventilation and air quality for your health. With simple practical tips, you can ensure that the air in your room is healthy and does not make you ill. Energy savings and a healthy atmosphere do not have to be mutually exclusive.