Most everyone has heard of indoor air quality and the ‘possible’ dangers of breathing household dust and other pollutants on a regular basis. And like most things, we pretty much blow it off unless we have a problem because we’re all very busy, right? And, a lot of ailments like chronic allergies, poor sleep, lack of energy and other problems we just learn to live with because we’re busy and we’re really not sure, in a lot of cases, what’s really causing the problems. Well, without exaggerating, what you’re breathing every day in your home could be holding you back physically, mentally, emotionally, and many other ways.
How is that possible? Let’s take a closer look at what house or household dust really contains. House dust is composed of a variety of things from the structure itself, people, pets, insects or other living things in the home, dirt and other things tracked inside, and the various other things kept inside the house. A house is constantly breaking down at a very slow rate, which causes particles to be released that are from wood, ceramic, fiberglass and other building materials. The same is true for just about everything kept in a home-everything from paper, boxes, cleaning products, furniture, carpets and more, all release particles and chemicals into the air. People release all sorts of pollutants into the house, as well, to include both particles and chemicals from skin cells, gases we give off through our skin, bacteria, hair, etc.
Then, we have the various insects that not only add their body parts and waste material (often full of bacteria and viruses) to the mix, but sometimes contribute to the dust by chewing up various materials in our homes. Of the insects, dust mites and their parts, waste materials, etc, one of the strongest known allergens, cause over 1 billion people per year to experience allergies and are responsible for as much as 60% of new and chronic asthma cases. And guess what? Every gram of house dust contains about 200 live dust mites, not to mention all the dust mite parts, waste, etc. All the allergic and asthma reactions cause a lot of inflammation in the body, which robs us of vital energy and causes a lot of discomfort.
And all of these ‘particles’ plus any chemical residues that accumulate with the dust, are then circulated by our air conditioners for us to breathe every day. And no, the air conditioner filters are not capable of removing all of the particles-many are too small and pass right through even the best a/c filters. Plus, what’s in the duct work after the filter still blows out into the room and we breathe a lot of it before the a/c filter can do anything to reduce it. That’s right-unless you have a good air purifier running in the room trapping all the particles and chemicals, you’re breathing all of that, which either is or will eventually cause problems.
What’s a good solution? A good electronic whole house dust filtration system with HEPA and carbon filters that attaches to the air conditioner duct is usually the most cost effective solution (this one helps prevent outdoor air pollution from coming inside, too). Or you can buy a couple of good portable units with quality HEPA and carbon filters. Either one will go a long way toward preventing the life-robbing effects of inhaling household ‘dust’ on a regular basis.