Unfortunately, allergies are a part of spending time outdoors, and many homeowners find their breathing troubles tend to persist even when indoors. Whether it's a stuffy nose or a persistent cough, your symptoms can keep you from doing the things you love with your family. To breathe easier and enjoy your summer to the fullest, begin your fight on allergens by improving your home's indoor air quality.
Decrease the Amount of Clutter
While your pile of books may not seem to cause your home any problems, over time, they'll collect dust that gets recycled through your ventilation system. Clutter scattered about your home can trap this dust, which makes it easier to trigger an allergic reaction. Even if you clean your home regularly, these nooks of dust can evade your detection and build up. Learning to let go of this clutter will eliminate the dusty parts of your home and will dramatically reduce the number of allergens floating in your vents.
Clearing these extra items also gives you more usable space within your home. This will make it more apparent when your home needs to be cleaned and you'll reduce your allergy symptoms.
Keep Your Home Clean
Once the clutter is removed, the amount of dust in your home should decrease. It's important, however, to keep up with the home's regular cleanings if you want to keep it from building up again. In addition to vacuuming and dusting, this process should also include the regular washings of most fabrics in the home. Some of these items are your bedding, drapes, towels, and couch pillows.
Cleaning these fabrics is especially key when you have pets. Like dust, pet dander can get caught in the fabric around your home and release into the air when you compress it. Just like with your bedding, be sure to take some time to wash your pet's bed and fabric toys to prevent the growth of bacteria.
Monitor the Humidity
The amount of moisture in the air can also play a role in a home's air quality. Damp environments allow mold and dust mites to thrive and make the air in your home musty as a result. To keep them under control, it's recommended that you regulate the humidity to fall between 30 percent and 50 percent. This range will allow enough moisture for your skin to remain healthy and keep contaminants from multiplying. Using a dehumidifier in the summer, and a humidifier in the winter, will grant you control of your home's humidity, so long as you monitor the current percentages as you use them.
Use an Air Purifier
If you want to further improve the air quality of your home, a great way to do so is to invest in an air purifier. By placing these filters in the most used sections of the house, you'll gain control over how many allergens get carried throughout the remainder of the home. You might want to consider placing them in areas like the living room, basement, and bedroom. These areas usually have the most traffic and will often have the most contaminants settling on the surfaces.
Written by LouAnn Moss for The Healthy Moms Magazine and legally licensed through the Matcha publisher network. Please direct all licensing questions to legal@getmatcha.com.
