Clean Living, Healthy Breathing: Maintaining Safe Indoor Air Quality for Your Kids

When it comes to clean breathing air for our children, most parents are more likely to worry about what kids are breathing outdoors. But the truth is that indoor air pollution is, on average, from two to five times higher than outside, and it can cause an array of dangerous health problems. It may take the EPA decades to improve our breathing air outside, but you can keep your kids breathing safely inside your home with a few simple improvements.

Natural ventilation

One surefire way to improve the quality of your children’s breathing air is to ventilate your home naturally. Switch off the air conditioning and throw open the doors and windows for 15 or 20 minutes every day. Creating a healthy natural flow will clear your home of pollutants and freshen the smell and feel of your interior. It’s a good way to enhance ventilation naturally and let lingering odors from that garlic prawn pasta dish float away once and for all.

Air quality threats and causes

There are several factors that play a role in an unhealthy home. Humidity—too much or too little—contributes significantly to poor indoor air quality by creating a breeding haven for dust mites, mold spores, and pet dander. Mold is particularly dangerous to your child’s breathing and can cause a litany of upper-respiratory problems. It also poses a danger to the wood and drywall inside your home, which will begin to warp and rot over time if the humidity inside is too high. If humidity and moisture are major problems in your home, consider purchasing a dehumidifier, which helps moderate the humidity levels. Simply set your unit to 50 percent and make sure to empty the receptacle bucket and keep it clean, and you should be in good shape. Poorly ventilated homes create a “perfect storm” for mold growth and allow certain dangerous gases to build up. Radon gas is the leading cause of lung cancer among non-smokers according to the EPA and the second-leading cause of lung cancer overall.

Purifiers

Indoor air purifiers, properly maintained with a HEPA filter, are effective at reducing pollutants in the home for those who suffer from allergies and asthma. Some use ultraviolet light to kill off pollutants like viruses and bacteria, while other purifiers combine UV light with a catalyst, which renders gaseous particles harmless. If allergens and pollutants are a major problem in your house, consider having a whole-house filter fitted for your HVAC system, which will remove harmful particles from your duct system.

Safe cleaning

Commercial cleaning products can contribute significantly to poor indoor air quality, so try substituting eco-friendly substances like baking soda, lemon, and vinegar as cleaning fluids. Use microfiber cloths for cleaning instead of dusting sprays that can exacerbate breathing problems. Incorporate indoor plants like ferns and lilies, which can filter out allergens and improve your air quality safely and naturally. If it’s necessary to use strong commercial products, be sure to open the windows and create a steady flow of air for effective ventilation. Make sure to keep all carpeting well-vacuumed to help control allergens.

No smoking! For children with respiratory issues, secondary tobacco smoke, which contains about 7,000 chemicals according to the Centers for Disease Control, will exacerbate their condition and make it difficult to breathe freely. Kids with pulmonary illness may cough and show other symptoms that resemble those of the common cold, as well as nasal flaring, loss of appetite, and decreased urine output. Post a sign in your home which makes it clear there’s no smoking inside your home ever, so your Uncle Bob the cigar smoker has no excuse for lighting up and filling your home with heavy, acrid smoke the next time he stops by.

One very good way to keep your kids breathing healthy is to make sure they spend plenty of time outside this summer. Get the whole family outside together to do some backyard camping, go bike riding, or play Frisbee golf.

Poor indoor air quality is dangerous to young children, whose lungs are still developing, and may contribute to sudden infant death syndrome. Kids need clean, well-ventilated air to breathe if they are to grow up healthy and happy.

Julia Merrill has many years of experience in the medical field and runs the site BefriendYourDoc.org.

Julia’s mission is to close the gap between medical providers and their patients, and aims to provide tips on finding the right medical care, health insurance, etc.

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