While outdoor air pollution is regularly discussed, indoor air pollution gets little attention, despite the fact that it can be up to five times worse than outside air pollution.
Professor Ian Colbeck, an indoor air quality expert from the School of Biological Sciences at the University of Essex, who has carried carried out extensive research into indoor air quality and its impact on health, has provided some of his top tips on ways to improve air quality in the home.
- Need to smoke? Do it outside.
- Choose hard-surface floors
- Leave your shoes at the door
- Cook without leaving a trade
- Banish condensation
- Go all-natural
- Embrace the green stuff
- Purify the air
- Eliminate odours, don’t just mask them
- Ventilate
What are the health impacts of indoor air pollution?
Poor indoor air quality can lead to a whole host of health issues, while indoor air pollution was attributed to 99,000 deaths across Europe in 2012. Professor Colbeck explains that the “potential health impacts of IAP can include asthma, respiratory irritation, heart disease, cancer, and sick building syndrome.” Sick building syndrome includes headaches, tiredness and loss of concentration, and can particularly affect office workers.
How can air purifiers help reduce indoor air pollution?
Investing in an air purifier can be an invaluable step when it comes to keeping your home free from air pollutants. Air purifiers work by drawing air into the machine, where filters trap dust and other minute particles including pollen, bacteria, ultrafine particulates, VOCs and even odours. The machine then releases the smooth, purified, clean air back into the home.
This article originally appeared on London Loves Business, 11/10/2017
