7 Simple Tips to Purify Air in Your Home

Most of us are familiar with outdoor air pollution, but did you know that indoor air pollution is also a thing?! That’s why it’s important to take some simple steps to purify air in your home.

According to Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) studies:

“Indoor levels of pollutants may be two to five times — and occasionally more than 100 times — higher than outdoor levels. These levels of indoor air pollutants are of particular concern, because most people spend about 90 percent of their time indoors”

EPA

Indoor Air Pollution Sources

Some of the indoor sources of pollutants include Volatile Organic Compounds also knows as VOCs. According to the EPA, “VOCs are emitted as gases from certain solids or liquids. VOCs include a variety of chemicals, some of which may have short- and long-term adverse health effects. VOCs are emitted by a wide array of products numbering in the thousands.” Here are some sources of VOCs:

• Paint, varnishes, caulks, adhesives
• Carpet, vinyl flooring
• Composite wood products
• Upholstery and foam
• Air fresheners, cleaning products
• Cosmetics
• Fuel oil, gasoline
• Smoking
• Dry cleaning, photocopiers
• Cooking, hobbies
• Burning wood

Indoor Air Pollution Health Risks: 

Air pollution health risks can depend on the chemical, how much is in the air, and duration of exposure. There can be short term term exposure like hours or days or long term exposure like years. According to the EPA and MN Dept of Health, the following health effects for exposure may include: 

• Eye, nose and throat irritation (short term exposure)
• Headaches, loss of coordination and nausea (short term exposure)
• Dizziness (short term exposure)
• Worsening of asthma symptoms (short term exposure)
• Damage to liver, kidney and central nervous system (years to a lifetime of exposure)
• Cancer (years to a lifetime of exposure)

The good news is you can take simple steps to improve the air quality in your home, and there are also ways to do so naturally.

7 Simple Tips to Purify Air in Your Home

Tip 1: Open Your Windows & Ventilate the Air

Get the fresh air flowing by opening your windows and ventilate by moving the fresh air around your home with fans. According to the EPA, one of the ways to reduce indoor air pollution is to improve the ventilation by increasing the amount of air coming indoors. Cooking also causes indoor air pollution so use a range hood, fan, or open the windows while you cook.

Tip 2: Use Non-toxic cleaners

Ensure you are using a non-toxic cleaner, reference the EWG database to look up products with low ranking hazard scores. You can also create your own cleaners using ingredients you may already have in your kitchen. There are so many recipes out there, I’l be trying ones from Mama Natural, Environmental Working Group, and Wellness Mama

Tip 3: Swap Your Candles

Check your candles and ensure you use candles with healthy ingredients. You should avoid lead wicks, scented candles, and paraffin candles. Instead purchase candles with wicks made of cotton or wood, and waxes that burn “clean” (don’t product soot) like soy, beeswax, and coconut.

My favorite is beeswax candles and I used to make them myself using this recipe. There are also many people that say it cleanses the air by producing negative ions, but I haven’t seen any formal studies out there. Another option if you love the candle ambience is to use battery powered ones. I actually do this and LOVE this option. I found myself falling asleep while I had a candle lit so I decided to opt for a battery powered one instead and BONUS I’m not adding pollutants to the air.

Tip 4: Say Bye Bye to Air Freshners

Air freshners should be avoided. According to a NCBI study “INDOOR AIR QUALITY: Scented Products Emit a Bouquet of VOCs” they found “A single fragrance in a product can contain a mixture of hundreds of chemicals, some of which (e.g., limonene, a citrus scent) react with ozone in ambient air to form dangerous secondary pollutants, including formaldehyde.” The chemicals they found even created carcinogenic air pollutants. “These hazardous air pollutants have no safe exposure level, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. The Consumer Product Safety Commission, which regulates cleaning supplies, air fresheners, and laundry products, currently does not require manufacturers to disclose any ingredients on the label, including fragrances in these products.”

Instead you can use baking soda to absorb odors, open your windows, or put a few drops of your favorite essential oil on a cotton ball and add to your space (keep away from pets, and kids).

Tip 5: Purchase an Air Purifier

If you are interested in this option, check-out the guide the EPA created.

Tip 6: Replace Your Air Filters

I tend to forget to clean or replace air filters on a regular basis. This is an easy to way to purify your indoor air so be sure to set reminders to check your filter and clean any dust build up and replace every three months according to EWG. 

Tip 7: Have Indoor Plants

Plants are amazing and one of their benefits is purifying indoor air. They remove toxic pollutants such as benzene, formaldehyde, and trichloroethylene.

In 1989 NASA conducted a Clean Air Study. The study resulted in a list of air-filtering plants. Wikipedia lists the different types of plants and what they remove.

According to this study, other benefits of having plants in your home include more positive feelings, stress reduction, productivity, pain reduction, and quicker recovery after surgery. I know I feel my best when I’m out in nature, so it makes sense that bringing a little piece of the outdoors inside has a positive impact.

Other methods

I’ve also heard of using salt lamps, and essential oil diffusers to help purify the air. I’m not finding formal studies here but I have both myself and love the ambiance of salt lamps and when I didn’t have kids I occasionally used my essential oil diffuser and loved the smell it would bring to my space.

I’d love to hear from you and know if you’ve tried any of these options, and if you have tips about cleaning your indoor air.

Cheers to clean air!

-Brekke