Make 2018 Your Healthiest Year Yet By Creating a Healthy Home

Stop making the same old New Year’s resolutions and make 2018 your healthiest year yet by resolving to create a healthy home.

Every year we make resolutions to be healthier by losing weight, exercising more, and eating better. But, what about resolutions for a healthy home?

Learn how important it is to have a healthy home environment, how your home can become unhealthy in the first place, and how to take matters into your own hands and make your home a happy and healthy one.

What is a Healthy Home?

A healthy house can be defined as a home where everything inside, including the operating systems and internal structure do not contribute to the ill health of its residents.

Essentially, a healthy home:

• Is free of indoor air pollution, like radon, combustion gases, carbon monoxide, and VOCs
• Is well ventilated
• Is free of excess moisture and the biological growth it can breed: mold, dust mites, and bug infestation
• Has clean and contaminant-free water
• Doesn’t have any structural damage, like wood rot or damaged pipes and windows.

The Importance of a Healthy Home Environment

A healthy home environment not only increases your and your family’s quality of life, but it also keeps you safe and protects the structure of your house.

We spend about 90% of our time indoors, so having a healthy home is imperative for your health.

How Homes Become Unhealthy

There are three main culprits that can create an unhealthy home:

1. Excess Moisture/High Humidity
2. Poor indoor air quality
3. Contaminated water

Excess Moisture/High Humidity  

Excess moisture/high humidity is bad for both your home and your health. And, a home with a humidity level of 60% or more allows for:

• The growth of toxic mold, which can lead to several issues, like chronic sinusitis and nervous system issues
• The breeding of dust mites, which can cause allergic reactions, stomach issues, and sleep disorders
• Structural damage of the home, like wood rot
• Health issues, like respiratory ailments, allergies, and asthma

Poor Indoor Air Quality

Poor ventilation and high humidity can negatively impact your home’s indoor air quality. A home with poor indoor air quality can lead to a plethora of health issues, including:

• Lung cancer
• Pneumonia
• Heart disease
• Stroke
• Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD)
• Asthma
• Dizziness

Contaminated Water

While municipalities treat your drinking water to ensure it is free of bacteria, the agents they use, like chlorine and chloramine are actually really bad for you. And, the scariest part of all is that these two agents can harm you even when bathing or showering, not just when drinking water contaminated with them.

Exposure to chlorine can result in a number of scary health issues, like chest tightness, blurred vision, and nausea/vomiting. And, exposure to chloramine has been linked to certain types of cancer as well as respiratory issues and digestive problems.

How to Make Your Home Healthy

At the end of the day, an unhealthy home is detrimental to your and your family’s health. So, how can you take matters into your own hands and make your home a healthy one?

1. Ventilation

A ventilation system, like the WAVE Unit, will keep excess moisture and humidity at bay by targeting the most problematic areas, the lowest part of your home, including basements and crawlspaces.

The EPA actually recommends mechanical ventilation, like the Wave Unit, over dehumidifiers for home moisture control under their Indoor airPlus Program. Plus, mechanical ventilation is a lot cheaper than using a simple dehumidifier. The WAVE Unit will run you about $3.00 a month versus the $60-90 you’ll spend running a dehumidifier.

2. Air Purification

An air purification system, like the WAVE Air Purifier will remove and kill 99% of everyday indoor air pollutants, allowing you and your family to breathe better and live healthier.

3. Water Filtration

A WAVE water filtration system will remove contaminants from your water, including chlorine and chloramine. Many other water filtration units on the market cannot effectively remove as many harmful contaminants, especially chloramine, which is definitely one you don’t want in your water.

You might also want to consider a whole house water system as it will treat the whole house, including the water you use for bathing and showering, instead of just filtering your drinking water.

Sources
https://www.healthypeople.gov/2020/topics-objectives/topic/environmental-health

http://www.src-mn.org/what-s-healthy-house

https://www.epa.gov/indoor-air-quality-iaq/introduction-indoor-air-quality

http://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs292/en/