News & Advice

Stagnant, confined, indoor air is among the filthiest and most polluted air we are exposed to on a daily basis. Knowing this we need to be aware that there are some simple ways to improve indoor air quality.

Now that’s not to say outdoor air is without harm in certain environments. If you live around here during harvest season you know how dusty and allergen laden your house can be when the windows are left open. But “outside” of those particular events such as construction or farming, fresh air will always win out. It’s a game of math. When we are confined daily to a small space the concentration of pollutants outweighs that of the outdoors.

I am not trying to frighten you. I am trying to enlighten you on why it is important to improve indoor air quality. You aren’t going to walk into your homes after work to find your face melting from toxic chemicals or the plague. What you need to know is that these are contributing factors to the human load.

Our immune systems are CONSTANTLY at war. Your home should be a place of rest and comfort. A refuge from the “war” our bodies endure. It most certainly should not be a place where we fight most!

The typical result to losing a battle is what? Our bodies lose. We are overwhelmed. We fall ill.

Let’s think about the cycle we create now. We fight-we lose-get sick-nurse-reenter the battle-fight-lose-sick. Why is that? I HATE being sick and especially more than once! The unfortunate reality is that once we are better we typically return to our same old routine.

What happens to all those germs? Sure we do our best to clean; with chemicals that add to the human load and cause us to fight harder (you see this pattern?) after our bout, but what of your indoor air?

I promise you that nothing you use to wipe or spray is thoroughly cleaning the air you are breathing that recycles throughout your home day in and day out.

We have all lived this. My hope is that you are able to grasp and see the dis-ease cycle in your homes for what it is. If you read this and are left without remembering any of my ranting I want you to leave with this,

BEING SICK IS NOT NORMAL. COLD AND FLU “SEASON” IS AN EXCUSE AND NOT AN EXPLANATION. STOP ACCEPTING THAT THIS IS HOW IT HAS AND ALWAYS WILL BE.

Taking into consideration everything we just quickly learned, why is it that we are less ill during warmer seasons? Fresh air…better mood…the sun.

It has A LOT to do with the Sun. The nutrients we gain from sun light certainly improve our moods, boost our immune systems and guess what? UV rays from the sun clean the air. We get to breathe clean, mold free; bacteria free; germ free air when outside in the sun.

4 simple steps to improve indoor air quality:

1. Open windows/ doors

Commercial buildings are governed by code to cycle the indoor air per hour. Schools for instance have an exchange rate of 4-10 times per hour! All general buildings have a MINIMUM of 4 times per hour required. What do you think your home has?

2. Replace your furnace filters often.

The rule of thumb is that you shouldn’t clean or reuse your filter. Vacuuming or rinsing them off is far from truly disinfecting. Rid yourself of the germ farm and throw your filter away.

3. MAINTAIN HUMIDIFIERS!!!

Whole house humidifiers are wonderful when working appropriately. They have many house and home benefits. However, if left unchecked they will damage your home, your equipment and your health. The small individual humidifiers need to be cleaned. It’s a pain and a chore I know. Your son or daughter wakes up the house from being sick. We grab it from out of the closet in haste during our zombified haze, fill it up and let it rip. “Did I clean this since from last time??? Oh well.” GROSS!

If you are going to be horrible at maintaining the device than at least do this. When filling up the container add a cap full of hydrogen peroxide to each half gallon of water. DO NOT over-do-it. There are many health benefits to this practice but you can hurt yourself by adding too much. I always test my ratio by breathing in the mist. You should have an ever so slight burning, a ‘good’ sort of burn, after several deep/ direct breaths. If you experience anymore than a slight burning than you may be causing unneeded irritation. This will help keep the small humidifier from growing mold and bacteria and it will also help the patient recover. Double bonus!

4. Ultra Violet furnace lights

Picture yourself outside on a picnic blanket in a park. It is 77 degrees and there is a slight breeze. It’s the weekend. You finished that big project at work. You are all caught up on that to-do list at home. The kids are safely entertained. The wine glass is full and the schedule is clear for the rest of the day. How awesome is that moment?!

Now let’s just borrow one key component from that scenario and everything it brings; the Sun, its light, its warmth, the mood.

Take that Sun we removed from that willowy scenario and place it into your home. We can do this using a simple proven solution, Ultra Violet light treatment.

UV lights in your furnace do many things.

They Don’t:

• Entertain the kids
• Get your ‘to-do’ list done
• Fill your glass of wine

They Do CLEAN the air by:

• Killing Mold
• Killing Bacteria
• Killing Viruses

UV light bulbs safely and naturally clean and rid the air of those attacks we battle against all the time.

Why would we not want to utilize them in our homes to break the dis-ease cycle?

I strongly encourage you to take the above 4 simple steps to improve your indoor air quality.

BEING SICK IS NOT NORMAL.
COLD AND FLU “SEASON” IS AN EXCUSE AND NOT AN EXPLANATION.
STOP ACCEPTING THAT THIS IS HOW IT HAS AND ALWAYS WILL BE.

Breathe Easy… Stay Comfortable