Between a year-long pandemic and the return of the allergy season, the quality of air inside the home has never been more important. And while it’s easy to scrub every surface, keeping the air clean can be a bit trickier.
How Better Indoor Air Quality Impacts Your Everyday Life
Whether your home is in Harrisburg, Camp Hill, Hershey or any other community in Central Pennsylvania, what you breathe every day contributes to your overall health. You can easily control the factors impacting your indoor air quality. You likely spend much time indoors, which means determining how to keep your indoor air safe is important for you and everyone in your household.
Americans spend about 90% of their time indoors, where air pollutants can be up to five times as concentrated.
The effects of poor in-home air vary depending on an individual’s sensitivities, medical history and other environmental factors. Immediate effects of poor indoor air quality can range from asthmatic symptoms to irritated preexisting respiratory conditions, making it vital to improve air quality in your home.
Indoor air can impact many things, including:
1. Better Sleep
When your indoor air is clean, you can sleep better. This is both because your lungs, eyes and sinuses aren’t distressed by pollutants and because you’re not coughing or dealing with other symptoms linked to poor air quality.
2. Improved Performance
Your sleep significantly impacts your overall health, so when you breathe better and get deeper, more restful sleep, you feel more alert during the day. Sixty-five percent of adults equate getting enough sleep to being more effective in daily life. It’s easy to see why — the more rested you are, the more alert you’ll be while driving, working, exercising and caring for your family.
Whether you’re playing sports or working, better air quality and sleep can ensure you’re more focused and better able to perform.
3. Enhanced Comfort
Good indoor air quality allows you to breathe comfortably, without the symptoms associated with breathing in allergens and pollutants. You may also spend less time trying to manage symptoms.
4. Improved Health and Safety
We all need air to live, and good-quality air is important for your health. Where polluted air can lead to heart disease, cancers, stroke, respiratory problems and other serious issues, improving your air quality can help you lower your risk of disease.
Prolonged exposure to poor air quality can lead to some respiratory or heart diseases, and even minor allergies can be a drain. Fortunately, you can reduce your risk of health effects by staying vigilant about your indoor air quality, even if you don’t notice any signs of poor air.
Good quality air with proper ventilation and reduced circulation of mold, viruses and bacteria can also mean you are at lower risk of illnesses. Some in-duct air purifying solutions can target microbes, which can reduce the chance of catching the flu and other communicable viruses.
5. Saved Money
When you breathe in good-quality air and enjoy better health, you may need to spend less on allergy medicine and other medications to stay comfortable. You’ll also spend less on home air filter devices and other gadgets to improve spring air quality.
6. More Pet Options
Love having pets but suffer because of dander? Air filtration systems can trap pet dander, so you can enjoy your pets’ companionship without worrying about itchy, watery eyes and other allergy symptoms. You can pick any pet you’d love to add to your family.
7. Home Protection
Dehumidifiers and germicidal UV lights can help prevent mold and mildew from growing in your home, which can help keep your house cleaner, healthier and fresher-smelling.
8. Cleaner Spaces
Good air quality means fewer pollutants and particulates, which can reduce the dust and debris you need to clean up. You may spend less time cleaning and more time enjoying a tidier house.
Indoor Air Quality Solutions
Better air quality in your home means a better life. That’s where our indoor air quality solutions come in.
1. Cleaner Air
Equipped with specialty filters, air cleaners work to keep many contaminants and particulates out of the home. This can include allergens such as pollen and pet dander as well as irritants like smoke odor. These systems can even help fight against germs, viruses and bacteria, helping to keep your family healthy. There is a wide range of filters available that capture particulates of all sizes (pet dander, pollen, dust mites, etc.) that contribute to health issues including asthma, allergies and other respiratory ailments.
2. Humidity Balance
Low humidity levels are common in winter, which can suppress your immune system. It can also leave you feeling colder than normal. In order to properly balance the humidity levels in your home, whole-home humidifiers and dehumidifiers can be leveraged to provide a comfortable space without stressing your heating or cooling system.
Place humidifiers in rooms where you spend a lot of time, like bedrooms, offices or living rooms. Choose areas with the most airflow, such as near windows or doors, and avoid setting them in corners or areas where they may only infuse a small portion of the room’s air. You should keep your humidifier off the ground, preferably on a table or shelf.
3. Germ, Bacteria and Virus Removal
UV Lights are installed within an HVAC system, where they prevent the growth of mold and bacteria before they have a chance to circulate back into the home with the conditioned air.
The HVAC industry relies on the power of UV-C lights. Also called short wave UV lights, they eradicate harmful contaminants and promote better air quality indoors through either air or coil sterilization.
In air sterilization, UV-C rays disinfect air within the ductwork using reflective surfaces. Coil sterilization uses components that target and zap high-risk pollutants, typically using a special HVAC device installed close to critical airflow areas. Both methods of short wave eradication are designed to tackle tough air pollutants, and both pair well with high-quality air filters for maximum air control.
4. Fresh Air
These days homes are sealed up so tightly that they keep fresh air out, especially when windows stay closed most of the year while heating and cooling systems are running. Your indoor air can get stale – but whole-home ventilation systems bring a breath of fresh air without affecting the temperature.
Indoor Air Quality for Spring Allergies
Spring allergies, also called allergic rhinitis or hay fever, happen when you breathe in pollen from trees, bushes and weeds. If you’re allergic to pollen, your immune system sees it as an invader and releases symptom-triggering histamines into your blood until you’re left with:
- Sneezing.
- Wheezing or difficulty breathing.
- Coughing.
- Itchy eyes and nose.
- A runny nose.
- Watery, puffy or irritated eyes.
Pollen enters your home through cracked or open windows and doors, on your pets’ fur or via mechanical devices like fans that circulate air inside and out. If you’re one of the 24.4 million Americans afflicted with hay fever, there are some steps you can take to help spring allergies inside your home.
Renew Your Home’s Indoor Air Quality Today
There are a lot of ways to keep the air in your Central PA home clean, fresh and safe – but you don’t have to worry! Call or contact us online today to learn more about our in-home air quality solutions and how they can help you and your family breathe easily.