 It’s been over 40 months (Feb 2004; in newsletters #79 and 80), since we last directly addressed the subject of Indoor Air Quality and the appropriate steps one can take to improve the health & comfort conditions in their home (both newsletters can be read in their entirety by clicking here). I thought by now, everybody realized that air pollution can have a considerable impact on one’s health.
So, you can imagine my surprise when having lunch with a friend of mine recently (who happens to be the mother of 3 children ranging in ages 2 to 7 and she was complaining about how many visits she had made to the Doctor’s office in the past 12 months for, colds, viruses, allergies etc) when she responded to my statement, that it sounded to me like the indoor air quality in her home needed improving. She responded “indoor air …what?
But it was a surprise, and I now realize, that even with all the publicity about global warming”, few people give much thought to air, inside or out. To me, that’s uncommonly strange when you think about the vital importance of air. So before we begin any serious discussion about how to combat indoor air pollution, let’s look at these basic facts:
Humans can go about 30 days without food; 7 days without water, but only about 2 minutes without air.
Even by weight, air is most important. When supplies are available, humans daily consume about 2 pounds of dry food; 5 pounds of water but 7 pounds of oxygen (which their blood extracts) from the 50 pounds of atmosphere that they inhale every day.
Or look at it another way. With 30 days leeway, humans have sufficient time to decide how to cope with vital food problems; a week with out water makes decisive action more urgent, but with only about 2 minutes without air, they rarely have time to even think, let alone cope successfully with, the dire consequences.
Now consider this. Most people spend at least half of their lives inside their homes and the air inside can be more harmful to your family’s health than the air outdoors. Could make you stop and wonder if the air in my home is safe to breathe.
Children can spend up to 90% of their time indoors. For their size, children breathe up to twice as much air as adults. That means children are at greater risk for health problems that come from indoor air pollution.
No home is immune to indoor air quality problems. New homes tend to have higher concentrations of chemicals. Older homes are breeding grounds for mold and mildew. All homes, no matter how clean they appear, are contaminated with dirt and dust.
For some people, this may mean no more than a runny nose or watery eyes. But for others, particularly children, seniors and those who suffer from respiratory ailments, the effects may be devastating and long lasting as many human health problems such as asthma, lung cancer, cardiovascular disease, and allergies are associated with air pollution. Some of the more common symptoms are:
|
- headache
- eye, nose, or throat irritation
- dry cough
- dry or itchy skin
- dizziness and nausea
- difficulty in concentrating
- fatigue
- sensitivity to odors
|
NEXT TIME: If you, or anyone in your family, experiences any of these symptoms (or if you really want to go to war against airborne pollutants in your home to be sure they don’t), you won’t want to miss our next issue.
Reminder: Breathing is not a matter of choice…breathing clean air is!
While Climatemakers main objective is to provide to our customers, the optimum HVAC services possible, our  secondary goal is to provide through our website and newsletters the best most complete information available in order that you may be fully informed.
Right now, while it is fresh in your mind, do you have any suggestions as to how we can improve our newsletter, our website or do you have a subject you would like to see discussed in a future newsletter? It’s real simple…just click here. I value the feed back from our customers so highly that I personally read every corporate email and would love to hear from you.
|
