The Best Ways to Improve Indoor Air Quality

The quality of the air in your home significantly affects your daily life. Prolonged exposure to indoor air pollutants, such as formaldehyde and mold, can result in persistent allergic reactions or asthma symptoms and may contribute to respiratory and cardiovascular health problems.

You can take several cost-effective measures to enhance the indoor air quality (IAQ) in your Jacksonville home. By implementing these strategies, you can significantly lower the likelihood of negative health effects and create a more comfortable and healthier environment in your home.

What Are the Causes of Poor Indoor Air Quality?

Indoor air pollution results from manufactured and naturally occurring compounds. The most common causes of indoor air pollution are:

Natural air pollutants including pollen, pet dander, dust, mold, mildew, and radon. Radon is a natural gas emitted from the soil that sometimes seeps into homes through cracks. It is estimated to cause an estimated21,000 lung cancer deaths in the US annually.
Airborne chemical pollutants like formaldehyde, volatile organic compounds (VOCs), carbon monoxide (CO), and nitrogen dioxide. These chemicals are often emitted from furniture, paint, cleaning chemicals, or combustion (gas-powered appliances, fireplaces, and more).

These compounds are very common, and at low levels, they are less likely to have a negative impact on your health. However, when concentrations of these particles increase, they pose significant risks to human health.

Common Symptoms of Bad Indoor Air Quality

Health experts warn against the short and long-term effects of poor indoor air quality. The most common signs of poor IAQ include:

Respiratory issues, including runny nose, sinus congestion, cough, difficulty breathing, and sneezing.
Eye, nose, and throat irritation, including watery or dry eyes
Difficulty concentrating
Nausea
Irritability
Nosebleeds

Usually, these symptoms go away after leaving home. But daily, long-term exposure may exacerbate symptoms so that they rarely completely dissipate.

Three Effective Ways to Improve Your Indoor Air Quality on a Budget

Luckily, addressing poor indoor air quality is relatively easy. By focusing on and mitigating the causes of indoor air pollution, homeowners can breathe better in no time!

There are several ways to reduce indoor air pollutants and improve indoor air quality, starting with eliminating the sources of contaminants.

Get Cleaning

To keep the air in your home healthy, it’s important to tackle allergens and pollutants. Regular dusting, vacuuming, and cleaning can reduce indoor dust and allergens, including pollen from trees. If you have allergies, consider dusting and sweeping every day during high-pollen seasons. Keep windows closed, especially in the afternoons when pollen levels are highest. It helps to prevent smoking indoors and to use exhaust fans in the kitchen and bathroom to remove smoke and control humidity.

Manage Humidity

Another important factor is maintaining good indoor humidity levels, which should be between 30% and 50% all year, according to the Environmental Protection Agency. Keeping humidity at these levels can stop mold and mildew from growing and reduce dust mites, making your home more comfortable. A well-maintained HVAC system helps with airflow, humidity regulation, and filtering out airborne particles.

Don’t forget to change air filters every 1 to 3 months—more often if you have pets or respiratory issues—and schedule annual inspections for best results.

Can Indoor Plants Improve Air Quality?

Yes and no, but mostly no. Viral blog posts and news articles previously claimed that certain types of houseplants can improve indoor air quality—to a point. More recent studies have found that while plants can remove VOCs from the air, it would take an incredible number of plants to have a measurable impact in real-world conditions. A meta-analysis of these studies found it would take roughly 1,000 plants per square meter of floor space to clean indoor air – that’s approximately680 plants in a 1,500-square-foot home.

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How to Improve Indoor Air Quality at Home