Dr. Mercola’s 15 Tips to Improve Indoor Air Quality

Indoor air quality is an often-neglected aspect of a healthy lifestyle. You could be eating nutritious food, drinking pure water, exercising regularly, and minimizing your stress levels, but all these efforts may go down the drain if you’re not breathing clean air at home.

According to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), indoor air is more contaminated than outdoor air as it contains two to five times more pollutants — and can even be 100 times more polluted on occasion. Because we exchange between 10,000 to 70,000 liters of air every 24 hours and stay indoors 90 percent of the time, even very low levels of airborne contaminants can pose significant threats to your health, Dr. Joseph Mercola warns.

The EPA states that poor indoor air quality can worsen the following conditions:

• Asthma, allergies, and other respiratory illnesses
• Colds, flu, and sore throat
• Depression, dizziness, fatigue, and memory loss
• Eye and skin irritation
• Headaches

The effects of chronic exposure to highly toxic airborne pollutants could show up years later, increasing your risk of cancer, heart disease, reproductive disorders, and serious respiratory diseases. (Link)

Babies, children, and the elderly are more prone to the effects of indoor air pollution. An analysis of the indoor air quality of 52 homes in Arizona near the Mexico border revealed more than 500 chemicals, including DDT, PCBs, and phthalates – chemicals that disrupt the function of your endocrine system. (Link)

Since no government agency can regulate indoor air pollution, you are the only person who can take control of the air quality within your home or workplace. Here are Dr. Mercola’s 15 tips that can help you greatly reduce the levels of indoor air contaminants:

1. Open your windows for five to 10 minutes every day – preferably on opposite sides of the house – to increase ventilation.
2. Get some pollution-busting houseplants. A study conducted by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and the Associated Landscape Contractors of America showed that houseplants can remove up to 87 percent of air pollutants in 24 hours.
3. Leave your shoes outside the house, by the door, to prevent tracking in of toxic particles.
4. Ban smoking in or around your home.
5. Use non-toxic cleaning products (such as baking soda, hydrogen peroxide, and vinegar) and safe personal care products.  Avoid aerosols, commercial air fresheners, and scented candles, which can release thousands of different chemicals into your breathing space.
6. Don’t hang dry cleaned clothes in your closet immediately. Hang them outside for a day or two. Look for eco-friendly dry cleaners that use some of the newer dry cleaning technologies like liquid CO2.
7. Regularly mop, shampoo, and vacuum your carpets, rugs, and floors.
8. Upgrade your furnace filters with modern filters that trap more of the particulates. Have your air conditioning ductwork, chimney, and furnace cleaned regularly.
9. Avoid storing adhesives, paints, solvents, and other harsh chemicals inside your house or in the garage.
10. Avoid using non-stick cookware, which emits toxic chemicals when used in high heat.
11. Make sure your combustion appliances are properly vented.
12. Use safe and eco-friendly materials when building or remodeling.
13. Use “VOC-free” carpets. Better yet, choose sustainable hardwood flooring instead of carpets.
14. Install proper drainage and properly seal its foundation.
15. The same principles apply to ventilation inside your car—particularly if your car is new—and chemicals from plastics, solvents, carpet and audio equipment add to the toxic mix in your car’s cabin.

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Tags: Dr. Joseph Mercola, Dr. Mercola, indoor air pollution, indoor air quality