Your home is where you spend a majority of your time. It’s where you lay your head at night, eat meals, and shower. Since the home is the main focus of most people’s lives, it’s important to ensure that your environment is safe and promotes a healthy lifestyle.
Here are a few small upgrades and additions that you can make to your living space to improve your health.
Get a Plant
That’s right! It’s time to use that green-thumb of yours to incorporate some living plants and ferns into your home. Not only are they aesthetically pleasing, but plants can actually act as natural air filters. If you’re looking for a quick way to eliminate some of the dust, dander, and other air pollutants that are likely floating around your home, bringing in a live plant is a great fix. Plants can absorb some of these airborne particles.
Live plants in your home can also reduce carbon dioxide levels, increase humidity, and help stabilize your home’s temperature. The best types of plants for the home include spider plants, Boston ferns, and palm trees.
Get a Water Filter
Unfortunately, most well and residential water supplies are not fit for drinking. This water can contain a wide-range of toxins and contaminants including, but not limited to:
- Lead
- Pesticides
- Bacteria
There are certain tests you can perform to determine the level of these elements in your water, but another way to protect yourself is by installing a water filter in your home or purchasing a water filtration pitcher or system. Any of these methods can help ensure safe, clean drinking water.
Ban Smoking
Most restaurants and public places banned the use of nicotine many years ago, so why not jump on the bandwagon? If you or someone in your home smokes cigarettes, limit their use to outside the home. Don’t allow or encourage anyone to light up indoors.
It’s no secret that nicotine use for daily smokers can cause a host of medical ailments and issues, but second hand smoke can be equally as damaging. These impacts often affect infants and children even more than adults. Children living in a home with a smoker suffer more frequent ear infections, respiratory issues, and asthma attacks.
Smoke particles attach themselves to almost any surface, and this is especially true for soft or porous surfaces like couches, carpets, and pillows. Have you ever noticed that the smell of cigarette smoke lingers on your clothing long after you’ve left the presence of a smoker? This scent is often accompanied by carcinogens and stains. By banning smoking in your home, you’re making great strides in keeping your family and the atmosphere healthy.
Clean Regularly
This seems like a fairly obvious point, but regular house cleaning is extremely important for eliminating germs, bacteria, toxins, and pollutants from surfaces. This will help keep your family healthy and unwanted germs and dirt out!
Dust not only triggers allergies in many people but it can also contain a laundry list of chemicals from lead and pesticides to fire retardants. Cut down on dust by vacuuming carpets or consider replacing carpets with hardwood or linoleum floors. After vacuuming, be sure to empty your vacuum and clean the filter.
Wipe down your countertops after cooking, especially if you’re handling raw meats or other food items. Contaminated surfaces that aren’t cleaned properly can cause Salmonella. Cleaning the floors in your home is important as well. People enter the home wearing shoes, which may or may not contain dirt, bacteria, feces, and chemicals form the ground outside. Asking people to remove their shoes at the door can help cut down on the spread of germs, but all hardwood and linoleum surfaces should be washed regularly.
Stop Using Pesticides
Eliminating pests from your home is extremely important. Insects, mice, and other unwanted infestations can cause a lot of health problems. Unfortunately, the pesticides used to kill these unwanted guests can be doing just as much harm. Pesticides are, in effect, poison. And poison can prove harmful to the occupants of your home.
Overexposure to pesticides can actually affect small children in some dramatic ways. These chemicals can cause asthma attacks, learning disabilities, and even negatively impact brain development. Other reported health issues include cancer and respiratory complications.
In order to eliminate these harmful substances from your home, you’ll need to use more natural means of protection against pests and insects. Some of the most common ingredients used in these types of natural deterrents are:
- Garlic
- Cinnamon
- Cayenne pepper
- Vinagers
- Essential oils
Healthy Starts at Home
With so many harmful things out in the world, creating a safe and healthy environment in your living space is extremely important and within your control. By taking some simple steps and making mindful choices, you easily can eliminate countless health risks right at home. Get started today!
Article Submitted By Community Writer
