Health hazards in your own home
Many people are convinced that poor air quality is primarily found in cities in general and on heavily trafficked roads in particular. However, this is a misconception. Because people primarily breathe poor air indoors, in their own homes, offices, school buildings, and other indoor spaces. The air indoors is contaminated with fine dust, household dust, pollen, and other pollutants.
Unlike outdoors, poor indoor air cannot disperse easily, which is why it can often be even more harmful to health than outdoor air. In this article, find out more about the health consequences of poor air quality and what you can do to protect yourself from these health risks.
Poor indoor air quality
Surely, you also spend a significant part of your daily life indoors. On average, people spend about 90 percent of their day indoors. However, indoor air is often not as healthy because it is heavily concentrated with pollen, dust, and pollutants, as contaminated air cannot mix adequately with fresh air. This is especially true during the cold season.
There are both gaseous and particulate air pollutants. Gaseous pollutants include volatile organic compounds, ozone, formaldehyde, and odors. Particulate pollutants include pollen, fine dust, animal hair, bacteria, viruses, smoke, or mold spores.
There are various sources of polluted indoor air. Primarily, humans themselves contribute to it, as they shed skin flakes, hair, and release viruses and bacteria when they breathe. But contamination can also come from nature, the street, furniture, building materials, or textiles. Cleaning products, electronic devices, or even air fresheners can also contaminate indoor air.
The list of culprits is almost endless, as both chemical agents and nature contribute to air pollution. Inhaling these pollutants burdens the human body and can lead to serious illnesses, including the development of allergies.
Exposure to indoor air pollution from fine dust
It is evident that heavily trafficked streets contain many fine dust particles, posing a high health risk to residents in those areas. Hence, there is an ongoing debate about permissible limits. However, indoor environments also have high levels of fine dust pollution. Therefore, indoor air quality is crucial for health. Measurements by the Environmental Agency have shown that the air inside homes, buildings, offices, and schools often contain even more fine dust particles than the air on the streets.
Some of the fine dust particles make their way from outside into indoor spaces. Additionally, there is a pollution source from volatile organic compounds, which result from the off-gassing of paints, adhesives, cleaning products, textiles, mattresses, or upholstered furniture. When combined with other air components, they form hazardous fine dust particles. These air components include allergens from animal hair and dust mites, tobacco smoke, or residues from fireplace and candle soot. When these fine dust particles enter the human body, it inevitably leads to health issues.
Even small amounts of fine dust can cause significant health damage. The smaller the fine dust particles, the more dangerous they are for humans because they can deposit deep in the lungs and enter the bloodstream. The health risks associated with fine dust should not be underestimated. Fine dust, for example, can contribute to the following health conditions:
- Respiratory diseases
- Cardiovascular diseases
- Inflammation
- Diabetes
- Thrombosis
- Stroke
- Neurological disorders
The problem with indoor air is that it does not circulate as vigorously as outdoor air. There is no dilution effect as in outdoor environments, allowing fine dust particles to linger longer and ultimately increasing their concentration.
Health risks from pollen and household dust
The pollen season in spring and summer can be challenging for many people's health. Pollen can cause itching, watery eyes, a stuffy nose, respiratory problems, or sneezing attacks. Pollen is particularly burdensome for allergy sufferers.
Pollen can naturally enter your indoor spaces through windows, doors, and clothing, leading to a high concentration of pollen indoors during spring and summer. The problem is that pollen is challenging to completely eliminate. Nevertheless, there are practical measures to significantly reduce pollen exposure and allergic reactions.
Household dust is entirely normal and forms in all areas where people reside. Visible household dust is entirely normal within your home – even though it may look unsightly and be detrimental to health. Household dust contains skin flakes, hair, pollen, mite droppings, minerals, or plastic particles.
When cleaning, it's crucial to avoid unnecessarily stirring up household dust, especially for allergy sufferers. The goal should always be to remove as many particles as possible during cleaning. To prevent constant agitation of household dust, moisture is crucial in combating it. A water vacuum cleaner, for instance, combines the sucked-up household dust with water, effectively trapping it. This dirty water can then be easily disposed of.
Health risks from mold spores
Mold also contributes to poor indoor air quality. Ultimately, all measures to improve air quality are ineffective if mold is silently growing indoors. Typically, people start looking for mold when they already experience health issues. However, by the time mold becomes visible as black spots on the wall, it has likely been silently affecting the residents' health for a long time. Common symptoms caused by mold infestation include headaches, fatigue, nasal congestion, or irritated eye membranes. Mold must always be professionally removed. Proper ventilation can help prevent mold growth, as it reduces humidity. This is particularly important for new buildings as well.
Typical health consequences of air pollutants
Contamination of indoor air is hardly noticeable to humans because bacteria, pollen, fine dust, or volatile organic compounds are small particles and gases that float through the air almost imperceptibly.
People only become aware of the presence of these pollutants when they start experiencing symptoms. Generally, healthy individuals can tolerate short-term exposure to indoor air pollutants reasonably well. However, for individuals with allergies, infants, pregnant women, the elderly, or those with asthma, the situation is different. Prolonged exposure to indoor air pollutants exacerbates the symptoms of existing conditions or can even trigger them. In the long term, poor indoor air quality can make previously healthy individuals ill. Therefore, it is crucial to maintain and promote healthy air quality.
The health consequences of air pollutants vary from person to person and depend on the concentration and duration of exposure to these pollutants. The higher the concentration of air pollutants and the longer the exposure, the more symptoms and damage to the human body can occur.
Mild effects of air pollutant exposure primarily include:
- Headaches
- Fatigue
- Dizziness
- Redness and irritation of the eyes
- Itchy skin
- Respiratory irritations
- Dust mite allergies
- Irritations of the mucous membranes
- Circulatory problems
Since air pollutants can also enter the bloodstream, they can damage organs and lead to serious health hazards. Severe consequences of high and prolonged exposure to air pollutants include:
- High blood pressure
- Thrombosis
- Cardiovascular diseases
- Heart attacks
- Stroke
- Diabetes
- Respiratory diseases
- Lung cancer
- Premature birth
- Mental health disorders
- Damage to the nervous system
Regular indoor air cleaning as a foundation
Ventilation alone is rarely sufficient for cleaning indoor air. Ventilation primarily involves an exchange of air, where a small portion of indoor air is transported outside. In essence, ventilation does not actively clean the air. Depending on the location of your living space, improper ventilation can even lead to a higher concentration of outdoor pollutants.
Correct and regular ventilation is, of course, important to introduce fresh air and reduce humidity, especially during the heating season when dry indoor air can also cause physical discomfort. However, vacuuming can unnecessarily stir up many particles instead of removing them. Other measures are required for air purification.
Regular use of a water vacuum cleaner contributes to better air quality over time. Fine dust, pet hair, pollen, or household dust are bound with water and not needlessly agitated. With each vacuuming session, you remove a much larger portion of particles compared to a standard vacuum cleaner and simultaneously clean the room air. This way, you create a healthy air quality in your living spaces, allowing you to breathe comfortably once again.
Our recommendation: The air and space purification system by Hyla - for improved air quality and quality of life.
Our recommendation: The air and room purification system from Hyla - for better air quality and quality of life: An air and room purification system can be a health-enhancing relief not only for allergy sufferers, individuals with lung conditions or asthma, children, the elderly, or pregnant women. Regular use improves air quality, with a documented 80% reduction in household dust, resulting in a positive living environment. Respiratory issues and typical allergy symptoms typically decrease. Better sleep, increased performance, and a more active life are the results. When you can breathe properly again, your overall well-being improves.
Conclusion: The Hyla air and room purification system is extremely versatile and much more than just an ordinary vacuum cleaner. In our opinion, it's a miracle weapon against nearly all household pollutants, as it binds them in water. Almost 100 percent of harmful airborne particles are demonstrably removed.
But that's not all. In addition, you can use the Hyla to cool room temperatures, increase humidity, create a stimulating environment, or disinfect indoor air. Your current vacuum cleaner probably can't do all that, can it?
With Hyla, you can also thoroughly clean upholstered furniture, carpets, and mattresses. The electric brush removes the harmful dirt that has deeply settled in your furnishings and continuously worsens air quality. With a special attachment, this high-quality device can even be used for window cleaning. You might wonder if there's anything the Hyla can't do.
For example, it can't simultaneously vacuum and wet the area. That's also a breeze for the Hyla, just like drain cleaning with the help of an adapter. We particularly appreciate its high-quality construction and extended lifespan. The maintenance-free and self-cleaning features contribute to efficient and cost-effective use of the Hyla for improving indoor air quality in your living space. With a lifespan of 20 years, your home's health costs you only about 0.35 Euro per day. If you'd like to learn more about the Hyla air and room purification system, feel free to contact us. We provide comprehensive and personalized advice.