Did you know that the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) states that indoor air can be 2 to 5 times as polluted as outdoor air?
And this is a serious problem since Americans are spending 90% or more of their time indoors! If concerned about air quality in your home, you should consider air purifiers as a great solution. There are many health benefits of air purifiers, some of which we will outline in the article below.
Eliminates Harmful Chemicals from Indoor Environments
Many harmful chemicals get released into the indoor environment through everyday activity. For example, every time, you cook a meal, you are releasing chemicals into your indoor air.
When you use bleach or other chemicals to clean your home, pollutants like ammonia, chlorine, and phthalates get added to the indoor air as well. Certain furniture and flooring have chemicals in them that are released into your indoor air bit-by-bit over time.
Americans have this notion that their homes are protected and shut off from harmful outdoor pollutants if the doors and windows are closed. That's absolutely untrue.
If you live in a large city like St. Louis with high motor vehicular traffic and lots of industries, then your home will be inundated with those harmful particulates no matter how closed your home is. Nitrogen dioxide and carbon monoxide are two outdoor pollutants that are found commonly in indoor air.
Do you live in a house that was built in the 1940s to the 1960s? Then you would have to consider the possibility of asbestos roofing materials or insulation pipes. This spreads asbestos dust into the air and can cause lung disease marked by tissue scarring when breathed in.
There could be as many as 21,000 deaths a year related to lung cancer from radon gas, the EPA says. The breakdown of naturally occurring radioactive elements such as uranium found in buildings can produce radon gas. Any cracks on the floors, walls, and plasterwork can cause carcinogenic radon to leak into your home.
That's why the iWave Air Purifier is so useful. It's a whole-house purifier and doesn't need to be moved from room to room. It allows you to purify your entire house from dangerous indoor pollutants without ever needing to move it.
Helps Relieve Symptoms of Asthma
Do you or your loved one have an allergy or display symptoms of asthma? Is it exacerbated at certain times of the year or after certain activities?
Most allergy suffers (1 in 12 people suffer from allergies, according to the CDC) get inflamed bronchial tubes. This is because pollutants such as pollen, dust mites, or pet dancer irritate their airways and cause difficulty breathing. If you have pets that shed an inordinate amount of air, there's nothing much you can do about it.
The same thing with pollen particles that stick to your clothes when you are outside or drift in through open windows. If you live in a humid environment, then dust mites are going to be the biggest culprit for your indoor allergy. The more humid your indoor environment, the more dust bites thrive, feeding on dead skin cells and multiplying in your bed, carpet, and more.
Of course, you can vacuum your carpets, bed, and floors daily, but this won't take care of all the indoor pollutants mentioned above. Some of them will be left behind causing your airways to feel irritated.
But the best air purifier contains HEPA filters (multi-layered meshes made of fine fiberglass threads) which can help purify these allergens from the air allowing you and your loved ones to breathe easier.
Neutralizes Unpleasant Odors
Have you noticed that there's sometimes an unpleasant or distinctly musky and dank odor in your home that you just can't get rid of no matter how many air deodorizers you spray in your house?
It could be from the spices you use to cook your foods with or the odor of cooking oil when cooked on high heat. Or it could just be the general odor of humans living in close quarters with each other.
There are also certain chemical compounds called VOCs (volatile organic compounds). They are found in paints, aerosol sprays, upholstered furniture, or air fresheners, like benzene, gasoline, and formaldehyde. These break down at room temperature and cause off-gassing odors. The odor from VOCs can cause nausea, breathlessness, and even affect your cognitive functions.
One of the most important air purifier benefits is that it can trap these VOCs and eliminate them from your indoor air. This way you don't have to deal with the aftereffects of breathing such chemicals in.
Reduces Chances of Flu or Cold
As Americans of all ages spend more and more time indoors (rather than going outside and being in the sunshine and nature), the transmission of air-borne diseases like the flu or common cold becomes easier. You've probably noticed this in your own family - one child gets a cold and then everyone in the family drops like flies.
It's hard to control the spread of such pathogens since they are floating around in the air (especially when someone sneezes or coughs without following the protocol of sneezing into their sleeves). Every time anyone else breaths that same air, they breathe in all these pathogens, making it easier for the full family to get infected by the same illness.
Thankfully, a HEPA air purifier would be able to capture these pathogens (bacterias and viruses). And keep them from spreading from family member to family member (or even to the rest of the community).
Improves Sleep
If you are spending all night coughing, sneezing, or hacking away due to allergies or hay fever (caused by indoor allergens such as bacteria, viruses, dust mites, and pollen), it would be hard for you to get a restful night of sleep. No matter how much you spend on a great mattress or a white noise machine, if you are having trouble breathing, you are not going to sleep well.
Indoor pollutants accumulate during the day while you are active. But you might not notice it as much until you lay down to sleep and your body finally relaxes and can focus on the task of repairing and healing itself. If you are sleeping for 7-9 hours in a room filled with indoor pollutants, your body will have a hard time cleansing and purifying itself.
You already know what the lack of sleep can do to your productivity levels. Inadequate sleep adversely affects every aspect of your life. That's why it's so important for you to use a HEPA air purifier to cleanse your indoor air.
Can Increase Life Expectancy
According to certain experts, life expectancy is cut short by 2 years for every man, woman, and child globally due to poor indoor and outdoor air quality. If you expect to live a long life, even though you are breathing in indoor and outdoor pollutants every single day, you need to think again.
Every time your lungs take in indoor pollutants, it affects your cardiac, respiratory, and neurological systems, adversely. Your body can clean out only so many harmful chemicals from your body before it can do no more.
The burden of toxicity on your livers (that do most of the detoxing in your body along with the skin and the kidneys) is too much, especially if you are breathing in chemicals every single moment of every day.
That's why purchasing and using a good HEPA air purifier is so important. The health of your loved ones depends on it.
What to Consider When Purchasing a HEPA Air Purifier
As seen there are many health benefits of air purifiers, but you need to be aware of certain factors when going out to purchase one for your home.
- Think Portability - When people go out to purchase air purifiers, they usually get a roof air purifier. And then move it about from room to room depending on where they are sitting or spending time. That can be highly inconvenient, as that means that the full family has to sit in one room all the time.
- Think Size - If you have a 2 bedroom apartment, you are going to need a different air purifier with a different capacity as opposed to a 5-bedroom house. Always take size into account when purchasing an air purifier.
- Think Whole Home vs Room Purifier - The best air purifier is one that filters the air in your entire house (or apartment) in one go. No need to worry about portability or size here. An air purifier like the iWave connects to any duct air conditioning system and thus cleans the air of your entire house.
Air Purifiers Are Going to Become a Necessity as Time Goes On
As the world becomes more and more polluted and both indoor and outdoor air get affected adversely, air purifiers will become ubiquitous, as much as airconditioning units and cars. Ensure that you purchase the best air purifier for your and your loved ones.
Interested in learning more about a whole-house air purifier like the iWave? Request a free estimate of how much it would be to install an iWave air purifier into your home.
