You spend a lot of time at home, so it makes sense that you’d want to keep it clean. This is why air quality is one of the most important aspects of home maintenance.
There are many things that can affect your air quality such as dust, mold spores, pollen and dust mites. Through the use of different products and processes, you can improve the air in your home, which will make it a healthier environment.
When you have clean, fresh air circulating through your home, you’ll find that it feels less stuffy and you’re more comfortable.
In addition, you’ll notice a reduction in odors and allergens. You can also expect to see a reduction in respiratory problems such as colds and flu.
Here are 5 tips to clean the air in your home naturally:
- Clean your home
- Ventilation
- Essential oils
- Houseplants
- Salt rock lamps
Clean Your Home
One of the main reasons for poor air quality in your home is dust, dirt, and mold spores on surfaces. This is especially true if you have pets or children who play outside and bring dirt inside on their clothing and shoes.
You can easily reduce the number of allergens in your home by keeping it clean.
Cleaning surfaces regularly will get these pollutants out before they become airborne. This will help reduce the amount of allergens that float around in the air all day long — even when they’re not visible to the naked eye.
To help keep the air in your home clean and safe, here are a few things to consider doing:
Vacuum and dust often
Cleaning up small particles as they fall onto surfaces such as carpets, floors and furniture helps prevent them from being stirred up into the air again by people and pets moving around the house.
Wash bedding weekly
Dust mites can cause respiratory problems for people who are allergic to them. Washing sheets, blankets and pillowcases once a week helps reduce their number in the home environment.
Clean surfaces regularly
Dusting off surfaces such as tables, bookshelves and television sets removes particles that can become airborne when people move about the house or when wind blows outside through open doors or windows.
Pets
Keep pets healthy by keeping them out of areas where they shed hair excessively (such as carpeted areas). This will help reduce pet dander in the home environment which may trigger allergies or asthma attacks in people who are sensitive to animal dander.
Ventilation
One of the best ways to purify your home is to have proper ventilation.
Ventilation is the process of moving air into or out of an area. It’s important to keep your home properly ventilated because excess moisture and pollutants can build up in a house, causing health problems and reducing indoor air quality (IAQ).
Natural ventilation involves using windows and doors as ways to let fresh air into your house. Open up windows and doors on both sides of the house (front and back). If possible, open windows at both ends of the house as well.
Essential oils
Essential oils have been used for thousands of years for their medicinal and therapeutic benefits, but they can also be used to improve the quality of air in your home. The can also help to reduce the amount of bacteria and viruses in your home and make it smell great too.
They’re natural, safe and good for your health. They also smell pleasant, which makes it easy to breathe in that smell every day. Plus, since they don’t have any chemicals or preservatives added to them they have a long shelf life too!
The best essential oils for cleaning the air naturally are:
- Lemon oil
- Eucalyptus oil
- Lavender oil
- Peppermint oil
- Tea tree oil
There are many ways you can use essential oils around the house, such as:
- Using a diffuser to disperse them into the air
- Adding them into homemade cleaning and beauty products
- Incorporating them into your daily routine by using them topically (like applying directly onto skin or using in an oil blend)
Houseplants
You can also use houseplants to help clean the air in your home. Houseplants remove toxins, carbon dioxide and provide a natural source of light.
According to research from NASA’s Clean Air Study, they found that houseplants improve overall indoor air quality and can help purify your home. According to the study, indoor plants provide significant benefits by absorbing volatile organic compounds (VOCs) such as formaldehyde from household products like paints or cleaning supplies—and even cigarette smoke!
The study focused on two types of plants: spider plants (Chlorophytum comosum) and golden pothos (Epipremnum aureum).
Both were shown to remove airborne toxins such as benzene, carbon monoxide, formaldehyde and trichloroethylene from indoor air when grown under fluorescent lights at heights between 2-6 feet over a period of four weeks.
The researchers also determined that there was no difference between spider plants versus golden pothos when it came to purifying chemical vapors from household products such as hair spray or disinfectant wipes!
So what kind of plant should you get?
According to NASA’s recommendations, asparagus ferns (because they’re easy to take care of), bamboo palm trees (because they look nice), Boston ferns (because their leaves trap dust), golden pothos vines (which grow well indoors!), ivy geraniums (which don’t require direct sunlight), peace lilies (for removing formaldehyde) and spider plant varieties such as spider orchids can all help keep VOC levels low in your home environment.
Here are some other great plants for removing toxins:
- Aloe vera
- Boston ferns
- Chinese evergreen
- English ivy (Hedera helix)
To see many more, check out our article, “The 20 Best Plants to Help Clean Indoor Air.”
Salt rock lamp
A salt rock lamp is essentially an electric light that mimics the properties of natural lighting from the sun. Salt lamps are made by filling pretty glass containers with chunks of sodium chloride (salt) and then running an electrical current through it.
The end result is an attractive-looking piece that emits negative ions into the air around it, which purifies the area and provides benefits such as enhanced mood and increased energy levels. In addition, Himalayan salt can improve circulation while relieving stress and headaches caused by poor oxygenation of blood cells.
How do they work?
The inner chamber inside every salt crystal contains both positive and negative ions—electrically charged particles that either attract or repel each other depending on their charge values (positive attracts negative; negative attracts positive).
When exposed to direct sunlight, these crystals absorb radiation from ultraviolet rays along with other forms such as X-ray rays from outer space; this results in ultraviolet radiation being converted into infrared heat energy within each grainy crystal structure making up its surface area where most live molds and bacteria reside too…
Conclusion
As you can see, the best way to clean the air in your home is by using natural methods and products that are fairly easy and inexpensive to implement.
These methods will not only help you breathe easier, but they’ll also be good for your health and wallet!
If you have any questions, feel free to reach out and ask us! We’re always happy to help out our readers.