Our indoor air quality can be ten times more polluted than outdoors. A combination of fragrance, dust, chemicals, noxious gases, mould, and other toxicants, exist in the air we breathe in our homes every single day. When 90% of our time is spent indoors; in houses, cars, offices and the like, can we afford to ignore our air quality? The natural answer is no, which is why air quality testing is the focus of today’s blog.

Air quality testing reveals if you have poor air quality – and how to fix this

Many of us associate air pollution with vehicles, smoke from chimneys and other outdoor sources.

When we suffer a sneezing fit or congested nose, we default to blaming the season or the weather.

In reality, our indoor air quality can be just as much to blame.

Items like curtains and carpets can release gases inside our homes including carbon monoxide, tiny particulates and Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs), some of which are known carcinogens.

Each day, we spray cleaning chemicals and personal care products full of toxicants.

If we don’t open our doors and windows enough or fail to vacuum properly and make sure we are removing dust, our indoor air quality suffers.

RELATED: The Toxic Chemicals in Cleaning Products Revealed

When our indoor air quality suffers, so do we

There are a plethora of conditions and symptoms associated with poor indoor air quality, including asthma and allergies, wheezing, headaches, some cancers, and it also increases your risk of a heart attack and stroke.

You might even be experiencing some of these symptoms without realising the cause.

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For example, if you have intermittent headaches whilst sitting on the couch, sneezing fits out of the blue, or tiredness and fatigue when you cook in your kitchen, your indoor air quality could be playing a role.

Living in Australia, we are usually trying to either cool our homes down, with all the windows and doors closed and the air conditioning on full blast or trying to heat it up in the same way.

This means the contaminants in our air aren’t able to leave.

For allergy sufferers and people with asthma, particularly children, it’s a recipe for ill-health.

A recent extremely well-conducted Norwegian study found that cleaning just once a week, over a 20-year period, can cause significant lung damage. It also found professional cleaners can develop lung damage similar to somebody who smokes 20 cigarettes a day over 10-20 years.

We don’t think of our cleaning products or even our personal care products causing air pollution but they do.

Plus, if you live in a water-damaged building, you could also be inhaling mould, bacteria, Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs) and inflammagens, all of which cause illness.

As I discuss in my Air Quality Assessments, approximately 24% of the population is genetically susceptible to the development of Chronic Inflammatory Response Syndrome (CIRS) because they cannot make the antibodies to deal with mould and biotoxins. Their immune systems go into overdrive when exposed and they don’t shut down.

CIRS can present in many ways and is often be misdiagnosed as chronic fatigue, fibromyalgia, depression, anxiety, allergies, ADHD etc.

That’s why air quality testing is so important.

What to expect from an air quality testing service

When clients contact me to request an Air Quality Assessment, we first discuss your home circumstances i.e. where you live, whether you own or rent, whether you have pets in the home, and so on.

Then we’ll talk through your need for various types of air sampling and testing. Depending on your home and the symptoms and health conditions you describe, you may require air sampling, mould testing, lead testing, or a combination of these. Often testing isn’t necessary and all it actually takes is some guidance on removing the sources of the air pollutants from your home which can be really straightforward.

Once we’ve discussed this, I visit your home to examine all of the possible causes of poor air quality that might exist and to perform any required testing.

Don’t worry, there is absolutely no judgement!

I’m a big believer that when we know better, we do better, so the aim of all my home assessments is not to criticise but to empower you with the knowledge you need to improve the health of you and your family.

As I test the quality of air inside your home, I’ll share my findings and feedback with you, with actionable steps you can take to improve poor air quality right away.

To help you make these changes though, I’ll also provide a written follow up report containing a checklist of air quality hazards with a priority rating for action steps, developed specifically for you.

Lastly, we’ll have a follow-up email and phone call to check in on your progress and answer any questions that have cropped up since the assessment took place.

With a better understanding of how to improve your indoor air quality and an expert to lean on for advice, you can make lasting changes that improve your health and wellbeing.

To have your indoor air quality tested, fill out this contact form and select Air Quality Assessment as your area of interest and I’ll be in touch.

References

http://www.who.int/airpollution/household/pollutants/noncombustion/en/

http://www.who.int/en/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/asthma

http://www.environment.gov.au/protection/air-quality/indoor-air

http://soe.environment.gov.au/theme/ambient-air-quality/topic/indoor-air-quality-2