5 Little or No Cost Changes to Reduce Toxins in Your Home - Part 1
Action 1 - Vacuum and Dust
I know this seems kinda crazy simple - but it’s wildly important in reducing toxic exposures in your home - ESPECIALLY if you have little ones.
Here’s why:
Indoor air has been found to be 5x - 10x and up to 100x more toxic to us than outdoor air. And the majority of us spend up to 90% of our time indoors.
Due to poor air circulation and ventilation, most of chemicals found in our air settle into carpet, flooring, and dust. Because children spend more contact time with the floor, and additionally generally put their hands and objects in their mouth, children are not just more physically impacted by these chemicals, they have more opportunity for exposures.
What toxins are most commonly found by inhaling dust and indoor air?
• flame retardant chemicals (indoor dust contains up to 50x greater concentration of these than outdoor AND children are found to have up to 5x higher concentration than their parents)
• heavy metals
• pesticides
• PFAS (forever chemicals)
• phthalates (found in 100% of house dust samples tested)
and more.
What are the risk of these chemicals?
• thyroid disease
• asthma
• reproductive toxicity and infertility in both men and women
• kidney, testicular and breast cancers
• neurodevelopment issues
• type II diabetes
• overweight/obesity
And I could go on
How do these chemicals get into my house?
• things tracked from shoes and into the home such as pesticides and lawn chemicals
• carpets + furniture treated with stain resistant chemicals and flame retardants
• VOC emissions from cleaning products, air fresheners, laundry detergents, paint, etc
• off gassing from new construction like cabinets, flooring, etc
so what can I do?
As I shared above, wet dusting and vacuuming often is one of the simplest, and most effective, ways to reduce these toxins in your home. And it costs you nothing.
I try to do it more, but at a minimum, I pick a room to wet dust my blinds once a month and pick a day to vacuum every week. They recommend you vacuum once a day. But. Idk how people are finding time for that
Point is-it’s important. Do what you can. Make it a priority. Make it happen!
Share this with a friend + stick around for the rest of my low cost tips!
Sources:
We Spend 90% of Our Time Indoors. Says Who? | BuildingGreen
https://nepis.epa.gov/Exe/ZyPDF.cgi/91014F8Z.PDF?Dockey=91014F8Z.PDF
Hoffman, Kate, et al. "Exposure to polyfluoroalkyl chemicals and attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder in US children 12-15 years of age." Environmental health perspectives 118.12 (2010): 1762.
Joensen, Ulla Nordström, et al. "Do perfluoroalkyl compounds impair human semen quality?. "Environmental health perspectives 117.6 (2009): 923.
Cheng, Yan, et al. "The Endocrine Disrupting Effect of Perfluorooctanoic Acid (PFOA) on Human Estrogen, Androgen and Thyroid Receptors."
Chicago Tribune, media.apps.chicagotribune.com/flames/index.html
Fear fans flames for chemical makers – Chicago Tribune
Hawthorne, Michael. “Federal panel votes to warn public about flame retardants in baby products,
furniture.” Chicagotribune.com, The Chicago Tribune, 20 Sept. 2017
assessed-in-subclasses-says-new-report
* The information offered by me is for general educational and informational purposes only. None of this information is a substitute or replacement for professional or medical advice
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