How your home’s environment can affect your health + 5 solutions

In recent years, we’ve started to learn more and more about how our health is not only determined by our genes, but also by multiple variables such as our diet, our sleep, exercise, our emotions, and also our environment.

When it comes to the environment we live in, it can affect both our physical and emotional wellbeing, thus, affecting our quality of life. 

Environment -> Physical triggers -> Effects on health -> Quality of life

Environment -> Emotional triggers-> Effects on health -> Quality of life

1. Physical Triggers 

A physical trigger is anything that will make us have a physical reaction within our body. In our homes, we can find physical triggers such as allergens, viruses, bacteria, and pollutants. 

Allergens

Mold, mildew, dust mites, cockroaches, pollen, and pet dander can trigger allergies in some people. Reactions vary from person to person and depend on the allergen too, but some common symptoms can include sneezing, itchy eyes, a runny nose, fatigue, and even shortness of breath.  (Read: 3 indoor allergens that love humidity)

Solutions:

• Dehumidifier: TOSOT Dehumidifiers can help prevent the growth of allergens that love high humidity, such as dust mites, mold, and cockroaches. 
• Air Purifier: Our H13 medical-grade filter can trap particles as small as 0.1 microns.

Viruses  

Viruses can have a bigger impact on your health if you have a weakened immune system. The stronger our immune system, the easier it can fight off the viruses and get rid of them. These cannot be treated with antibiotics.

Solutions:

• Humidifier: According to Contagion Live, “it’s well known that where humidity drops, a spike in flu incidence and mortality occurs.” If you've got low indoor relative humidity at home, a TOSOT humidifier could help you with the flu. However, this does not apply to all viruses. Note that this relationship has not been found yet between humidity and COVID-19 (if that's something you're wondering).
• Air Purifier: TOSOT's H13 medical-grade filter can trap up to 99.97% of the particles in the air. 

Bacteria

We have good and bad bacteria within our bodies. When harmful bacteria enter our bodies, this can cause bacterial infection. This kind of infection can be treated with antibiotics (contrary to viruses). However, we need to be careful with taking too many antibiotics as this can harm our intestinal flora and kill our good bacteria too. 

Good bacteria does lots of good things for us, including fighting harmful bacteria. Although probiotics can help us restore flora after treatment with antibiotics, it’s of great help to get rid of harmful bacteria in our homes to prevent them from going inside our body!

Solutions:

• Air Purifier: TOSOT's H13 medical-grade filter can trap up to 99.97% of the particles in the air. 

Pollutants

Toxic substances like smoke and chemicals can affect everyone in the family. When these enter our bodies they can affect us in many ways. 

Smoke, for example, can affect our cardiovascular system, even if we’re nonsmokers.

According to the CDC, “Exposure to secondhand smoke has immediate adverse effects on the cardiovascular system and can cause coronary heart disease and stroke. Secondhand smoke causes nearly 34,000 premature deaths from heart disease each year in the United States among nonsmokers.”

Solutions: 

• Air Purifier: TOSOT's H13 medical-grade filter can trap up to 99.97% of the particles in the air, including smoke. 

2. Physical + Emotional Triggers

An emotional trigger is anything that makes us feel uncomfortable. 

Smells

Emotional: Musty smells like mold, or even the smell of the pets we love, can disturb us. It’s important to keep around smells that help us feel well.

Physical: Did you know that bad smells can even affect our sleep? (Read: That musty smell: Love it or hate it, please eliminate it.)

Solutions:

• Dehumidifier: Can help you eliminate musty smell from mold and mildew, by helping you prevent these from showing up in the first place. 
• Humidifier: With it's aroma diffusion feature, it can help you bring nice and relaxing aromas to your home. 
•  Air Purifier: When trapping certain particles it can help reduce odors in the air. 

Noises

Emotional: Some noises can be very disturbing while we’re awake. How about that loud neighbor that hosts parties every day? You can’t really do so much about him/her, but you can control some of the noises inside your home to make the environment more pleasurable. 

Physical: Some noises don’t allow our body to rest well while sleeping.

Solutions:

• TOSOT Home Appliances: Our different product collections offer air solutions with lower noise levels than other brands. Check them out!

Humidity

Emotional: High relative humidity levels can make you feel very uncomfortable and even tired.

Physical: Dry air can make your skin dry as well as your nasal passages. On the other hand, high relative humidity can prevent sweat from evaporating, and therefore, make us feel that temperature is warmer than it really is. (Learn why this happens in: How to make the most out of your summer workout) 

Solutions:

Healthy humidity levels range from 30% to 55%. Therefore, the appliance you use depends on your current indoor relative humidity level. 

• Dehumidifier: Use it if your indoor relative humidity is higher than 55%.
• Humidifier: Use it if your indoor relative humidity is lower than 30%. 

Temperature

Emotional: When we’re uncomfortable with the room’s temperature, it can make us upset, tired, not wanting to move, and even make us unproductive. 

When temperatures are too hot, many people find it difficult to enjoy. In one of its articles, The Weather Channel mentions a survey where respondents were asked: “How hot is too hot to enjoy?” These were some of the answers:

On the opposite hand, when the temperature is too cold, some people can become less productive (especially women). An article from USA TODAY mentions: “At low temperatures, men clearly outperform women (...) at high temperatures the gender difference disappears." (Remember this when setting the thermostat.)

Physical: We need to be careful with drastic temperature changes, as we could get hypothermia by being in extremely low temperatures, or heat-strokes under extremely high temperatures.

Solutions:

• Portable Air Conditioner: For hot temperatures use your portable air conditioner in your favorite rooms.
• Window Air Conditioner: If you have a vertical window, a TOSOT Window AC will be of great help!

One solution to every trigger

So, how to deal with all these triggers? We’ve got a solution for each of these!

* A humidifier can help with some viruses such as the flu, however, not all.  

Which one do you need? 

At TOSOT Direct, our mission is to help you improve your quality of life. If you have more questions on how these products can help you, don't hesitate to reach out by sending us a message to support@tosotdirect.com.

Have an amazing day!

You may also like:

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10 Reasons why Humidity may be Affecting Your Quality of Life

9 Quick Tips to Remove Musty Smell from Clothes

What You Need to Know About Water Damage Before You Buy a Home

Use information at your own risk:  The information presented is intended for educational purposes only and is not intended to be a substitute for professional advice, diagnosis or treatment. Never disregard professional medical or home improvement advice. The information and suggestions should be discussed with a professional.  You are responsible for independently verifying the information if you intend to rely upon or use it in any way. You use all information at your own risk.