A healthy home will always make for a healthier individual. If you have moved into a new home and you want it to be the perfect environment for you, your family, and nurture your mindset to develop a foundation for newer healthy attitudes, there’s a lot to unpack here. How can we make our homes healthier for us? Here are some methods to start with.
Start Testing
To ensure that you can build up a solid foundation, you will need to test your home for a number of potential points. Checking your radon levels, mold, lead paint, and asbestos are all critical, and the levels of each will depend on where you are in the world and when your home was built.
Many homes can find themselves at risk of radon, especially in rural areas as it’s formed from rocks and soil. While many homes have a low radon level, if you are exposed to higher levels, this can contribute to lung cancer. If you have any concerns, you should always get your home tested first.
Minimize Dust
Dust is part and parcel of most homes, but the problem with dust is that it can aggravate allergies, but it can also contain hazardous chemicals, for example, pesticides. It is critical to get rid of any old carpets that are a breeding ground for dust and allergens like mold and spores arising from the dust.
If you like your carpets, you should invest in a high-quality vacuum with a HEPA filter, and make sure you clean it frequently, especially if you or a family member has the potential to develop lung conditions like asthma or COPD. However, the best option is to completely remove the carpet and replace it with lino.
Check for Food-based Allergens
Allergens are numerous and you would benefit by checking if anybody in your family has potential allergens like pollen, but also other allergies to foods like gluten or dairy. Having an allergen or an intolerance to dairy or gluten can be tough to spot, but if you or your child is always reaching for a tissue, has a very runny nose, or find you get bloated after bread, you may want to check for food allergies, which you can do with a simple home test or by paying more attention to your body.
If you suspect you have an allergen or an intolerance, you need to remove this food from your diet for at least 30 days to see if the symptoms subside. You can then choose to reintroduce it or find alternatives. The great thing is that there’s a wide variety of food alternatives available so you don’t have to consume gluten or dairy, especially if it makes an impact on your frame of mind. There is a big link between the gut and conditions like depression, so eating the right stuff could make a big difference.
Filtering Your Tap Water
Some people don’t like the taste of tap water so they opt for bottled water, but depending on where you are, you may find that your bottled water contains a lot of contaminants. The best thing you could do would be to invest in a water filter. There are many brands of water filters available, and it also means that rather than spending money on bottled water every week, you are saving money by drinking your tap water.
It’s such an easy thing to do and you don’t have to invest much money into it. It also means that you are saving the environment in your own little way by cutting back on plastic bottles.
Eating Organically
We’ve all got into the habit of having too much choice. If you start to look at what organic food can do for you by buying products in season, it will save you money because it is more plentiful, but starting a small garden means that you are also getting to grips with the impact you can make by eating closer to home.
Many people find it easier to purchase items from the supermarket, which is understandable, but if you’ve just moved into a new home, starting to plant a couple of easy-to-grow fruits and vegetables can help you and your family become more aware of what you are doing for the planet.
It is tough to find the right things that make us supremely healthy. Looking after your diet and keeping fit are two simple things, but around the home, there could be a number of components you are not aware of impacting your health. Start with these things and you may see a major impact on you and your loved ones’ health.
Leave a Reply