Healthy homes, happy families

If you’ve ever made a de-cision not to eat a certain food because it was bad for you, then you’re like most people who are increasingly

more health-conscious. As you consider what not to put in your body, there are simple ways to im-prove your health by examining what’s in your home.

Here are four tricks to help re-duce your risk for headaches, fa-tigue, allergies, respiratory ill-nesses, heart disease, and other serious long-term conditions, and make your home healthier.

Clean green with DIY cleaning supplies

Basic housecleaning can improve your air quality as pollutants like mould and dust are eliminated. unfortunately, chemical cleaners can release volatile organic com-pounds (voCs) into the air, which can irritate your eyes, nose and throat, and cause headaches, nau-sea, and damage to the liver, kid-neys, and central nervous system, according to the uS environmen-tal Protection Agency.

you can replace many danger-ous chemical cleaning solutions by creating your own green ver-sions with various combinations of the following ingredients — baking soda, white vinegar, hy-drogen peroxide, Borax, essential oils, such as lavender oil or euca-lyptus oil, Castile soap, fresh herbs, citrus, or citrus peels, olive or vegetable oil and water.

for example, to clean mould and mildew off grout in your show-er, you can spray a 50-50 solution of vinegar and water on the grout and scrub with an old toothbrush or grout brush. If you need some-thing stronger, try making a paste of baking soda and water and try scrubbing it on your grout.

A step towards better indoor air quality

Looking for a way to improve your indoor air quality? opt for phtha-

Few steps can go a long way to ensure better home air quality

late-free flooring options, that prevents elevated levels of chemi-cals, has a low capacity for retain-ing allergens and the recommend-ed cleaning will not result in exposure to airborne allergens.

Additionally, other flooring op-tions such as its vinyl tiles, planks and laminates offer better indoor air quality.

Plant power

Did you know that certain house plants can improve your health? environmental activist, Kamal Meattle, says there are three plants — Areca palm, Mother-in-law’s Tongue, and the “Money Plant” — that can improve your air by con-verting carbon dioxide into oxy-gen, removing organic compounds and filtering indoor air. House plants can also help you maintain ideal humidity levels in your home. Just like expensive air purifying machines, plants also produce negative ions, which help remove pollutants, such as dust, bacteria and allergens.

Drive away dust

Dust is a major air pollutant that often triggers asthma and allergy attacks. Inhaling too much dust can lead to lung diseases, such as pneumoconiosis. The filters in your heater and air conditioner do

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a great job trapping dust and pol-lutants, but these filters need to be changed every 30 to 60 days to be most effective. one cost-effec-tive way to reduce air pollutants even further is to invest in a high efficiency air filter, which can trap pollutants and allergens while also neutralising odours and pre-venting bacteria growth on the filter itself. These simple steps can actually save you money by making your HvAC system run

House plants can help you maintain ideal humidity levels in your home. Just

like expensive air purifying machines, plants also produce negative ions, which help remove pollutants, such as dust, bacteria and allergens.

more efficiently.Healthy choices don’t have to be

difficult or expensive, and some-times it’s less about curbing the junk food and more about tending to your surroundings. With people spending approximately 90 per cent of their time indoors, simple measures to make your home healthier are going to have a big impact on your own health and the health of the people you love.

— BPT

One in five people suffer from allergies, according to the Asth-ma and Allergy Foundation of America (AAFA). As the 2013 al-lergy season begins, experts warn that it may be one of the worst in recent years, with people experiencing an unusually strong reaction due to increased tree pollen.

But little attention is paid to the impact of indoor air on aller-gies, asthma and health. On an average, we spend nearly 90 per cent or more of our time indoors, according to the environ-mental Protection Agency (ePA). The ePA reports that, “levels of pollutants indoor may be two to five times higher, and oc-casionally more than 100 times higher than outdoor levels.”

How does this impact your next home improvement project? Is your home healthy?

StArt At the bottom

We all want beautiful floors in our homes. Many people, how-ever, don’t realise that some new flooring can threaten the indoor air quality. When flooring is installed, you may notice an odour for a few days or even weeks. The odour might mean noxious gases are emitting from the materials used during installation. And these emissions, particularly those resulting from volatile organic compounds (VOCs), could po-tentially have serious, long-term effects on your health — as well as an immediate impact on the health of family members with asthma or allergies.

The good news is gorgeous flooring options are now avail-able that are certified “asthma and allergy friendly” by the Asthma and Allergy Foundation of America, where:

Installation of the flooring does not result in elevated •levels of chemicals.The flooring has a low capacity for retaining •allergens.The recommended cleaning of the flooring will not •result in exposure to airborne allergens.

SPrIng for PVC-free ACCeSSorIeS

Did you know that your shower curtain can be one of the great-est sources of noxious gas? Many homeowners purchase PVC shower curtains and liners because of its functionality and ease of cleaning. However, according to Practically Green, a website for people interested in green living, a recent study “found that 108 different volatile organic compounds, including those known to cause developmental, liver, nervous system, respira-tory and reproductive damage, were released into indoor air by PVC shower curtains.” Replacing current shower curtains and liners with PVC-free products are quick and inexpensive fixes that will make your bathrooms healthier.

Home improvements should be a proud reminder that your home is your castle and you treat it well. This year, consider investing in simple projects that can also improve the health of the castle’s residents. — BPT

Home improvement tips to help you breathe easy

Your home is Your castle

cial to asthma patients and to non-asthmatic patients. An air purifier is used to remove impurity from indoor air. Thus, a better and cleaner environment can be cre-ated. There will be less probability of an asthma attack due to fewer pollutants in the air.

Panasonic has developed nanoe technology for producing nano-sized electrostatic atomised water particles, nanoe™, that drastically improves air quality. Experiments have proven a long list of the ben-efits of “electrostatic-atomised water particles”, produced by cut-ting-edge nanotechnology. The electrostatic-atomised water tech-nology involves gathering mois-ture in the air that is invisible, and applying a high voltage to generate nano-sized water particles. These electrified water particles are called “electrostatic-atomised wa-ter” and contain highly reactive components that easily affect a wide variety of substances, work-ing to inhibit house dusts and air-borne pollutants as well as reduce bad smell. The Panasonic air puri-fiers come with nanoe technology, which inhibits 99.9 per cent of air borne pollutants and deodorise 90 per cent of bad smell.

Panasonic contribution towards green ideals, ECONAVI technol-ogy in air purifiers ensures cust-omised usage to optimise effi-ciency. Its odour sensor and dust sensor automatically study pollu-

ACCOrdINg to the State of the World Allergy report of the World Allergy Organisation, about 300 million people world-wide have asthma, approximately 50 per cent of whom live in de-veloping countries. The high prevalence of asthma among children in the UAE is particu-larly alarming, with one in five children in the UAE having asth-ma. An estimated of 300 million people have been diagnosed with asthma, with an expected in-crease to 400 million by 2025, according to 2010 data from the World Health Organisation.

Although it often starts in child-hood, asthma affects people of all ages. Undoubtedly, there has been an increased prevalence of asthma in the MENA region over the past several decades.

Asthma is a disease that consists of two main components, constric-tion and inflammation, both af-fecting the lung passageways. Constriction is when the airways narrow due to muscles tightening around them, and inflammation is when the airways get irritated and begin to swell. When these actions happen concurrently, they trigger asthma symptoms, such as diffi-culty in breathing and swelling of the lungs.

Using an air purifier to keep the air clean and free from pollutants and dust is one of the effective ways to reduce cause of asthma at-tack. There are many contami-nants in the air that can trigger an asthma attack. Some of the con-taminants include pet dander, al-lergens, pollen, dust, and chemi-cals. When these substances are inhaled, asthmatics patients and non-asthmatics persons are af-fected and experience difficulty in breathing. Seasonal allergies may also lead to an asthma attack. However, the toxins found in in-door air can easily be filtered out with an effective air purifier.

Air purifiers can be very benefi-

Air purifiers help control asthma and promote a healthy life

Breathe easy

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tion levels and patterns before developing an operation outline specifically to clean the air and keep the room/area hydrated. Thus, pollutants are eliminated

Disclaimer:nanoe can inhibit virus, or the likes. however, prevention of 1. infectious diseases is not guaranteed.the actual effects may vary depending upon room condition 2. and usage. For details on test items and conditions, visit: 3. http://panasonic.net/technology/nanoe/experiment.html

even before they start spreading — while making sure that the en-ergy and cost savings of up to 50 per cent, without compromising on effectiveness.

Panasonic has developed nanoe technology for producing nano-

sized electrostatic atomised water particles, nanoe™, that drastically improves air quality. experiments have proven a long list of the benefits of “electrostatic-atomised water particles”, produced by cutting-edge nanotechnology

BACTErIA and dirt inside ducting systems can cause serious hu-man health problems that are often overlooked, and cleaning met-al ductwork can be expensive. ductSox textile ducts are a healthy alternative to conventional duct systems. ductSox is a manufac-turer of textile air dispersion products for open and finished ceiling architecture, critical environments, and underfloor applications. Its fabric HVAC ducts have been installed in schools, offices, restau-rants, pools, retail stores, warehouses and health clubs as well as in critical environment settings such as laboratories, commercial kitchens and food processing facilities.

The fabric ducts do not condensate, ensuring that no mould or condensation will harm the environment and pose health hazards to building occupants. Textile ducts are hygienic and, most impor-tantly, they are fully machine-washable as zippered sections of ductSox textile ducts can be easily removed, vacuumed or laun-dered. Air passing through the fabric eliminates the risk of conden-sation and deflects airborne dust from accumulating on ductSox surfaces while some of its fabrics feature an active antimicrobial agent that inhibits bacteria growth. There are sustainable alterna-tives to conventional air dispersion systems — its Sedona-XM fabric is made from 55 per cent recycled content and is the first recycled textile duct in the market. These benefits ensure a better indoor air quality as well as a healthy and pleasant environment.

DuctSox specialises in textile air dispersion products that are hygienic and machine-washable

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