When you think of home, there’s a good chance that your first thought isn’t about indoor air pollution. However, the quality of the air inside your home plays a significant role in your health and comfort. It’s important for homeowners to understand how indoor air quality, or IAQ, impacts their health so that they can start taking the right steps to make their home a happier and healthier place.
4 Ways Indoor Air Quality Impacts Your Health
Indoor air quality refers to the quality of air inside your home or within and around other buildings and structures. By identifying common pollutants and working to decrease indoor air pollution, homeowners can help reduce the risks of indoor air health concerns. Here are just a few ways that your home’s indoor air quality can impact your health.
- Indoor air pollution can make it hard to breathe.
If you or your family members have trouble breathing easy in your home then indoor air quality may be a concern. Three of the most common health effects of indoor air pollutants are coughing, sneezing, and upper respiratory congestion. When pollutants make their way into your home, they can make it difficult for some people to breathe, especially those who are sensitive to certain chemicals or family members who already suffer from respiratory issues.
- Indoor pollutants can also cause irritation.
Breathing issues are not the only sign that you may have an indoor air quality problem. Indoor air pollutants can also cause other irritations such as watery eyes, fatigue, headaches, and dizziness, which may lead to more severe health issues such as fever, nausea, and muscle pain. These symptoms can make it very hard for you and your family to stay happy, healthy, and comfortable in your own home.
- IAQ issues can aggravate existing conditions.
Another way that poor indoor air quality can impact your health is by aggravating existing conditions. For instance, if you have members of the family who suffer from asthma or other respiratory issues, they may be highly sensitive to the pollutants in your home. This can cause symptoms to increase or worsen, making it difficult for your family to stay healthy and comfortable. Indoor air pollutants can also have a greater impact on family members with weakened immune systems.
- Long-term exposure can have lasting harmful effects.
Though you can start to experience the effects of indoor air pollutants after immediate exposure or just being exposed a few times, there are also many long-term health effects that can result from exposure to poor indoor air quality over time. Long or repeated exposure to indoor air pollutants can cause serious debilitating health issues such as respiratory disease, heart disease, and even cancer.
The best way to avoid both the short- and long-term harmful health effects of indoor air pollutants is to identify issues early on and work to improve your indoor air quality. Sometimes the only way to determine if IAQ is impacting your health is to have your home air tested by an HVAC professional. Indoor air quality testing allows homeowners to better understand whether their home air is safe and healthy. Once you know the status of your IAQ, you can find the right HVAC products and systems to improve your air quality.
Get Your Home IAQ Tested
Are you concerned about your indoor air quality? The HVAC experts at Bartlett provide indoor air quality testing services that can help you determine the quality of your indoor air. We can even recommend the best products for helping you improve IAQ throughout the year. Call today (630) 372-7640 to meet with our IAQ specialists.
