DETOXING
YOUR HOME – Part 1
Detoxing
your home is also about detoxing your body. There is very
little point in doing a liver detox, colonic or fast if you are
immersed in a toxic environment.
Your
home is surprisingly polluted.
Indoor
air quality in many places is hazardous to health for several
reasons:
- Many homes, particularly the newer “energy efficient homes” are not well ventilated. This is a problem because whatever is lingering in the air is being breathed in by you, over and over again. Adequate ventilation is vital! More on this later.
- The air in your home can become polluted by moulds and fungi – fungi is NOT a fun guy, far from it. Can you smell dampness anywhere? Can you see mould anywhere? If you answered “yes,” then we have a problem.
- Furniture smells – have you noticed the way that a piece of new furniture has a particular smell to it? This is the off-gassing of what is known as volatile organic compounds (VOCs). Chipboard is particularly problematic – all those little pieces of wood are held together with formaldehyde! (Formaldehyde? This causes cancer, it is a carcinogen.)
- Carpets smell – not only do they off-gas VOCs, but they are havens for dust, dust-mites, petro-chemicals and many other things that are traipsed through your home on your shoes.
- People – people add humidity, and sometimes pathogens (if they are sick). People also off-gas – their personal care products mingle and give off a smell.
All
of these factors contribute to the air quality of your home (and
workplace and car!)... And considering you spend (on average) 90% of
your time indoors, that's a lot of pollutants that you are inhaling.
