How To Maintain Healthy Indoor Air (Even When The AQI Is Crazy High)

Considering that the average individual takes 20,000 breaths a day and spends around 90% of their time indoors, it’s easy to see why our homes play a major role in our well-being.

The American Lung Association explains that inhaling contaminated indoor air can have wide-ranging effects on our health. Fine particles or other airborne contaminants can impact our respiratory system and lead to coughing, watery eyes, scratchy throat, a runny nose, and more symptoms.

We need to prioritize the quality of air within our indoor spaces, particularly when outdoor air quality is poor (as it has been across the country for much of this summer). The pollution from outside can infiltrate our homes and pose a significant risk to indoor air, particularly if it already contains elevated levels of contaminants.

When outdoor air quality is poor, keeping windows and doors closed can help minimize outdoor air infiltration. However, you can’t exactly put a bubble around your house, so particles like smoke, dust, allergens, mold spores, and mycotoxins will inevitably blow inside from the outdoors. It’s up to us to actively work to keep particle levels low. Set up a daily, weekly, monthly, and seasonal cleaning schedule to keep your air quality as healthy as possible.

Building the right cleaning product arsenal is also a key piece of the home health puzzle. You want to make sure that the tools in your toolkit are up to the task of actually removing contaminants. Otherwise, you’ll be spending all of that time and effort cleaning but not improving your air.

Running air purifiers is a phenomenal way to reduce airborne pollutants in a home. These powerful machines help to remove contaminants so that they’re not circulating through our indoor spaces and making their way into our bodies. Not all air purifiers are built the same, though. You want to go with a unit that removes the maximum number of contaminants possible all of the time, not just some of the time.

The best option is to invest in a whole-home air purifier. These systems are installed at the home’s point of entry and will effectively remove contaminants from the air so that the HVAC system can run efficiently. This filters out particles for the entire home, eliminating the space requirements that smaller units have. As a bonus, they also offer a layer of protection for the HVAC itself by eliminating contaminants before they enter the system. 

I'd also recommend avoiding burning candles or using aerosols at home when outdoor air quality is poor, as they can introduce additional pollutants.

Air filters are the first line of defense for the HVAC system and indoor air. They help eliminate dust and contaminants so they don’t continue circulating throughout your indoor space. If they’re past their time to be replaced, chances are that they’re packed full of all sorts of particles. This will affect their ability to filter, leading to lower indoor air quality. It can also put a strain on the HVAC system as it works overtime to pull air through the clogged filters. Changing them on time will help avoid this situation and ensure as much dust and particulate matter is removed as possible.

Before changing them out, make sure that they’re the highest-rated MERV filters possible for the specific HVAC system. You want filters with the technology to eliminate contaminants like mold spores from the air. Otherwise, they’ll circulate straight back into the home, creating a dirtier environment.

Mold can grow in as little as 24 to 48 hours on a wet surface. Working to eliminate as much moisture as possible is a key aspect of preventing microbial growth.

The more belongings you have, the more surfaces there are for dust to collect, and the harder it is to clean a home properly. Every year, you should evaluate your belongings and ask yourself if you truly use each item before deciding whether to keep it.