All of us face a variety of risks to our health as we go about our day-to-day lives. Driving in cars, flying in planes, engaging in recreational activities, and being exposed to environmental pollutants all pose varying degrees of risk. Some risks are simply unavoidable. Some we choose to accept because to do otherwise would restrict our ability to lead our lives the way we want. And some are risks we might decide to avoid if we had the opportunity to make informed choices. Indoor air pollution is one risk that you can do something about.
In the last several years, a growing body of scientific evidence has indicated that the air within homes and other buildings can be more seriously polluted than the outdoor air in even the largest and most industrialized cities. Other research indicates that people spend approximately 90 percent of their time indoors. Thus, for many people, the risks to health may be greater due to exposure to air pollution indoors than outdoors.
In addition, people who may be exposed to indoor air pollutants for the longest periods of time are often those most susceptible to the effects of indoor air pollution. Such groups include the young, the elderly, and the chronically ill, especially those suffering from respiratory or cardiovascular disease.
The Effect of Indoor Air Pollution on Your Family's Health:
The likelihood of immediate reactions to indoor air pollutants depends on several factors. Age and preexisting medical conditions are two important influences. In other cases, whether a person reacts to a pollutant depends on individual sensitivity, which varies tremendously from person to person. Some people can become sensitized to biological pollutants after repeated exposures, and it appears that some people can become sensitized to chemical pollutants as well. Certain immediate effects are similar to those from colds or other viral diseases, so it is often difficult to determine if the symptoms are a result of exposure to indoor air pollution. For this reason, it is important to pay attention to the time and place the symptoms occur. If the symptoms fade or go away when a person is away from the home and return when the person returns, an effort should be made to identify indoor air sources that may be possible causes. Some effects may be made worse by an inadequate supply of outdoor air or from the heating, cooling, or humidity conditions prevalent in the home. Other health effects may show up either years after exposure has occurred or only after long or repeated periods of exposure. These effects, which include some respiratory diseases, heart disease, and cancer, can be severely debilitating or fatal. It is prudent to try to improve the indoor air quality in your home even if symptoms are not noticeable.
If you have any questions or concerns about the level of indoor pollution in your home, please contact one of our live Customer Service Representatives at 919-777-9777. At 72 Degrees Heating & Cooling, we offer a variety of different indoor air quality products and services including a Clean Indoor Air Alliance (CIA2) Home Air Quality Test to identify any indoor air quality problems and heating and cooling system maintenance and cleaning that will improve the air you breathe. For more information about our available services please read our Indoor Air Quality Services page.
The proceeding information was taken from the Environment Protection Agency’s (EPA) website from the following pages: http://www.epa.gov/iaq/pubs/insidest.html Sources of Indoor Air Pollution and Their Effects on Your Family's Health
http://www.epa.gov/iaq/ia-intro.html
http://www.epa.gov/iaq/pubs/insidest.htmlWant to know more about indoor air pollution? Please see the following articles for more information.
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