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There’s a lot more to maintaining your home’s air quality than just buying an air purifier and calling it a day. Even in the best-maintained home, you can build up dust, pollen, and other allergens—and if you do keep a fairly clean home, you might not even realize exactly what it is aggravating your symptoms.
If you suffer from asthma, here are five tips that can help you to breathe easier while you’re tackling your spring cleaning to-do list.
1. Clutter is the enemy of clean air.
The more things are sitting out in your home, the more places there are for the dust to settle and accumulate. Clearing away clutter will not only prevent this, but it will make it easier to clean the other parts of your home. Find storage places for the things that are cluttering up your home, and regularly get rid of the things you don’t use. (See also: Top 6 Reasons Cleaning Your Home Is Good Your For Health)
2. Dust can hide in carpets, so vacuuming regularly is key.
It’s easy to see the dust that accumulates on furniture but you might not notice what’s accumulating between your carpet fibers quite as readily. Even if the carpets don’t look dirty, you should vacuum at least once a week to make sure no irritants are lurking unseen. This is especially true in households with pets since pet hair and dander can aggravate asthma. Make sure you get a vacuum that can handle pet hair without tangling—having to clear the brush roll or perform other maintenance can release dust back into the air.
3 …and don’t neglect your furniture.
Dust and allergens can also be ground into upholstery and mattresses and lurk there unseen, which can be especially aggravating for nighttime symptoms. Once a month or so, take a vacuum to your mattress, couch, and other padded furnishings, to make sure they’re not harboring any mites, dust, or other irritants. Keep your bedding clean, too. Change your sheets regularly, and throw everything in the laundry—including pillows and mattress pads—on a regular basis. (See also: 7 Eco-friendly Home Cleaning Tips That Work Like Magic)
4. Clean up high as well as down low.
Dust that has been kicked up into the air can easily settle on the blades of ceiling fans, on top of moldings and light fixtures—it can even cling to the walls unnoticed. A vacuum with a long and can be especially helpful at cleaning those hard to reach places. Don’t forget about window coverings, like blinds and curtains, which can often trap allergens like pollen along with the usual household dust.
5. Cleaning kicks up dust, so you might want to wear a mask.
This might seem a bit extreme, but it’s especially likely to be necessary if you haven’t done a thorough cleaning in a while. Even with the most advanced array of tools, some dust will be kicked up into the air during the cleaning process. As helpful as cleaning is in the long run, you won’t be doing your lungs any favors by breathing in all those irritants up close and personal. Using a mask makes sure you can clean thoroughly without aggravating your ailment.
All of these tips will help you to improve your home’s cleanliness and air quality, but there’s one other big, an overarching tip that we’d like to leave you with: the best way to avoid breathing in irritants from the air of your home is to not let them accumulate in the first place. If there are people with asthma in your household it is especially important to do regular maintenance cleaning, rather than letting things build up and doing a massive cleaning session a few times a year. Get in the habit of cleaning at least once a week (if you’re not already) and you’ll likely find that alone helps you breathe easier.
About The Author:
Jason is one of those self-proclaimed neat freaks. And a little while ago he even started his own blog vacuumcleanerlive.com
