What Else Can I Do To Get Rid Of Dust In My Home
In addition to buying an air purifier, a consistent weekly house cleaning schedule is recommended for people who are worried about dust and other pollutants in their homes.
As Ive said many times on this site, air purifiers are amazing because they can clean the actual air in your home. They dont convert up smells like air fresheners. They dont try to distract you with pleasant smells like oil diffusers. Air purifiers cut straight to the problem and they clean the air.
But thats not always enough.
In fact, its seldom enough.
If youre worried about the air quality in your home, then you need to clean your home. All of the furniture and carpets that youve got are big-time dust collectors. When you sit on them they kick up dust. Your hardwood floors and other solid surfaces also collect dust, but usually not nearly as much as more porous surfaces.
Sweeping, dusting, and vacuuming are a must if you want to keep up on dust. I know it sounds like a bunch of work, but lets face it, it has to be done. As I said earlier, this should be done weekly if you want cleaner air.
And something nifty is that you might notice that youre collecting less dust when you clean your home if youve got an air purifier going. Thats because the air purifier is capturing some of the dust in the air and preventing it from accumulating elsewhere.
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What Is The Best Air Purifier For Asthma And Allergies
There is a huge range of products in the market that we can choose from. But we all have some requirements when we want to purchase something. Like power, performance, features, cost, and design.
If its basically for asthma and allergy purposes then the purifier should have a True HEPA filter, Active carbon filter, fan speed
Editors words: if air purifies have these particular features and effective for asthma and allergy and also affordable then you better go for it.
Can An Air Purifier Help With Allergy Symptoms
Theres some evidence that air purifiers may help reduce your symptoms by cleaning the air around you, especially by removing triggers for asthma and allergies like dust mites, pollen, and mold spores. But it depends on several factors, including the square footage of the area needing to be filtered. The type of air filter you get matters too, since some work by capturing and filtering out larger allergen particles like dust, while others, like UV purifiers, work better for killing mold and bacteria.
Wondering if your air purifier can help with Covid too? The CDC says these air purifiers can can help reduce the airborne concentration of the virus that causes Covid-19 , which can reduce the risk of transmission through the air. But even the best air cleaner wont completely protect you against viruses, so you should still commit to practices like frequent hand-washing, using hand sanitizer, and wearing a face mask when in close contact with others.
Still, a good air purifier will go a long way to helping clean out the air in your space, so heres what to look for along with our top recommendations.
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It’s Easy To Get The Care You Need
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If you live with asthma, you know the importance of paying close attention to the quality of the air you breathe. Since asthma attacks can be brought about, or worsened, by airborne allergens and irritants such as dust, mold, pollen, cigarette smoke, and others, its smart to look for ways to improve the air quality around you, particularly in your home.
With that goal in mind, many asthma sufferers turn to appliances such as humidifiers and air purifiers, or filtration systems , to help reduce the effects of allergens and irritants in the air they breathe.
Air purifiers and humidifiers can certainly be helpful in improving the air quality in your home and easing your symptoms. But along with their benefits, these devices can sometimes have disadvantages. Its important to weigh the benefits and cautions.
To give your asthma the best chance of benefiting from an air purifier or a humidifier in your home, the device should be carefully and regularly maintained.
Best Air Purifiers For Allergies And Asthma Of 2021
Having the right air purifier can help to eliminate allergens from your living space, but its essential to choose wisely. We researched the best air purifiers for allergies and asthma to find our top five. Our expert team weighed in on each purifier to ensure its not only effective but also safe to use.
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Air Purifiers For Asthma
For people who suffer from asthma, air quality is a key issue. Exposure to ultrafine airborne particles causes inflammation in the airways of the lungs. Ranging from minor to severe, asthma symptoms are different for different people. You may have symptoms once in a while during exercise, for example or your symptoms can be ongoing. With asthma and children, the symptoms really get in the way of normal activities, since children tend to be so active.
- Trouble sleeping due to coughing or wheezing
- Whistling or wheezing
If you exercise, doing so when the air is cold and dry can make your asthma worse. Allergies such as pet dander, excrement, and debris from cockroaches, or pollen can also trigger asthma conditions. If you are sensitive to chemicals, gases, or dust, and are exposed to them at work, you may increase your chances of experiencing a more severe asthma attack.
Airborne pollen from trees, grasses and weeds has a way of finding its way indoors. In addition to pollen, the main indoor asthma triggers in the home are dust mites, mold, pets, cockroaches and household irritants. Secondhand smoke can also bring on symptoms in the home for adults and children who suffer from asthma.
The answer is yes, air purifiers do work for asthma relief. In addition to taking care of asthma triggers around your home, air pollution and asthma are strongly linked. Fortunately, a healthy environment for asthma sufferers can be maintained by the use of an air purifier.
Why Are Ionizers Bad For Asthma
Ionizers are bad for asthma because they can generate ozone which is a known lung irritant for asthmatics that causes chest pain, coughing, shortness of breath, and throat irritation. Air ionizers also emit negatively charged ions into the air that can also inflate asthma symptoms.
We go over this topic in-depth in our ionizer and asthma article. We also talk about are air purifiers good in general. So take a look at those pages if you want to learn more about this issue.
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Asthma And Room Air Cleaners
Can air filters help prevent asthma symptoms? Maybe. Room air cleaners remove small particles that are in the air near the air cleaner. However, room air cleaners don’t remove small allergen particles that are caused by local disturbances, such as the microscopic house dust mite feces that surround a pillow when your head hits it . You inhale these allergens before they ever get near the room air cleaner. Room air cleaners take 5 to 15 minutes to remove such temporary local sources of dust and allergens.
Wall-to-wall carpets also provide a massive source of allergens, which simply cannot be removed by vacuuming or the use of a room air cleaner. However, these accumulated allergens remain in the carpet until disturbed. Vacuuming carpets, which uses a beater brush, causes very large amounts of allergens to be thrown into the room, even if a HEPA vacuum cleaner is used. Room air cleaners are also unlikely to be adequately effective if the source of the allergens remains in the home, such as a cat, dog, bird, or hamster.
Room air cleaners only work for the room in which they are placed. Since you spend eight hours in your bedroom every night, this should be the first room in which to locate a room air cleaner. However, you may also spend several hours each day in your kitchen, TV room or office, so you may need a separate room air cleaner for each of these rooms.
Take Action With An Air Purifier
Air purifiers are designed with asthma sufferers in mind. There are many different types of air purifiers available for you to buy, however, if you suffer from asthma, it is recommend that you buy one with a HEPA filtration system built in.
For extra benefits, its recommended that your air purifier also include an activated carbon filter as well. Together, both of these filtration systems are designed to absorb harmful pollutants, smoke and odors, as well as trap and remove particles at the sub-micron level.
For the best asthma relief and overall health, look for an air purifier that can filter out particles as small as 0.003 microns. This means that the airborne irritants responsible for asthma triggerssmoke, dust mites, pollution, pollen, pet dander, and moldwill be removed and destroyed, leaving you with cleaner air for you and your family.
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Activated Charcoal Or Carbon Filter
If youre finding your allergies or asthma aggravated by certain odors, an activated charcoal filter is necessary. This filter absorbs odors such as smoke, cooking and even aromas caused by chemical cleaners.
Volatile organic compounds are domestic pollutants found in common household cleaners, sprays and other products. These can cause asthmatic and allergic reactions, as well. Activated carbon filters will also absorb VOCs and remove them from your environment.
These activated charcoal or carbon filters are also commonly used in water filtration systems. They can remove particles that range between 0.5 and 50 microns .
As effective as these filters are, they also require replacement more frequently than HEPA filters. Most air purifier manufacturers recommend replacing them every three to six months. In comparison, HEPA filters can last anywhere between six months to a year, depending on the size and air quality.
Common Asthma Triggers For Children In A Home
The NIH says that asthma is a breathing disorder where the airways are inflamed, and that asthma attacks happen when the airways become irritated. In a condition called allergic asthma, substances called allergens, which are harmless substances, are perceived by the body to be harmful and an asthma attack may occur or is more likely to occur in their presence. Examples of allergens include pollen and mold in the air. Allergic asthma is the most common form of asthma, and about 90% of children have allergic asthma, according to the NIH.
As mentioned above, individual asthma attacks could be triggered by atmospheric pollutants in the childs home. These pollutants include pet dander, dust and dust mites, secondhand smoke, mold and volatile organic compounds . The key to avoiding these triggers is to understand where they come from and the best ways to reduce or remove them from your home.
The most common asthma triggers for children in a home are:
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Air Purifiers To Avoid For Children With Asthma
There are also air purifiers that will actually make your childs asthma worse. Ozone generators claim that generating the gas ozone breaks down harmful contaminants, but ozone itself is a serious irritant and unhealthy in high concentrations. The last thing you want to do for a child with asthma is introduce ozone into your house.
Ionic air purifiers, which use an electrostatic charge to draw particles out of the air, may generate ozone as a side effect. Again, this is a bad idea for asthmatic children and parents should avoid introducing these air purifiers into the home. For more on why you should avoid buying an air ionizer if you have asthma, click here.
The Three Things To Look For In An Air Purifier For Asthma
Ok, so I think I might have you excited with my last paragraph. I know I got excited when I found out that there were so many things that could help with asthma. I mean, come on, theres really an air purifier that can kill germs, take care of smoke, dust, allergens, and even odors and VOCs! Thats a ton of stuff!
But, how can one air purifier do all of that?
The answer? Filters. Three filters, in fact.
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How Do Air Purifiers Work
Air purifiers contain one or more filters and a fan. The fan sucks in air, and that air then passes through the inside filters. These filters trap pollutants such as dust, pollen, and bacteria, and disperse clean air back into the room. This filtering process maintains healthy air circulation indoors.
Other Ways Of Dealing With Your Childs Asthma Triggers
An air purifier can help, but is not the only step you can take to help avoid asthma triggers. There are some other important ways to reduce allergens and other lung irritants in your house, particularly for a household with little ones.
Asthma is a complex and difficult disease, and it is hard on kids since there is no cure and it can interfere with a lot of common childhood activities. However, proper medical treatment and careful control of allergens and other pollutants in your house can help. An air purifier that is designed to remove the most common asthma triggers from the air in your home can help improve indoor air quality for your child.
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Best Air Purifiers For Allergies And Asthma In 2021
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Whether you suffer from allergies or simply reside in a particularly polluted city, purifying the air in your home can make a big difference in how you feel each day. For the past 18 months, weâve spent most of our time at home, with an emphasis on the importance of keeping indoor living spaces as clean as possible. But even as weâve started to spend more time outside during warmer months, itâs important to maintain that level of cleanliness in your home.
The Environmental Protection Agency has reported that indoor air where we spend more than three-quarters of our days is often even more polluted versus outdoor air, said Dr. Clifford Bassett, founder and medical director of Allergy and Asthma Care of New York and author of The New Allergy Solution.
Given the prolonged amount of time that we have spent inside, you might have already started looking for another solution to help filter the air in your home, but luckily you can purify the air throughout your entire home with just a few simple steps.
To help break it all down with some tips and tricks, HouseSmarts host Lou Manfredini shared how you can keep the air in your home clean to breathe easy no matter the season.
Evidence For Improvements In Clinical Outcomes Is Not Generally Convincing
- One study showed when used with other strategies to mitigate pet allergies, including bedding encasements and keeping cats out of the living area, the air purifier did not show considerable evidence for efficacy
- Another showed HEPA filtration improved airways hyper-responsiveness but not symptoms.
- Air filters were found to be most effective when used in conjunction with vacuuming.
Now, I would anticipate personally that HEPA air filtration devices may have gotten quieter since 1990 or 2010, but I would not think the mechanics of how they work would be much different now, a decade later. But I decided to take a look.
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Final Thoughts: Do Air Purifiers Help With Allergies
Different air purifiers will provide varying degrees of benefits depending on their specifications and the type of filter used a HEPA filter will remove a wider range of particles from indoor air. Using an air purifier with a HEPA filter between March and September should help alleviate some of the symptoms of hayfever – and they can be used in conjunction with antihistamines and nasal sprays as directed by a doctor or allergy specialists.
Air purifiers trap dust, pollen and other pollutants floating around in the air we breathe, so they can be effective at removing the source of allergies. However, its important to note that they should not replace prescribed medications. Air purifiers are an additional means of capturing allergens when combined with other air improvement measures like proper ventilation.
How Does An Air Purifier Help With Asthma
An asthma attack occurs when the lungs become inflamed or clogged, so its crucial to eliminate the culprit of these attacks. People with asthma often deal with frightening symptoms, including dizziness, wheezing, shortness of breath, and coughing. Pollen, dust, and chemicals are the main triggers of allergy symptoms, and an air purifier works to reduce these harmful air particles.
With many asthma triggers existing indoors, its important to place an air purifier in your home where you spend a ton of your time. A HEPA air filter works to purify the air and cleans your living space from allergens and the many air particles that cause asthma attacks. By getting rid of the main sources of asthma symptoms in your home, an air purifier will significantly reduce the number of asthma attacks you suffer from.
The best part of an increasing number of people using air purifiers to alleviate asthma is the validation of quality products you can now find. You can find many asthma and allergy certified air purifiers on the market that target asthma triggers. These asthma air purifiers ensure a cleaner home thats free of unhealthy air particles.
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