Each year, more than fifty million people in the United States are afflicted with allergies. Most common are seasonal allergies which, for most of seasonal allergy sufferers, is commonly associated with the onset of spring.
While there is no cure for allergies, we are coming closer to understanding them. In the interim, until more permanent solutions are found, the best way to treat allergy symptoms is by never getting them in the first place!
Clean Your HVAC System
It is a no brainer that portable or removable air conditioning units have filters that need to be cleaned regularly. But even central heating and air cooling (HVAC) systems need to be attended to for regular tune ups.
There is an advantage to giving your HVAC systems a thorough clean at the top of each season. This way, when you go to run your system after months of laying dormant, you are not recirculating dust, pollen, or other unwanted particles into your air supply.
Swap Out Upholstery
Every so often, you should swap out your upholstery and give your cushions and fabrics a break from one another. If you leave them attached for too long without disruption, you could be allowing for the formation of a layer of gunk, dust, skin cells, and allergens that will haunt your family.
Ceiling Fans
Ceiling fans must be dusted regularly to avoid build up. Over time, dust, skin, hair, and more circulate in the air and stick to blades of ceiling fans in our homes. This gunk (ew!) will build up over time and slowly disperse as you go to use your ceiling fans over time.
The best defense is a great offense. To avoid build up that is more time consuming to remove later, commit some time each week to dusting the ceiling fans throughout your home.
You can apply this same logic to stationary fans, the fans in portable AC units, and anything else responsible for circulating air in your home. Preventing build up on those types of surfaces is the best way to keep it from impacting your family’s health.
Clean Your Chimney
It is easy to overlook as the temperatures start to climb and your family goes to use your fireplace less. However, neglecting to properly care for your chimney is a surefire way to invite respiratory distress and allergens into your home.
An improperly maintained chimney spells disaster for a number of reasons. For one, a dirty chimney compromises the structural integrity of the fireplace. “Your chimney is designed to allow for ventilation,” says All Climate Roofing, chimney repair experts. “Ignoring issues with your chimney can allow water to creep into your home. It may even leave behind toxic gases such as carbon monoxide—which can be deadly!”
So at the end of the wintry weather months, clean your chimney before you allow those toxins to seep into your air supply!
Shampoo Your Carpets Regularly
Shampooing your carpets dampens the dust particles, spores, and other icky particles. The added water weight will essentially pin them in place. Any remaining particles not sucked up by a wet vacuum can instead be removed by a vacuum later without fear that the particle is light enough to be kicked up into the air.
Vacuum More Often
Many of us who have suffered from allergies were sold on the same lie that vacuums are actually detrimental in the fight against allergies. However, that just is not the case. Removing the allergens before they are able to infect your respiratory system is key to keeping symptoms at bay.
For some of us who suffer from allergies, all it takes is one trigger to set off a chain reaction in our immune responses that last days or even weeks. Before dustmites or pollen have a chance to settle in your carpets, attached to shoes and clothes and in our breath, vacuum your carpets and upholstery!
If you get into a habit of deep cleaning everything at the end of each season, you can save yourself a world of headache later.
Change Pillows
Simply swapping out the actual cushion that fills out a sham case can make all the difference. These pillows get weighed down with the tiny particles that float through the air.
It is unavoidable, but when it comes to something we breath so closely to, we should be conscientious of the fact that it is, in fact, so intimately tied to our respiratory system.
Just like with swapping out your pillows, flipping your mattress disrupts the settling of millions of microscopic creatures, be they dust mites or worse. Knowing the extent of common