June is National Healthy Homes Month. Your home can have a big impact on how well you manage your asthma and allergies. Reducing asthma triggers and allergens in your home should be an important part of your asthma and allergy management plan.
How Do I Know If I Have a Healthy Home?
Take this quick home assessment to see if you have allergens and asthma triggers lurking in your home that could be affecting your health:
- Do you have wall-to-wall carpeting?
- Do you have leaks under your sinks or mold in damp areas like your bathrooms and basement?
- Do you have a lot of unwashable fabric items, like throw pillows and blankets, heavy drapes, large area rugs, etc.?
- Have you had your mattresses longer than 10 years and your pillows longer than 2? Do you have allergen-barrier covers on them?
- Do you allow your pets in your bedrooms?
- Do you have piles of clutter collecting dust?
- Do you open your windows or wear your shoes inside your home?
- Do you use scented candles, wax melts, plug-ins or potpourri?
- Do you have signs of pests, like cockroaches or mice?
- Do you or anyone living in your home smoke?
If you answered yes to any of these items, you may have allergens and irritants that could affect your asthma and allergies. But thankfully, you can improve the overall health of your home.
How Can I Have a Healthier Home?
There are several steps you can take to improve the health of your home. If you aren’t sure where to begin, start improving your bedroom. You spend most of your time at home in your bedroom. And it tends to have more allergens than anywhere in your home. Then you can work on other areas of your home.
To start a new habit of maintaining a healthy home, try these tips in June:
- Have everyone who lives in your home take their shoes off at the front door to avoid bringing in pollen.
- Keep your windows closed during high pollen seasons or when outdoor air quality is poor.
- Encase your mattresses and pillows in CERTIFIED asthma & allergy friendly® covers to reduce your exposure to dust mites.
- Wash your bedding and throw rugs weekly in water that is 130° or hotter to remove dust mites and pollen.
- Reduce piles of clutter that can collect dust and pet hair.
- Vacuum carpet weekly with a CERTIFIED vacuum cleaner.
- Fix leaks and have mold cleaned.
- Don’t allow smoking in your home.
- Don’t allow pets in your bedrooms.
- Store your trash and food in airtight containers to prevents pests. Clean up spills, and don’t leave food or dirty dishes on the counter.
- Use a CERTIFIED air filter in your HVAC unit to help reduce allergens in the air.
- Consider a CERTIFIED air cleaner to also reduce allergens in the air in your home.
There are many other ways you can improve the health of your home. Once you have made the changes above, check out other ways to continue to create a healthier home.
- Improve your indoor air quality room by room
- Improve other areas of your home with National Healthy Homes Month tips from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD)
It is important to stay up-to-date on ways to make your home asthma and allergy friendly. By joining our community and following our blog, you will receive news about research, treatments and products to help you have a healthy home. Our community also provides an opportunity to connect with other patients who manage these conditions for support.
Comments (11)
No problem at ALL, SillySally ... I feel all thumbs with Facebook and Twitter, so I get your point exactly!
These topics (or "threads" -- why they're called threads, I have no clue!) may help you out ... just click the topic title below, and it should take you to where people have been discussing it in the past.
Asthma vs Housecleaning - the Struggle is Real! - house cleaning with lots of tips and tricks about cleaning
Dealing with irritants - how to handle things like those "perfume assaults"
Yeah, the default on blog comments is "newest" first. But you can change that for yourself. There is an option between the reply box and the start of the comments to change how they are ordered:
Attachments
I live in the mountains my problems are with the apartment complex moving in smokers who have to smoke outside and the drift coming in my apartment with my doors and widows closed and scents from cleaners and I think diffusers and I have had a few days where I was not able to leave my patio it was so bad I am demanding under the ada to be accomodated and having to go through fair housing. I already know how tl control my asthma,allergies and epilepsy otherwise, management just says I have lived here 4 years and not had these problems and I have new problems we have new tenants. I do not know what a thread is I find this very helpful and comforting am 60, do not tweet, facebook, blog and do not know what a thread is I am sorry to be so computer dumb If I am being rude say so I am a big girl and have my big girl boots on I am leaving town this week and ook forward to learning much
you are spot on vinegar, baking soda, lemon oil in water will all clean alot and produce little allergy for me. cloves and cinnamon if not allergic or peppermint oil all can be dilute help keep away pets and spiders from areas one does not want them. I am lower income and learned to make out of neessity when I was young, people just thought I was a hippie
Hi, SillySally! Welcome to AAFA's online community! We have several members who struggle with the same things you do, and they have great ideas ... you can start a new topic with your excellent questions. Or you can find older discussion "threads" where people have already talked about how they manage these triggers.
Hi Sillysally.. Yes these comments on this particular post pop out reverse than the others with the oldest comment at the bottom and the newer ones at the top. It confused me too because I made that cat/dog comment a while back before your comments.
Awesome on homemade products! I usually buy 7th Generation products or use vinegar water with a few drops of essential oils. If you ever want to share your cleaning recipes, Id love to hear them! I am really trying to keep up on all my cleaning and do this checklist, it really seems to help.
i am new to all this computer stuff what does this do am allergic to scents cigarette smoke food dyes and colors , alot of cleaners and perfumes, have hayfever and do not live in a bubble yet
Hi SillySally! Welcome to AAFA!
did not tak about pets do not own any
make homemade cleaning products and natural ones
If you are allergic to cats or dogs and own one:
"It should be recommended that the animal be removed from the patient's environment, as avoidance is believed to be the most effective measure for the management of dog and cat allergy."
According to consensus
https://onlinelibrary.wiley.co...ll/10.1111/all.13391