When it comes to living life healthily, we tend to focus on diet and exercise alone. However, your home plays a significant part in improving your health too. You spend a lot of time in there, after all, so the environment is bound to have a big impact on you. We may consider our houses to be safe havens from the risks of the outside world, but that isn’t necessarily true. There are many mistakes that we can make with our homes which can turn them into unhealthy places to live, increasing the risk of sickness, allergies, and worse. Thankfully, the opposite is also possible. With that in mind, here are fifteen things that you can do to make your home a healthier place.
Take Off Your Shoes
The world outside is not a healthy place. In fact, it’s packed with bacteria, harmful toxins, and dirt, which can all be picked up on your shoes as you walk around. Wearing this footwear in the house, therefore, heightens the risk of tracking these pollutants inside. The simplest remedy to this problem is removing your shoes at the door. Just make sure that you create a storage space for both your outdoor and indoor shoes so that they don’t clutter up the entryways of your home.
Limit Your Textile Use
Pillows, rugs, blankets, carpets, and other textiles, when used correctly in the home, can create a comfortable, cozy, and attractive space. However, they also act as a magnet for all sorts of nasties, particularly dust mites. These enjoy burning themselves inside your textiles and lower the air quality in your home as they do. The more textiles you have in the house, the lower the air quality becomes, so you should try limiting your textile use to only essentials and a few extras.
Clean Up Any Clutter
Whether you realize it or not, clutter and disorganization in the home can cause a lot of stress. This means that, if you left your house in a permanently unruly state, more serious health issues could develop. Clutter is also a great place for dirt, dust, and allergens to hide, making it difficult for you to clean the house properly. For this reason, you need to make more of an effort to get your home in order. Start by clearing out the clutter from each room and then organize the space.
Let Natural Light In
We, of course, need light to see, but the psychological and physiological benefits of good exposure to natural light go far beyond this. It provides a boost of vitamins B and D, aids in digestion, improves circulation, and can help you to sleep better at night. Because of this, you should do what you can to bring more light into your home. There are many simple ways to go about this, from cleaning your windows regularly to decorating the space with light colors.
Improve Indoor Air Quality
Poor air quality and air pollution is a serious problem that can trigger a number of health issues, most commonly lung problems and heart disease. With stories of pollution told every day on the news, you might think it to be worse outside than it is in your home. Unfortunately, this isn’t the case. Because of this, you should find ways to improve the air quality in your house. Some of the easiest ideas for this include decorating the place with plants and investing in an air purifier.
Keep The Smoke Outside
After working to improve the air quality in your home, you won’t want to do anything that will ruin your efforts. This is why you should rethink your smoking habit. The moment you light a cigarette in your house, you put pollutants into the air, lowering the air quality once more. To avoid this, you need to keep your habit out of the house. For better overall health, you should try quitting smoking, but if you can’t or aren’t willing to do this, then ensure that you start smoking outside.
Schedule Regular Chimney Maintenance
Your chimney is supposed to be cleaned every fifty fires, or, at the very least, once a year. This removes the buildup of creosote, which is toxic, carcinogenic, and very flammable. If you tend to cancel your chimney maintenance appointments or have never even searched the term chimney sweeps near me, then you are making a huge mistake. The risks of a dirty chimney should never be taken lightly, so you must seek professional help before you light your next fire.
Clear Out The Pantry
A nutritious and balanced diet is a necessary part of a healthy lifestyle. Unfortunately, if most or all of the products in your pantry are empty-caloried, yet highly tempting junk foods, then you’re going to struggle to keep your unhealthy eating in check. For this reason, you should go through your kitchen and throw away foods containing excessive amounts of sugar or fat. Don’t forget to replace these items with healthier alternatives so that you still have some food in the house.
Stop Using Plastic Containers
When there is still plenty of food left over after a meal, most people will store these leftovers in the fridge to eat later. If you’re someone that does the same, make sure that you don’t use any containers made from plastic. This material contains and leaches toxic chemicals into your food, which can result in some pretty serious illnesses, including cancer. Glass and ceramic, on the other hand, are carcinogenic free, making them safe to cook in, eat from, and store food.
Filter The Tap Water
Drinking bottled water is not only bad for the environment, but for your own body too. After all, the plastic bottles that this water comes in contains the same dangerous toxins as the containers you might use to store your food. Because of this, you may want to switch to drinking tap water. Just make sure that you get a filter first to ensure that the water you drink isn’t contaminated. Although filtering takes place at water companies, your water might still contain contaminants.
Get The Temperature Right
Choosing the right temperature for your home is all about balance. You don’t want to set the thermostat too low, of course, as this can be uncomfortable for you and your family, but, if you choose too high a temperature, this can put your health at risk. The reason for this is that these higher temperatures provide the perfect climate for dust mites, mold, and bacteria to live. To limit the spread, you should set your thermostat no higher than 70 degrees, but lower is possible.
Create A Workout Space
When you have to travel to the gym to workout, it makes it incredibly likely that you won’t even bother. This is why you could benefit from creating a workout space at home. After all, when your gym is just a few feet away, there’s no excuse to skip your sessions. This will also save you a lot of money on gym fees and travel. You don’t need lots of expensive equipment to create a home gym. In fact, some people get by just fine without any at all. You just need a bit of space.
Adopt A Family Dog
Just like us humans, dogs need daily exercise to live a happy and healthy life. This means that, if you’re struggling to find the motivation to work out, adopting a dog could provide one. Dogs also benefit your health in many other ways, from reducing your blood pressure and stress levels to lowering your risk of developing asthma. That being said, a dog is a big responsibility, so make sure that you’re up to the task before you start searching for your new four-legged friend.
Hide Your Gadgets Away
Technology is a constant part of our lives. You will struggle to go anywhere without seeing a television, laptop, or, at the very least, a phone. These devices are there to make our lives easier, and while they do that very well, excessive use of them can cause stress, as well as eye strain. Because of this, you should create a space in your home to put your gadget when you’re not using them. You could even put a cupboard around your TV for when you’re not watching it.
Switch To Green Cleaners
Most people would assume that a clean home is a healthy home. Unfortunately, that all depends on the sorts of cleaners that you use. If the products in your home are chemical-based, then they can cause a lot of problems, from migraines and asthma to cancer and even worse. Thankfully, there are plenty of natural alternatives that you can use instead. These work just as well, if not better than the toxin-containing products and tend to cost a lot less too.
The place where you live has just as much, if not more of an influence on your health than every other factor. Hopefully, with the advice above, you can make your home healthier for you and your family.
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