Did you know that your and your family's bad health could be related to the health of the house you are living in? That's true. With Diwali, the festival of lights, which also brings with itself serious concerns of air pollution, it's all the more important for you to access and improve the health of your house.
When it comes to improving our health, we tend to focus on nutrition and exercise, and we spend less time focusing on how our environment can affect our body. Many homeowners do not realise that, but 'sick buildings' often lead to illness in residents due to mold, dampness, or other unhealthy conditions.
While some of the common known risks to our health today include air-borne pollutants, poor diet, stress and lack of sleep, Research has revealed that buildings also have a profound impact on our bodily functions, ranging from our endocrine system, which is related to our hormone production, through to our nervous system.
The home where we spend the majority of our time and our personal health and wellness has a strong connection and is interlinked with each other. We spend about 90 per cent of our time indoors, and buildings have a unique ability to positively or negatively influence our health, happiness and productivity.
There are also many aspects to the health of a house, both exterior and interior, along with the transition from a newly built home to an existing one. Good ventilation, better air quality, proper lighting, reducing noise, improving water quality, controlling dust and pests, regulating temperature, and keeping indoor moisture level in check are the most important factors that can keep your home healthy.
Thus, controlling what we do in our houses is just as important to how we build and operate our house. Here are the five ways in which you can keep your house healthy:
The first step to good health is making sure you're breathing fresh and clean air. With air pollution significantly affecting our health, investing in a good air purifier can help mitigate the risk. Also, having an indoor garden can help clean the air and provide a natural, inviting view for the occupants.
Homes or apartments are the hotbeds of dust, which can aggravate allergies, due to the presence of chemicals like lead, pesticides. Your wall carpet is one of the biggest collectors of dust and allergens, and replacing it with wood or tile, though a costly option, can help in dust control. Also, be sure to vacuum frequently, change your bedding and pillow cases often, and reduce the humidity in your house.
Pesticides kill cockroaches, mice, ants, and lawn pests, but overexposure to the same is likely to put children at risk of a range of health problems, including asthma, learning disabilities, and problems with brain development. You can avoid using pesticides altogether by changing your routine like washing dishes carefully and cleaning up all food residue properly. You should also keep your food packages and containers tightly closed, and seal any cracks that are a point of entry into your home.
Natural light has a positive effect on our body rhythm, and controls the sleep and wake cycle along with the immune system, hormones, blood pressure and all brain and body functions. From an interior design standpoint, the lighter, brighter the room is, the more comfortable it is. You can maximise natural lighting in your homes by painting interior window frames white to amplify the reflection of natural light, using strategically placed mirrors to reflect natural lighting, avoiding heavy drapes or window treatments and choosing lighter colours in general to reflect the light.
Although your municipal corporation supplies filtered water, it still contains contaminants such as lead, chlorine. pesticides and drinking it directly could prove to be harmful. Getting a water filter could help in mitigating that risk by removing these contaminants.
The author is the executive Director – Residential Sales, Knight Frank India