Just Breathe

Air is one of the most valuable things on earth, since it's responsible for life. Without it we cannot live, and with it comes a lot of other issues as well. How do we know how clean our air is? How can we be proactive in keeping the air clean and healthy? Nowadays that is difficult living in a diversely polluted environment we can’t always control what we breathe in, but we can control the air in our home.

Whether it’s old or new, your home could be harboring unhealthy (and invisible) toxins. These chemical compounds are found in emissions from paint, plastics, carpet, cleaning solutions, and numerous building materials. Three major offenders found in the home include:

• formaldehyde: in carpets, upholstery, glues, paint, and more
• benzene: in plastics, synthetic fibers, lubricants, rubber, pesticides, and more)
• trichloroethylene: in paint removers, rug cleaning solution, adhesives, and more
• forrmaldehyde, benzene, trichloroethylene, xylene, ammonia, and more

Other than salmonella and e-coli and mold, you see there are other dangers possible in homes. Carbon monoxide (which comes from fireplaces, wood stoves, and houses heated by gas) Lead (which comes from paint, household dust, and water if there are fed through lead pipes, and contaminated soil) we should also take care in using pesticides in the home, they have hidden dangerous chemicals.

A lot of homes built before 1978 should be tested. Basically, if you know lead pipes are in the home, have the water tested, especially when you are feeding infants from this water.

So what do we do? Well, we can certainly turn to gadgets that help purify the air which will cost approximately $60-$150 maybe more depending, and/or add some natural purifiers to your home. Amazingly there are natural ways to purify your air by simply adding plants to your home. Not only do they make your home more inviting and beautiful they have health benefits as well. God was the master designer of course, and he gives us all the tools we need, we just need to discover them. We need to know more about what is around us. Man made things are after all responsible for the issues we face today in the environment…..with a combination of air purification, testing, and plants your sure to succeed.

A CO DETECTOR could save your life. Buying a CO detector will detect carbon monoxide in the air and let you know. Carbon monoxide is the silent, but deadly killer.

Carbon monoxide is a colourless, odourless toxic gas. You cannot see it, taste it, or smell it. CO is a gas that forms when fuel propane, natural gas, gasoline, oil, coal or wood is burned. Furnances, fireplaces, gas stovers and barbeques, even cars can create this gas. If properly installed and maintained there should be no problem; however, how would you know?

CO reduces the amount of oxygen in your blood. Headache is the first sign, shortness of breah, tiredness and flu like symptoms etc...

Three types of CO Detectors:

Metal-oxide-semi-conductor (MOS) carbon monoxide detectors: These are connected to your home's power supply and use heated tin oxide which reacts with the gas to determine levels of exposure.

Biomimetic carbon monoxide detectors: These are often battery-operated and work with gel-coated discs that darken in the presence of CO to sound an alarm.

Electrochemical carbon monoxide detectors: These are available as plug-in or battery-operated models. A chemical reaction with the gas creates an electrical current that sets off an alarm.

Now lets get onto to the other harmful ghosts lurking around in our homes and learn how to send them out:

Beeswax candles - 100% pure beeswax candles create negative ions when burning, creating a similar effect as houseplants. Negative ions neutralize bad positive ions such as allergens, dust and air borne toxins thus improving air quality.

Or we can turn to plants – they clean the air outside, they can also clean the air inside. Listed below are plants and what they can eliminate from the air.

• Peace Lily (formaldehyde, benzene, trichloroethylene, xylene, ammonia, and more)
• Dracaena (formaldehyde, xylene, toluene, benzene, trichloroethylene)
• Chrysanthemum (formaldehyde, xylene, benzene, ammonia)
• Bamboo palm (formaldehyde, benzene, carbon monoxide, xylene, chloroform, and more)
• Golden Pothos (formaldehyde, xylene, toluene, benzene, carbon monoxide, and more)
• English Ivy (Benzene, Carbon M, Formaldehyde, trichloroethylene, and more.)
• Chinese everygreen (benzene, carbon monoxide, formaldehyde, trichloroethylene, more. )
• Areca Palm (benzene, carbon, formaldehyde, trichloroethylene, xylene, and more.)
• Rubber Plant (carbon monoxide, trichloroethylene, more. )

There are many many more species of plants to choose from to add beauty and health to your home, these are just a few. So stay safe, adopt a plant and enjoy the air you breathe.