Indoor air can be up to 7 times more polluted than outdoor air! Luckily, you can quickly and easily improve the indoor air quality of your home with these tips.

Your home has so much more to do with your personal health than you may think.

Consider this: according to the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), indoor air can be up to 7 times more polluted than outdoor air.

“In the last several years, a growing body of scientific evidence has indicated that the air within homes and other buildings can be more seriously polluted than the outdoor air in even the largest and most industrialized cities.” — US EPA

And a 2016 study led by researchers at the George Washington University Milken Institute of Public Health found that typical house dust contains 45 toxic chemicals, and that 90% of the dust samples contained 10 extremely harmful chemicals that are known to cause cancer, hormonal disruption, reproductive harm, and nervous system toxicity. These chemicals make their way into the dust via the products we choose to bring into our homes.

Luckily, there are some super simple things we can do to improve the health of our homes — and therefore the health of our family members — right now.

Like literally, right now!

These tips are simple but shouldn’t be disregarded for that reason — they can and do have a profound impact.

1)  Have a shoes-off-at-the-door policy.

This simple solution was actually one of the top recommendations for preventing cancer in the President’s Cancer Panel 2008-2009 annual report. And it’s significant: EPA study found that 85% of the average person’s total daily exposure to airborne pesticides was from breathing air inside the home as a result of both indoor use of these chemicals as well as their being tracked indoors via shoes.

2) Vacuum and dust more often.

Those chemicals the GW researchers found in dust samples? Well they can be easily eliminated by vacuuming and dusting often. For best results, a vacuum with a HEPA filter is great investment. (Like, I said: simple.)

3) Make the switch to natural and non-toxic cleaning products.

Because the products we use to clean our homes shouldn’t be polluting them!

Related Post: 7 Plants that Improve Indoor Air Quality by Removing Chemicals