How Indoor Air Quality Effects Children and those with Asthma
Having a young child that we always thought had asthmatic tendencies has always been a big fear for us. When our son was very young, we were told that children do not develop allergies until they are older. However, we kept seeing him have coughing fits as well as plenty of stuffy noses. Sometimes he would get so congested that his heavy coughing caused him to vomit. No parent wants to see their children go through that so we did what we could to get down to the bottom of it.
Here are some facts about asthma in children:
- It is the leading chronic disease in children.
- Asthma is more common in children than adults.
- Boys are more likely to get Asthma than girls.
- Currently, there are about 6 million children under the age of 18 with asthma.
What Indoor Air Quality Pollutants Exist In Your Home?
What we didn’t know was that our home, like everyone else’s, is surrounded by tiny micro threats that are not visible to the eye. The key to avoiding these issues is controlling the environment around your family.
One of the things we learned was to control what we fed our son. Diet is important to everybody. However we found that while going through these episodes, products that contained dairy products only helped to increase the buildup of coughing. Please keep in mind that every person is different and everyone’s body reacts in its own special way to environments, atmosphere’s, and even food.
Of course heavy allergy season meant so much pollen that our black car had a yellow coat of pollen dust on it. For me, I could go to work in the morning and by the time to go home, I could write, “Please clean me” on my car. During these times there is something to be said for keeping the windows closed in the house. Amazingly, that is not something you want to do very often. It makes sense to keep the bad air out but the problem that happens is that people get caught in that habit.
Home Ventilation & Indoor Air Quality – How Can You Help Yourself?
Now no fresh air comes into the home. Poor ventilation can have consequences on the health of all your family. A proper ventilation system prevents your home from confined air. Getting a flux of air that automatically adapts according to indoor air pollution levels is a good idea and that is made possible by using one of the new generation of connected thermostats such as the Nest, which associated with a Foobot Indoor Air Quality Monitor. With these tools, your air will be replaced enough and the best part is that it is all taken car of automatically.
It’s easy to change everyday habits but it’s more difficult to know when to take action. Indoor pollution has been an invisible enemy for our family and is for many other families out there. Without tools like these we weren’t able to protect our child and neither will most people. Having a device such as Foobot can help you understand your home pollution and see if your actions are improving your air quality.
