Breathe Healthy Air in the One Place You Can Control

At least 186 million Americans’ health are in danger from polluted air according to a report issued last month by the American Lung Association.

In fact, “ 60 Percent of Americans Live In Areas Where Air is Dirty Enough to Endanger Lives.”

This is especially bad news for those with respiratory conditions like asthma, emphysema and bronchitis. Some research shows that this level of air pollution also increases risk of heart attacks and strokes.

So it behooves us to ensure that we get clean air in the on place we can control – inside our homes. If you have young children, work at home or are older (lungs have reduced capacity with age) or have respiratory or allergy problems take action.

With the affordable, newer whole home air cleaning systems, you can avoid time-consuming and messy maintenance (just 1 – 2 filter changes a year for a total of no more than 10 minutes). More importantly, unlike room-only air cleaners (who lives in a closed room after all?) and the older air cleaning units, you can now get a continuously high-performing system bolted right onto your hvac system. I recommend a new, non-metallic (no rust, etc.) technology that cam out about 4 years ago called AspenAir Inside.

The key is to remove the tiny, airborne particles that go deep into the lungs, the so-called RSPs.

BTW, “Visalia and Fresno, two mid-size towns in central California ranked high for short-term and year-round particle pollution. Birmingham, Ala., and Cincinnati were listed in the top 10 of metro areas with unhealthy levels of year-round particle pollution. In the Southwest, the Houston, Dallas and Phoenix metro areas had high ozone levels.

Allergic to Your Pet? Unwilling to Say Goodbye?

Even with your asthma or allergy, you won’t give up your beloved pet. Right? Few will. Some make their dogs unexpected stars on YouTube (“Doberman attacking Chihuahua”). Or create montages of their cat’s odd antics or sleepiness. One substitutes a ball machine for a nanny to keep their beloved pet entertained and, well, fit. Another besotted owner actually trains his Jack Russell to entertain, perhaps for a new sport category in an imaginary pet Olympics.

Yet if your pet makes you sneeze, tear up or worse you can take steps to dander-proof your home. That helps. Yet even in the cleanest home, action happens. Dirty particles get raised into the air. So it helps to make the air throughout your home cleaner than fresh air. Get a relatively new air filler that bolts right onto your home (HVAC) heating system. It is made by AspenAir Inside. It uses less than 2 watts to remove 99% of what’s called Respirable Suspended Particles in air.

BTW, here’s good news for those who don’t own a pet, are allergic to cats yet yearn for one. An ostensibly hypoallergenic cat is waiting for you – for just $35,000.

Don’t Let Mold Grow in Your Home

You may discover you have mold in your home when it smells bad. Other symptoms of mold include headaches, breathing difficulties, skin irritation, allergic reactions or asthma attacks.

Those most susceptible to mold are people with weakened immune systems. Healthy individuals are less vulnerable yet may get common skin diseases, such as athlete's foot, as well as other infections such as yeast infections.

Act fast. When mold spores land on a damp spot, they may begin growing and digesting whatever they are growing on in order to survive. Moisture control is the key to mold control.

To prevent the growth of mold inside your home, when any floor, wall, ceiling or other surface gets wet, dry it out within 24-48 hours.

Wash mold off hard surfaces with detergent and water, and make the surface(s) completely dry. If some of the damp materials are absorbent, such as ceiling tiles or carpets, consider replacing them. .

Fix leaky plumbing or other sources of water.

Disarming Asthma – A Mother's Perspective

“Asthma, believe it or not, is a disease that can be very dangerous,” writes Janean Brown at atchoo! allergy.

Not only can it affect a child’s ability to breathe, but it can also cause low blood oxygen and prevent oxygen from reaching vital organs in the body. If severe enough, asthma attacks can cause death. In fact, in 2002, over 4,000 deaths were attributed to asthma, 170 of which were children.

Parents today have become experts at determining when their child is getting an ear infection or a fever, but are they ready for an asthma attack? One of the first steps in asthma management is to know what to look for. Every child with asthma exhibits symptoms or warning signs that an attack is near.

Some symptoms include coughing, fast breathing, fatigue that is not play-related, wheezing, vomiting, unusual paleness or sweating, irregular breathing, and an anxious look when the child is trying to take in more air. Just as in my own experience, many children try to overcompensate by taking in too much air, which can lead to an attack itself. But by recognizing the symptoms, my family and I have become experts at predicting asthma attacks. I now take great pleasure in knowing that not only can I predicate the attacks, but I can stop them before they begin.

Relax Mom, to Help Your Child

Helping your children take control over their asthma before it takes hold of them can be the most powerful tool in reducing and eliminating their asthma attacks. “The most important thing to remember is to relax”, I can still hear my mother’s voice in my mind. Relaxing allows your body the opportunity to breathe normally and to get oxygen into the needed organs.

It also allows you and your children some time to either consult your pediatrician or take any necessary medication. Reassuring your children in a soft, confident tone helps to soothe them and allows you to make an assessment as to how the attack began and to how to end it.

It wasn’t until I was knee-deep in research that I realized that asthma, like allergies, has environmental triggers too. Approximately 75 to 80 percent of children with asthma have significant allergies. Though this may sound like a bad thing, this knowledge can work to your advantage. Isolating triggers can help you to eliminate asthma attacks all together. Some triggers for asthma include exercise, infections, allergies, weather, emotional states of mind, and chemical irritants.

Most of the time we can’t do anything about the weather or how hard our children play and exercise. However, we can control their environment to help reduce the risk factors for triggering an asthma attack. Monitoring what your child eats and drinks can be helpful in determining whether food or drink allergies are responsible for the attacks. Things like pollen, dust, mold, and pet dander can also trigger allergic reactions.

Don’t forget to be mindful of irritants like cigarette smoke, air pollution, aerosol sprays, or strong odors like paint fumes or strong cooking. These irritants can react to your child’s body just like allergens do, producing the same coughing, wheezing, and watery-eye reaction that can trigger asthma attacks. Also, be aware that emotional stress can also lead to an asthma attack. Excessive crying, laughing, or yelling can cause your child’s body to begin erratic breathing that can also trigger their asthma.

New Help for Hay Fever Sufferers

Hay fever is the top cause of work absenteeism due to chronic illness and leads to more than 2 million missed school days for children. The medical name is as inelegant as the symptoms: allergic rhinitis. But it packs a whallop.

Hay fever affects 20 percent of adults and 40 percent of children in the U.S.

The good news, announced in August, 2008, is that your doctor can be better prepared to diagnosis and help you, using the new guidelines established by the American Academy of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology. Learn more and find an allergist/immunologist in your area, in the Patients and Consumers section here.

Stress Worsens Your Allergies in Ways Traditional Treatments Don’t Help

If you're allergic, stress and anxiety are a bad combination," reports Janice Kiecolt-Glaser, PhD, Ohio State University Medical Center. When one gets upset allergies get worse – and continue to worsen the next day.

Kiecolt-Glaser concluded, "This is clinically important for patients since most of what we do to treat allergies is to take antihistimines to control the symptoms runny nose, watery, itchy eyes, and congestion.”

"Antihistimines don't deal with those symptoms on the next day."

People may be setting themselves up to have more persistent problems by being stressed and anxious when allergy attacks begin," Kiecolt-Glaser said. Pratanu Banerjee agrees and so does Debra Fulghum Bruce, PhD.

Do Any of These Situations Sound Familiar to You?

• Cindy heard her eight-year son wheezing again. Despite ripping out the wall-to-wall carpets and following the other suggested steps for asthma sufferers, Cindy was worried. His attacks were getting worse. She wouldn’t wait any longer to take a whole home approach to removing allergy-inducing pollutants from her air.

• Diane and Nikolas love their home and community so they decided to “age in place”, making changes in their home like grab bars by the bathtub and an air cleaner.

• After renovating their home to make it more energy-efficient, Don and Marguerita noticed they were sniffling more. Perhaps their now well-sealed home is trapping more polluted air inside.

• Allen was delighted when his employer agreed to his working at home. No more long commutes. Instead he got adult-onset asthma.

• Alisa uses non-toxic products. Her appliances are Energy Star efficient. Even before home sales stalled she chose to match her “green” passion with her work. She became an Ecobroker. Her natural next step? Encourage clients to get healthier air in their homes.

• Rocco and Celia decided to move from the suburbs into new condo building in the center of more cultural opportunities downtown. Yes, there was more traffic and pollution, but their new condo building came with a special amenity that mattered more to them than a fancy stove – an air cleaning system that kept the air inside cleaner than fresh air.

• Arne quit smoking 20 years ago. After retiring, he dove into an online business he loved, spending long hours at the computer. Yet he was sniffling, sneezing and getting colds more often.

• Building homes to green standards not only felt good to Polly and Jackson, it also gave homebuyers an extra reason to choose their homes, especially if buyers had children. Or if anyone in the family was health-conscious or vulnerable to respiratory problems. Adding a high-efficiency home air cleaner was the “new” green feature that helped their homes stand out from others.

• When he got transferred, Bart brought Lady, his golden retriever. He also took his allergy. Bart couldn’t abandon a dear friend, but he could reduce the dander in his home.

In each situation, healthier air at home did or could make a life-saving difference.
(Is the air in your home making you sick?)