Health is one of the biggest issues of the modern age. With many issues occurring from individuals that don’t really focus on health but rather the process of making money, the healthy home concept has slowly died down. However, people are slowly gravitating back towards making the health of their home and reducing disease probabilities.
With the help of an expert, I have decided to go deeper into the healthy home and find out exactly what it means to make your home healthy. In this article, we explore some of the principles that you can follow to make this possible and reduce the possibilities of issues occurring from living in unhealthy conditions.
What Does A Healthy Home Really Mean?
A healthy home is a concept that many people are still struggling with. However, the National Center for Healthy Housing refers to it as being a home that has been constructed and maintained in a rehabilitated manner. This means that the home is built for safety and it has a design that allows it to be safe for the environment and potentially reduce the risks of global warming.
A healthy home is a great way to improve the health of children. A healthy child has the ability to perform at a far better level than any other child. This is the same for human beings. It can be healthy from a physical standpoint or an emotional standpoint, but both will offer some excellent benefits and value for the occupants.
Most Important Principles To Consider For Your Healthy Home
You know what a healthy home is, but did you know that you can start transforming your home into a more healthy place to live. Having done a ton of research and with the help of a few individuals, the healthy home concept has been researched by us to a large extent.
Here are a few of the main principles that are important when considering a healthy home for you and your family:
1. Best Air Cleaning Plants
One of the first things that could aid in making your home healthy is the plants. The plants you have around the home will ensure that the air remains clean and purified. This could deter any diseases from festering. Here are a couple of the best air cleaning plants available:
Devil’s Ivy
Also commonly known as pothos, the Devils Ivy is one of the best plants to keep indoors. It grows rather quickly and it does not require a lot of maintenance. Not only does it add color to your room, but it can help extract some toxins from the air.
Dwarf Date Palm
These baby palms will not only look great in your home, but they have a tendency to remove some toxins, while also releasing a little more oxygen.
Peace Lily
Carbon Monoxide is one of the biggest issues we have in overcrowded homes. However, the Peace Lily allows us to remove these toxins, while only needing a little bit of fertilizer to keep it growing.
Philodendron
Having the shape of a heart, this plant is one of the most beautiful to have in and around your home. The main function it has is to remove some of the formaldehyde in the air.
Spider Plant
If you really hate the maintenance of indoor plants, the Spider Plant is one of the best to choose. It does not need any maintenance and can thrive in indirect sunlight. It is known for removing xylene and formaldehyde.
Chrysanthemums
Ammonia is one of the worst toxins to have in your home and it is generally found in most cleaning products. While the Chrysanthemums are tougher to grow, they help a lot with reducing ammonia
Rubber plant
The rubber plants are also one of the toughest plants to grow, but the benefits you reap from growing it is great. It can remove a whole bunch of toxins. However, you need to give it a lot of love.
While there are many more plants to choose from, these are some of the most common and effective options. They are fairly inexpensive and while some of them do require a little bit of maintenance. The plants will do wonders for your home. They also add a lot of colors and brings an essence of freshness to your home.
2. Healthy Habits For A Healthy Home
There are a couple of healthy habits that one needs to keep in mind if you want to ensure your home remains clean. A clean home also reflects your personal hygiene and it could have a massive effect on your healthy home living conditions.
Some of these habits include cleaning your home regularly and also having it disinfected on a regular base. Those cupboards and stoves that are never moved out of the way can definitely harbor some nasty insects with diseases. One of the best ways to ensure your home is clean and healthy is to do some regular spring cleaning.
If you have pets, it is great to take care of them as well. If you need to, take them outside to do their business and don’t have them sleeping on things like couches. Animals and pets need to be washed regularly to ensure that they don’t harbor any real pests and issues that could eventually spread to you as the owner.
3. Psychological Effects Of Lighting
Lights can play an important role in your home and having studied psychology for a couple of years, I have had the opportunity to see how lighting can affect your home. One of the best lighting methods is sunlight and the sun has a happy feeling, including vitamin D that will help with your overall health in your body.
Bright Lights
Bright lights that are blue or white have an energetic feeling and this is the reason why we do not really sleep much during the day. If you want to change the lighting of your home to be more productive, you should go this route.
Darker Lights
Darker lights can calm you down and they have an effect on the mentality of making you more drowsy. Many people like to dim the lights of their homes to ensure they can have a good night’s rest.
Red or Amber
Red or amber has been associated with love and it can spike the level of serotonin in the body. This will be an excellent lighting type to use when you are reading and to improve mental health.
While many more lighting types can be chosen, these are the most common and it is best to stick with these to ensure you don’t really disrupt your mental state too much.
4. The Psychological Effects Of Colors
Colors can have a massive effect on your health and how your mental state is when you are at home. With my psychology work, I have seen how many effects this can have on individuals. Here are a few of the main colors and how they can affect you.
Green has been considered a therapeutic color and it can help with the natural healing of the body and mind.
Blue is the best color if you are looking for some calmness. However, you should consider a lighter version to make this possible.
Yellow is not a common color that we always see, but it can have an effect on depression ad potentially help relieve it.
If you are having problems with creativity, you might need to consider having Orange as your color of choice.
One of the most common colors is Red and red has been known to signify passion and love. However, it can be overdone and this might lead to the development of an aggressive personality.
Being a neutral color, White does not have much of an effect if the room has been adequately decorated. However, white can also be a frustrating color to have in an empty room.
Black is one of the most debated colors to have in your home. It can portray authority and intelligence. However, it has been associated with evil in modern society.
5. Air Circulation in the right direction/ Use of extractor fans
Air circulation is one of the most important parts of the modern home. If you want to keep your home clean, you can open up windows, but things like ammonia and methane will eventually find a place in your home and this could lead to sickness and even a lack of oxygen that will have an adverse effect on the brain.
However, adding a couple of extraction fans in strategic places will do wonders for your home. Bathrooms have the need for these, but windows might still get the job done efficiently. Most of the extractor fans are great in the kitchen to get rid of some of the gasses produced by using gas stoves and cooking with spices.
6. Spring Maintenance Tips For A Healthy Home
Most of the tips that we have already mentioned should help you when it comes to spring and making your home perfect for these months. However, we have compiled a list of five important tips that are really important for your home if you are awaiting spring and want to make the best out of it.
Let’s have a look at these tips:
- Cleaning Gutters: The gutters can help with water flow, especially coming from the roof and onto your garden. Since they might be a little blocked during the winter, you should consider cleaning them before spring.
- Replacing filters: Since you might be using water more often now, it is really important to replace some of the filters that you have for water in your home. This will allow a perfect way for you to have fresh and clean water.
- Cleaning faucets and Showerheads: Your faucets and showerheads might not have been used as often as they should during the winter. Cleaning them will allow you to prevent any potential clogs in the water.
- Washing Windows: Now that you will have more rain and water to contend with, it might be important to clean and wash some of the windows on the outside. It can help reduce the risk of insect infestations.
- Pest Control: One of the most important aspects will be pest control. With spring bringing rainwater, the pests like spiders and insects might gravitate towards your home. Having measures put in place could prevent this.
These are only a few of the many things you could do. However, I find them to be the most important when you are entering the spring months.
7. Allergen Proofing Your Home And Preventing Lead Poisoning
Spring brings about a little more wind and the wind can have some allergens blow into your home. As e have already mentioned, pest control is a really important thing to consider and if you can reduce the number of allergens, it will definitely help a lot. There are things like air cleaners that will definitely help with this.
Air filters and extraction fans are some of the best measures that are commonly chosen to ensure that these pollutants and allergens are avoided.
Lead poisoning is something completely different. Paint is one of the main concerns that you have when it comes to lead poisoning and when you are rebuilding or adding new additions to the home. Lead poisoning can be avoided by restricting access to rooms and areas that are being rebuilt or when they are renovated.
You can also try top prevent renovations using materials that high in lead. Wood is one of the safest options to choose when you are trying to avoid potential lead poisoning in your home.
8. Healthy Home Fragrances:
When it comes to a healthy home, the smell is also something that you need to consider. Having fragrances might be harmful to your health and it can potentially lead to a couple of allergens among the people living in the house. When you are looking at a healthy home, it is important to look at the scents you choose.
One of the best ways to ensure that you have a good scent and that it is not harmful to your home is to go all natural. Depending on the scent that you love, you might not be able to do this. However, having fresh lavender or even vanilla can make your home smell great and ensure that no allergens are present for those with reactions to commercially produced products.
9. Healthy Home Tips For Alzheimer:
If you have someone in the home struggling with Alzheimer, it is important to try to keep them safe. Since they might not follow all of the protocol, you can follow a few steps to ensure that they don’t really have any issues.
Keep dangerous substances out of reach
Much like you would do with children, it is important to keep harmful substances out of reach and lock them up in something like the laundry room.
Remove large knobs around the home
Since they might have a tendency of falling and using things in a different way, you can remove these knobs to discourage them from accessing areas they shouldn’t.
Have someone stay in with them
The best possible solution is to have someone keep a watchful eye on the patient. You can easily find nurses that will live in and help to cope with these patients.
10. Eco Appliances For Healthy Home
Last but certainly not least, it is important to try to use eco appliances in your home. Not only will they ensure that home itself remains healthy, but they can usually have an effect on the natural environment as well. With global warming being such a massive concern, we all need to do our part in trying to remove the carbon footprint we leave around the world or area we live in.
There are many eco-friendly appliances that you can choose from they have all been designed to keep the environment protected and help you continue with your daily life as efficiently as possible.
Wrap-Up
If you are really interested in having a healthy home, these tips and measures can be put in place without costing you a fortune. It is worth noting that we have tried the most efficient and cost-effective ways to ensure your home can remain healthy and to make you healthy at the same time.
Feel free to drop a comment or two in the comment section and share your thoughts. Let us know if we might have missed any other measures.