Home-sweet-home may not be quite the correct phrase if your house is building up pollutants and toxic indoor air. Indoor air quality troubles in your home begin when indoor pollution origins release gases or contaminants into the air.
- Weak air flow can increase household pollution amounts by not bringing in adequate outdoor air to decrease emissions from household sources and by not carrying indoor air pollutants out of the house.
- High heat and humidity levels could also build up concentrations of some pollutants.
If too little outside air enters a home, pollutants can build up to levels that can pose health and comfort problems. Unless they are built with special mechanical methods of ventilation, homes that are designed and made to minimize the amount of outside air that may “leak” into and out of the home may have greater pollutant amounts than other homes. However, because some climate conditions can greatly reduce how much outdoor air that enters a home, pollutants can increase even in homes that are generally regarded as “leaky”.
Direct side effects could show up after just one exposure or recurrent exposures.
These include:
- irritation of the eyes, nasal area, and throat
- headaches
- dizziness
- fatigue
Such swift effects to poor indoor air quality tend to be short term and treatable. At times the remedy is simply eliminating the individual’s exposure to the source of the pollution, if it can be identified. Symptoms of some diseases, including asthma, hypersensitivity pneumonitis, and humidifier fever, may also make an appearance soon after exposure to some household air pollutants.
The likelihood of acute reactions to polluted indoor air depends on various factors. Age and preexisting medical conditions are a couple of important influences. In other instances, whether someone reacts to a pollutant depends on their own sensitivity, which varies greatly from individual to individual. Some people can become sensitized to biological pollutants after repeated exposures, and it seems that some individuals can become sensitized to chemical pollution at the same time.
Certain immediate effects are similar to those from colds or other viral diseases, so it is often tricky to determine if the symptoms are a result of exposure to harmful indoor air. Due to this, it is important to take note of the time and place symptoms occur. If the symptoms fade or disappear whenever a person is away from home, for instance, an effort needs to be made to identify indoor air sources that can be probable causes. Some ill effects might be made worse by an inadequate supply of outside air or from the heating, cooling, or humidity conditions prevalent in the home.
Additional health effects may show up either years after exposure has occurred or only after long or frequent periods of contact.
These issues include:
- respiratory diseases
- heart disease
- cancer
Although pollution commonly responsible for poor indoor air quality can account for many detrimental effects, there is great uncertainty about what concentrations or periods of contact are necessary to create specific medical problems. Some individuals may respond rather differently to exposure to indoor air pollutants. Additional research is required to better understand which health issues occur following exposure to the common pollutant concentrations within homes and which arises from the increased concentrations that arise for brief periods of time.
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