Healthy Habits: 5 Steps to Detoxing Your Home

While many people value their homes as a place to relax and recharge, it often times has the adverse effect and can deteriorate your health, due to harmful toxins living indoors. In fact, uninvited toxins in your home can lead to Toxic Home Syndrome, which can deteriorate your health. And if your child suffers from coughing, sneezing, or asthma, it could be a result of these harmful, home toxins, such as chemicals, bacteria and mold. Not to worry! Just in time for Spring cleaning, here are easy 5 cleansing tips to improve the overall quality of your home and health.

1. Use Himalayan Salt Lamps: Chances are, you’ve seen the new-agey and trendy Himalayan Salt Lamps around recently. These up-and-coming lamps, made from pieces of Himalayan salt crystals, not only add a beautiful touch to your home decor, but they produce negative ions which may protect against airborne germs! To promote air quality and reduce congestion in your lungs, try placing a Himalayan Salt Lamp in every room — Bonus:  The warm light they emit are perfect for night lights!

2. Promote Air Circulation: If weather permits, it’s always a good idea to allow fresh air to circulate within your home. Consistent air circulation allows air to move at a quick pace, preventing particles like dust or other allergens from making themselves comfortable and sitting in your home. Regular fresh air flow may reduce allergies, coughing, sneezing, and even asthma.  

3. Rotate Mattresses Regularly: With all of the things on a homeowners’ To-Do list, flipping your mattress is often times overlooked. However, even the most tiddy homeowners should rotate their mattress regularly (every 7-10 years, depending on mattress type). Mattresses older than 5 years old are inevitably going to house dust mites and bacteria — and that’s not including the 3-year-old cheetos embedded into your child’s mattress!

4. Disconnect: Did you know that we carry around harmful toxins with us all day, every day? If  like most people, you use your cell phone regularly, you should be aware of radiofrequency radiation (RFR) exposure; a harmful toxin that is emitted constantly from our cell phones. Like any radiation, studies show that you should stay away from RFR, since high RFR exposure is linked to the development of cancerous tumors. Now i’m not saying to throw your phone into your neighbor’s yard, but you may want to take a few precautions when using your cell phone, especially if you want to keep your home toxin- free. One easy way to limit RFR exposure for both you and your kids, is to put all phones on airplane mode when you go to sleep, and keep them away from your bed.

5. Go Green: Maybe you’re like me, and you’re a neat freak. But I hate to break it to you, unless you’re using organic cleaning products, you may be doing more harm than good when cleaning your home or children’s toys. Conventional cleaning products often times contaminate the indoor air with chemicals, including Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs), which are associated with health risks such as liver damage, and damage to your  central nervous system and kidneys! Organic and green cleaning products will have low toxicity, low volatile compound content, and reduce air pollution. (BONUS: They are not only good for your home but for the environment too, with recycled packaging, and pump sprays rather than aerosols!)