Building an aesthetically appealing, comfortable, and secure home is no mean achievement. However, there’s more to a home than beauty, comfort, and security. A perfect home should offer a safe environment that ensures better health for occupants and visitors. Right from construction, where you choose the building materials, to the design stage when you pick the exterior features of your home, you must ensure safety at all times.
Since health risks can occur in any home due to environmental factors like the air we breathe, the water we drink, and the products we use, ensuring home safety is crucial. Below, we’ll look at effective tips on creating a safer home environment so you and your visitors can enjoy better health.
Avoid Asbestos at All Costs
Since asbestos is banned in the US and other countries, you won’t use it to build your new home. However, it’s not only in crystalline asbestos (commonly found in roofing materials) that you’ll get exposed to the material and its health risks. Even with the ban, asbestos materials from ships and roofs still exist that could lie dangerously next to your home, exposing your household to the risks.
You can teach your household members the risks of asbestos exposure and let them know how close the danger lies next to the home. Learn the law’s protections to raise legal complaints against persons using or dumping the material next to your home. Staying alert and ensuring the material doesn’t get closer to your home can save your family and visitors from several health risks, such as asbestosis, mesothelioma, and lung cancer, among other chronic illnesses.
Practice Neatness
A neat home is a sure way to maintain calmness of mind and achieve a sense of control over your daily activities. Cleaning and decluttering your home has been found to help with stress relief, improved focus, and other mental and physical health benefits.
When you leave clutter spread everywhere in your home, it can cause distraction and inhibit your brain from thinking clearly. A neat home also means you spend less time looking for lost items, saving you from strain. To keep your home neat, you can:
- Start small: If you’re doing this for the first time, decluttering can feel overwhelming. To avoid fatigue, start small and progress gradually from one room to the other until you can accomplish your cleaning target.
- Mind your activities throughout the day: As you’re already cleaning, you don’t have to repeat the mess in places you’ve already cleaned or worsen those areas you’re about to clean. You can achieve this by being mindful of your activities throughout the day, by getting in the habit of putting things in their rightful place. Put the dirty clothes in the right baskets, throw away wrappers and packets in the bin, and return books, toys, and other personal items to their rightful shelves and cabinets.
- Organize the space once cleaned: Organizing an already clean space is the best way to use it and exert control. When you feel in control of a space, you can always easily keep it clean, as there’s a structured way to approach cleaning as opposed to random cleaning of a scattered space.
Work on Indoor Air Quality (IAQ)
Poor indoor air quality is a risk to your health. If you only breathe fresh air when you leave the house, you’re at risk of contracting various respiratory diseases. Maintaining good air quality means absorbing enough oxygen for your brain, which helps with improved mood and focus. While you can rely on fresh air directly from outside, sometimes it might not be practical, leaving you with the option of using filtered air.
Ensure your air filtration system works perfectly well and that your home is always in a constant supply of fresh, healthy air. In addition to optimizing your filtration system, you can minimize or avoid smoke, open windows, and restrict carbon monoxide from the indoors to maintain high-quality indoor air. Anytime you feel the air quality has deteriorated, schedule an IAQ inspection for prompt solutions.
Get Drinking Water From Reliable Sources
The water consumed at your home should be clean and safe for everyone. If you receive water from your local municipality, you’re already assured of a safe water supply, but you must ensure that its handling within your home is equally safe. Clean water poorly handled within a home can still be dangerous to human health. Ensure that drinking water is stored in clean containers and served with clean hands and glasses, every time.
If you’re getting your drinking water from a personal well or spring, it’s best to have it treated first before you or anyone else drinks it. Experts can check it for impurities and chemical composition before using it at home.
Your home is your haven for peace, tranquility, and relaxation. Making this space as habitable and safe as possible can significantly improve your life. If it’s your first home, ensure everything you desire is in perfect condition before you move in with your family. However, if it’s your long-term home and you just need to improve its health and safety, these tips can help you upgrade to a better home.
Disclaimer: The content on Wellness Derive is for informational purposes only and not a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Always consult a healthcare provider for medical concerns.
