Many people spend most of their at-home time in the bedroom, making it the best place to focus your basic, healthy-home efforts.
"There's no air cleaner that can clean the whole house," says Robert Phalen, a professor of medicine and director of the Air Pollution Health Effects Laboratory at UC Irvine. "It's like trying to clean your carpet with a toothbrush." So if you're going to use an air cleaner, your bedroom is the place for it.
"There's no air cleaner that can clean the whole house," says Robert Phalen, a professor of medicine and director of the Air Pollution Health Effects Laboratory at UC Irvine. "It's like trying to clean your carpet with a toothbrush." So if you're going to use an air cleaner, your bedroom is the place for it.
To make your bedroom the "sanctuary" he believes it should be, Lou Alonso, an environmental consultant in Malibu, says: "Minimize everything." Have a bed, a lamp or two. But no TV. No computer. The more stuff you have, the more chemicals may be evaporating into that airspace.
Some books might be OK, but only if you freeze them for 24 hours first. It seems dust mites have book-loving cousins called storage mites that elicit similar allergic reactions -- but cold storage puts an end to all that, and all of them. (True, new ones will invade, so read fast!)
A couple of plants in the bedroom might also be fine, or better than fine. One study showed that common indoor plants can remove some contaminants from the air: Philodendrons, spider plants and golden pothos worked best on formaldehyde, while gerbera daisies and chrysanthemums were most effective on benzene.
Some books might be OK, but only if you freeze them for 24 hours first. It seems dust mites have book-loving cousins called storage mites that elicit similar allergic reactions -- but cold storage puts an end to all that, and all of them. (True, new ones will invade, so read fast!)
A couple of plants in the bedroom might also be fine, or better than fine. One study showed that common indoor plants can remove some contaminants from the air: Philodendrons, spider plants and golden pothos worked best on formaldehyde, while gerbera daisies and chrysanthemums were most effective on benzene.
But again Alonso is the voice of moderation. "You can't put 50 of them in a 10-by-10 room," he says. That would lead to a "tropical" environment, with too much moisture, which would invite mold.
Before you put any dry-cleaned clothes in your closet -- or bring them into your home at all -- take the plastic off and let the perchloroethylene outgas -- evaporate -- for a while outside. Alternatively, you can look for a dry cleaner who uses greener, healthier methods than that old standby chemical.
Let your shoes outgas outside too. They can track in all sorts of undesirables -- pesticides, mold, bacteria.
And speaking of undesirables, carpeting is in that category. Not just in the bedroom but everywhere.
"A carpet doubles in weight about every five years," Cordaro says. "That must come from what comes off of our own bodies and what's breaking down in the house. We can never get it out again." (Not even with a high-efficiency particulate air [HEPA] vacuum -- which, by the way, our experts would recommend if they weren't trying to keep costs down. Some recommend it anyway.) "Small children and animals often suffer and show the effects of environmental pollutants before adults do," Cordaro says, "because they're smaller, closer to the ground."
Kathy Hemenway of Snowflake, Ariz., has ceramic tile floors throughout her house, but for those with less severe sensitivities than hers, hardwood floors work well.
Of course, ripping up your carpet and installing hardwood floors is not a particularly frugal thing to do. So the observation of Dr. Ware Kuschner, an associate professor of pulmonary and critical care medicine at the Stanford University School of Medicine, is welcome here: "Many people have spent a lot of money getting rid of drapes and rugs and not seen any improvement. Often it's not the answer to their symptoms."
One last tip: "Take good care of your health in general," Phalen says, "including your mental health." Worrying too much about the hazards that might be lurking in your home can be worse for you than the hazards themselves.
-- Karen Ravn
Before you put any dry-cleaned clothes in your closet -- or bring them into your home at all -- take the plastic off and let the perchloroethylene outgas -- evaporate -- for a while outside. Alternatively, you can look for a dry cleaner who uses greener, healthier methods than that old standby chemical.
Let your shoes outgas outside too. They can track in all sorts of undesirables -- pesticides, mold, bacteria.
And speaking of undesirables, carpeting is in that category. Not just in the bedroom but everywhere.
"A carpet doubles in weight about every five years," Cordaro says. "That must come from what comes off of our own bodies and what's breaking down in the house. We can never get it out again." (Not even with a high-efficiency particulate air [HEPA] vacuum -- which, by the way, our experts would recommend if they weren't trying to keep costs down. Some recommend it anyway.) "Small children and animals often suffer and show the effects of environmental pollutants before adults do," Cordaro says, "because they're smaller, closer to the ground."
Kathy Hemenway of Snowflake, Ariz., has ceramic tile floors throughout her house, but for those with less severe sensitivities than hers, hardwood floors work well.
Of course, ripping up your carpet and installing hardwood floors is not a particularly frugal thing to do. So the observation of Dr. Ware Kuschner, an associate professor of pulmonary and critical care medicine at the Stanford University School of Medicine, is welcome here: "Many people have spent a lot of money getting rid of drapes and rugs and not seen any improvement. Often it's not the answer to their symptoms."
One last tip: "Take good care of your health in general," Phalen says, "including your mental health." Worrying too much about the hazards that might be lurking in your home can be worse for you than the hazards themselves.
-- Karen Ravn
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