Monthly Archives: February 2022

The Matrix of Mattresses

Mattresses are quite a broad subject; no wonder it can seem overwhelming when shopping for one!   When you decide to replace your mattress, there are a number of factors that ergonomically narrow your choices (ie. being a side sleeper vs. a back sleeper, being a petite vs. heavy person, preferring soft vs. firm, etc.).  There might be a broad field left… but then if you narrow the choices again with materials, a few companies and mattresses should start to stand out.

For sure, you need to love the way your new mattress feels, as you will be spending a good amount of time recharging your body on it!  The best resource I’ve found to help narrow the choices is myslumberyard.com.  The site has a good number of reviews and comparisons for major brands, and will get you headed in the right direction with a good old-fashioned quiz (don’t worry, “I don’t know” is a choice for a lot of the answers!) Most importantly to our purposes here, the question “what type of mattress do you prefer?” has an “eco-friendly” option.  Although I wasn’t sure what the website defines as eco-friendly, I went with that option and also gave them my email, because they can send significant coupons.  And, voila!  The top bed recommendations were indeed made from natural materials with certifications, and most came with $100-$300 off coupon codes.  When I read the review of each recommended mattress, I could see why I would like a certain mattress or not.

Why should I steer away from mattresses made with certain synthetic materials?

Synthetic memory foam and other polyurethane foam, and synthetic latex are most common materials that can produce harmful VOCs in offgas.  This report by the Sleep Foundation provides a good explanation of harmful materials in memory foam. Flame retardants and chemical coatings are also sources of VOCs, IF all the materials are disclosed (even the coatings may have hidden chemicals).

Here is some other helpful facts to consider:

• There are five different types of mattresses: Innerspring, memory foam, hybrid (which uses a combination of innerspring and foam), air mattresses, and waterbeds (they’re still around!).
• It’s very important to have proper support under your mattress, because placing it directly on the floor creates a moisture problem with no airflow to resolve it.  This is the perfect recipe for mold!  A boxspring and/or slat system are imperative to minimize mold.
• Innerspring and hybrid mattresses provide body support while using less solid materials that can offgas.  
• Allowing any new mattress to offgas in a separate, ventilated room for 3 or more days is advisable.  To prevent the VOCs from entering the rest of your home, you can neutralize them by using an Air Angel in the room with the mattress. 
• If you are concerned about the type of foam used in a new mattress you are considering, go to Certipur-US to check the seller.  This organization certifies foams for safety regarding flame-retardants, heavy metals, formaldehyde, phthalates and VOCs.  

This review gives a lot of options for different materials with no VOCs and least allergy reactions: wool, natural latex, natural memory foam, non-toxic polyurethane, buckwheat hulls, cotton, kapok, and silk.

Other than VOCs and reactions to the materials themselves, some materials are naturally resistant to dust mites, a big allergen for many people.  

• Natural latex is made from the sap of the rubber tree, which does not accommodate dust mites. It is also not an allergen concern, even for people who can’t wear latex gloves.
• Foam mattresses are too dense for dust mites to live in, though they can live on the surface (another reason to protect the mattress with a cover)

Regardless of the material, if you choose to go “organic”, the best assurance of organic comes from certification by a standardized international organization like GOTS, Global Organic Textile Standard.  Their strict regulations from farm to market for labor, materials, animal husbandry and treatments (pesticides and genetics) are the gold standard for organic mattress materials.  GOLS is the equivalent for latex products.  OEKO-TEX is an organization with a number of certifications, the most relevant to mattresses being their Standard 100 (no harmful substances) and Made in Green (no harmful substances + manufactured in environmentally responsible facilities under socially responsible working conditions).  Here are some mattresses under these certifications:  

• Plushbeds has a long list of certifications including GOTS, GOLS, Greenguard Gold, OEKO-TEX Standard 100, Rainforest Alliance and CertiPur-US. They offer natural latex and memory foam mattresses, the latter of which are CertiPUR and GREENGUARD Gold certified.  Plushbeds are made in the USA.
• Birch mattresses have OEKO-TEX certification that no components are potentially toxic.  They are also Greenguard Gold certified, with a GOTS certified cotton layer.  
• Winkbeds’ EcoCloud mattress is made with all-natural fibers such as natural latex and New Zealand wool, and organic cotton with GOTS certification. It also has an OEKO-TEX class 1 certification which means it is free from harmful chemicals.
• MyGreenMattress beds are all sustainably sourced with certifications from GOLS, GOTS and Greenguard Gold.
• Brentwood Home is a handcrafted mattress (made in the USA) which has a great budget option–the Cypress–which are CertiPur-US and Greenguard Gold certified.
• Awara uses Rainforest Alliance certified latex and 100% organic certified wool from New Zealand, and has CertiPur-US certification.  These beds are manufactured in China, so they are a great budget-friendly option.  This company also gives you a full 365 trial period (longest in the industry). 
• Avocado mattresses have certifications from GOLS, GOTS, Greenguard Gold and MADE-SAFE.  They also have a vegan-friendly option that replaces a wool layer with organic cotton. 

Shopping for a healthy mattress has never had so many choices, help to find the right one, and time to “sleep on it”! 

What is Sick Building Syndrome?

According to the EPA, Sick Building Syndrome (SBS) is used to describe situations in which building occupants experience acute health and comfort effects that appear to be linked to time spent in a building, but no specific illness or cause can be identified.  If a specific illness or cause is identified and attributed directly to airborne building contaminants, the name changes to “Building Related Illness” or BRI.  

If you or your co-workers complain of discomforts like headaches, ear, eye, nose or throat irritation, cough, itchy skin, dizziness or nausea, difficulty in concentrating, fatigue, or sensitivity to odors, and these conditions resolve shortly after exiting the building, then the building could have sick building syndrome.  The ‘American Standards for Heating, Refrigeration and Air-Conditioning Engineers’ (ASHRAE) states that a building is ‘sick’ when ‘20 per cent or more of its occupants voluntarily complain of discomfort symptoms for periods exceeding two weeks and affected occupants observe rapid relief away from the building’ (Environmental Analytics, 2009).

Here are some conditions that could cause sick building syndrome:

• Inadequate ventilation: OSHA recommends 15 cfm fresh air for each building occupant.  This recommendation was cut to 5 cfm per occupant in the 1970s to save energy, which had an adverse effect on building occupants.  In compensation, the American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE) revised its standards to 15 cfm per person (20 cfm for offices).
• New buildings are susceptible to SBS due to internal chemical contaminants.  New carpeting, furniture, wall and window treatments and copy machines are all sources of VOCs, which can be quite potent during their first years. 
• Chemicals can enter from outside sources, if the ventilation of the building is not safe.  Nearby roads, garages, or industrial facilities are all sources of air pollution that can enter into a building if the ventilation is not properly placed or protected. 
• Biological contaminants such as mold, pollen, bacteria and viruses can infiltrate and multiply in buildings and cause respiratory and whole-body health issues.  If you’ve heard of “Legionnaire’s Disease”, it is a serious type of pneumonia caused by a bacterium that can live in HVAC systems and be distributed throughout the building through the ducts.  It was so named after an outbreak occurred among participants at an American Legion convention in Philadelphia in 1976.  However, the same bacterium was later shown to cause Pontiac fever, a milder influenza-type illness which occurred in the health department building of Pontiac Michigan in 1968.  

Today there is more reason to be concerned about SBS because offices, like our homes, need regular maintenance and upkeep.  Offices that were closed during the COVID-19 pandemic may have had cuts in maintenance schedules or worse, ventilation that was completely shut down for months, allowing humidity to increase and mold to grow in the HVAC system and furnishings.  Reactivating HVAC systems with mold can propagate it throughout the building, causing respiratory and whole-body illness.

One positive thing about the pandemic is that people are more concerned about the air they breathe; therefore, diluting, filtering and cleaning viruses from the air also means cleaner air in general (less dust, pollen, mold spores, etc.).  

When your employer reinstates in-office work, it’s not bad to ask how the building is being cleaned and safeguarded from mold and from viruses.  Reducing the number of employees in a space is only one step of many that building supervisors can take for the health of employees.  Air sensors are readily available now to monitor air quality in various spaces, such as humidity, which plays a major part in mold growth and airborne virus longevity.  The sensors can also be used to assess risk for viral transmission (see our post Are There Any “Virus-Detecting” Sensors Out There?)  

Although we are not post-COVID-19 pandemic, it is definitely a changed world since the beginning of 2020, and building environments have to be considered as an ally, not an enemy, of employee health.  

Why does that smell make me happy?  or sad 🙁

Here are some facts you may or may not know about your sense of smell:

• “Taste” is mainly dependent (80%) on smell.  If you eat something while pinching your nose, you will not get the full “taste”.  The only tastes that persist without smell are sweet, salty, sour, bitter and umami, which is the savory sensation (Scienceworld.ca)
• “Aromatherapy” was invented in the 1920’s by French chemist Rene-Maurice Gattefosse to describe the use of naturally fragrant essential oils to treat injury and disease. (study)
• Essential oils contain terpenes, which are actually VOCs (volatile organic compounds) and aromatic compounds. 
• When we are hungry, our sense of smell gets stronger.
• Injuries to the nose risk damage to the plate of bone that separates the olfactory receptor cells in the nose from the olfactory bulb in the brain.  If these are severed, then you can become anosmic–with no sense of smell. 
• Smell loss is associated with Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s diseases, among others, and diminishing sense of smell can be an early sign of onset of these conditions. 
• The sense of smell is developed even before we are born, in our mothers’ wombs.  It continues to strengthen through the first 8-10 years of life.  

“Fragrances directly and/or indirectly affect the psychological and physiological conditions of humans”, according to Meta Analysis study.  These physiological changes can be measured in EEG (electroencephalograph) signals made by brain waves, heart rate, and temperature…but they can also be measured in task performance, such as the way peppermint odor significantly increases strength tasks such as running speed, grip strength and number of pushups.(article here)  Perhaps most well-known is the connection between lavender, drowsiness and deep sleep, but did you know that inhalation of eucalyptus oil significantly decreases pain and blood pressure after surgery?(free article)  These are just a few of the effects of dozens of fragrances which have been studied.

Despite these measured physiological effects, there are also learned (experiential) effects of fragrance which cause an emotional response.  For example, the smell of formaldehyde, while poisonous in its own right, is associated with death and unpleasant conditions by many because of its presence in science labs as the preservation fluid for dissection animals.  Thus, just traces of formaldehyde are repulsive to many.  Likewise, flowers can evoke warm memories from childhood if they have the same fragrance notes of mom’s favorite perfume.  The connection between fragrance and memories stems from shared centers of smell processing and emotion in the brain: after they are received as electrical signals in the olfactory bulb in the front of the brain, fragrance information is sent to the limbic system, including the amygdala and the hippocampus, the regions related to emotion and memory (The Harvard Gazette).

Two interesting experiments show how the same scent can elicit very different responses in different populations.  They both asked participants to rate a list of common odors, however, one study was conducted in Great Britain (mid-1960’s) and one study was conducted in the US (late 1970’s).  Both contained the scent of wintergreen, which was rated as very unpleasant by Britons, and highly pleasant by Americans.  Why the difference?  It is due to memories associated with wintergreen.  This flavor and its corresponding scent was used in medicines during the WWII era in Europe, which naturally evoked unpleasant memories.  In the US, however, wintergreen is typically used in candies (which is exactly why I like it). 

Unfortunately, fragrances can also be poisonous to those with Multiple Chemical Sensitivity (MCS).  People who suffer from MCS can become ill with even small traces of fragrance, although according to an 840 page report (summarized) by Quebec’s public health agency, the condition is more of an anxiety disorder brought on by anticipation of chemical exposure.  Following this conclusion then leads us to consider whether it is the memory of negative experiences that cause the symptoms, rather than the VOCs in the fragrance associated with the experience. 

Now that you know the reason for your emotions when you discern a certain smell, check out our post about de-scenting and scenting your home (Ewww! How can I get rid of that smell?).

Clutter is not just annoying (it affects our health!)

Last week our team at HypoAir discussed what images come to mind for a fresh, clean home.  Almost immediately I had to say: “clutter-free!”  I am also an artist exhibiting in a local shop, and I have a deadline at the end of each month to have a number of pieces ready for exhibition and sale.  This is a good and a bad thing.  Good, because it forces me to keep moving and complete works and not jump from one to another without finishing them.   Good, because I know that things will be leaving my house and I look forward to cleaning up the supplies.  Bad, because not all of the pieces are works on canvas; some of them are made from recycled materials like old doors that need prep work and make dust.  Bad, because I don’t have a dedicated art studio and use various parts of my home to do the work and store them.  Towards the end of the month, my home is a cluttered mess!  It definitely affects my state of mind and I need to have that “hang-in-there, relief is around the corner” mindset.  Even when I had a full-time office job, the state of my desk seemed to negatively affect my stress level and productivity.  Turns out, I was not imagining things!

You don’t have to be a hoarder to be affected by clutter.  Also, clutter doesn’t have to be physical things–it can be an overflowing email inbox, a mental list of “to-do’s”, or disorder in your relationships.  An article by Psychology Today explained the findings of several studies on the effects of clutter in the home.  Home is where people feel psychologically safe and comforted.  However, clutter negatively affects that perception, and can make you feel stressed and alienated instead.   These feelings can be manifested in the following ways:

• Low subjective well-being: feeling that your home is your enemy, not your friend according to a 2016 University of New Mexico study

• Unhealthy eating: people actually eat more cookies and snacks if their environment is chaotic, causing stress (according to this US-Australian study)

• Less efficient visual processing: it’s more difficult to read the feelings of others, when the background is cluttered and chaotic, according to a Cornell University study.

• Less efficient thinking:  mental clutter over time can cause age-related memory losses, according to University of Toronto’s Lynn Hasher.  It turns out that your brain cannot efficiently wade through current stressful feelings in order to retrieve memories of people’s names and experiences in the past. 

Confession: I always thought that having a clean, uncluttered home was just a choice of how to spend your time.  For me, it gets thrown to the bottom of my priorities in favor of more “important” things like prepping meals, spending time with friends, or making art.  However, seeing that it can affect my long-term mental health (whoa!) was a reason to move cleaning and organizing and removing things, up the ladder.  According to the Anxiety and Depression Association of America, the physical act of cleaning and the clean room itself can lower stress, anxiety and depressive symptoms.  

Now that I know that cleaning is as essential as taking a shower, here are some tips I’ve found to get started and make it enjoyable, even if your home is overwhelming.

• Listen to your favorite music or for the workaholics among us (myself included), do double-duty by listening to an informative podcast while you clean.

• Set a timer!  Fifteen minutes is manageable, right?  Up the time if you feel like doing more, but 15 minutes a day will have a positive impact on your space.

• To avoid being overwhelmed, do your best to focus on one task at a time.  For example, throw away all the visible trash in your home, or pick up all the dirty dishes and load them into the dishwasher or sink, or pick up all the dirty laundry lying around and cart it to the laundry to start a load.  

• “Purge ruthlessly”!  I love this.  Have a donation box, and if you have not used something within a year, donate it or (if it’s in bad shape) throw it away. 

• Get guidance: there are tons of videos and how-to’s on how to clean a space in a short time.  Here’s a great one: Clean Up Your Bedroom in 15 minutes 

• Ask for help.  Some people actually love to clean or organize(!).  If you are blessed with such a friend, tell them about your situation and schedule some time together.  With two heads, you may learn of new donation opportunities and ways to work together in the future.  

Once you clean an area, the impediments to keeping it clean are also strong.  When it’s rainy season, I think, why bother cleaning the floors when I will track in mud tomorrow anyway?  When it’s one week to stocking the store with art, I think, why put these paints away when I may need them tomorrow?  There will always be a reason not to clean, but keeping the prize in mind (an organized, clutter-free space) should help to do a little each day, or every time the clutter reappears.  It’s the reason I find time to clean the kitchen each night before going to bed: walking into a clean kitchen the next morning starts my day off RIGHT!  Now, for the rest of the house….

Why you need to start deep-breathing NOW...and how it will help you later

I like simple cause-effect equations. 

Pandemic causes stress.  Stress causes age acceleration.  Age acceleration causes more stress (I haven’t found a study for the last one but looking at the exploding market of biohacking, I know it’s true). 

It’s no wonder people are looking high and low for methods that counteract stress and the corresponding acceleration of aging.  You may think, I need to win the lottery to afford some of these solutions!  However, among the top things you can do against stress is free, doesn’t take too long, and doesn’t take a lot of physical effort (triple bonus!).  I’m talking about deep breathing.

If you're a runner or another type of athlete, you probably already know the value of deep breathing, because it increases your lung capacity (for more ways to increase your lung capacity, check out this article).  More oxygen = more power flowing through your blood to your muscles!   But even non-athletes can benefit from deep breathing, because it affects our nervous system and our DNA:  keep reading...

Here’s the background: our autonomic nervous system (the one that controls involuntary actions) is divided into two parts: the sympathetic (fight or flight) and parasympathetic (rest and digest).  Shallow breathing is a natural response of our sympathetic nervous system to perceived stress.  However, by controlling our breathing and practicing deep breathing, we can naturally lower stress by stimulating the parasympathetic nervous system, helping us to calm down, think more rationally, and feel better.  Three studies have shown that deep breathing alone, also called diaphragmatic breathing, has a positive effect by reducing physiological and psychological stress.   In addition, a particular type of deep breathing associated with the SKY Breath Meditation (taught by mentors in Sudarshan Kriya Yoga) was shown to outperform other cognitive behavioral therapies to reduce stress, and effects even improved three months later.  

Whether or not you decide to learn the SKY method or other more complex breathing techniques, just starting with a simple deep breathing exercise will get you going in the right direction.  Here is how to start:

• Lie comfortably in a bed with a pillow under your knees or sit upright in a chair with your knees bent and shoulders and neck relaxed.
• Place one hand on your abdomen just below the rib cage, and one hand on your upper chest.
• Breathe in slowly through your nose, the object being that your upper hand remains as still as possible while your lower hand moves outward with your stomach.
• Use your stomach muscles to push air slowly out of your mouth with pursed lips, again with your upper hand remaining as still as possible. (Cleveland Clinic, Diaphragmatic Breathing)
• Continue for 10-15 minutes, several times a day if possible.

Stress is typically measured in cortisol levels, that hormone that jacks up when fight-or-flight situations arise.  At the molecular level, however, there are other indicators of the toll of stress: telomeres.  Telomeres are proteins found on the ends of our DNA that prevent damage and keep the DNA from “unraveling” or allowing major disease (heart and other organs) from taking over.  One of the discoverers of telomeres, molecular biologist and Nobel Laureate Elizabeth Blackburn, likens them to the tips on your shoelaces.  When the tips get worn down, the shoelaces are at risk of unraveling.  “Telomere shortening increases the risk of a wide variety of chronic diseases,” according to Dr. Peter R. Carroll, chair of the UCSF Department of Urology.  Stress shortens telomeres.  Amazingly, deep-breathing (with other healthy lifestyle changes) can significantly lengthen telomeres, even among early-stage prostrate cancer patients.  The samples for telomeres were taken from the blood of these patients, so it’s probable that the effects of deep breathing on our telomeres extend to the general population.  It’s biological, dear Watson!  

This lengthening of our telomeres is the major reason that you should start deep breathing and other healthy lifestyle changes like moderate aerobic exercise, a diet high in whole foods and plant-based proteins and low in fat and refined carbohydrates, and increased social support.   Longer telomeres = longer life.  I can live with that!

What's the deal with those big ceiling fans?

You may remember when Big Ass Fans appeared on the market years ago…of course the name grabbed attention, as the company was one of the first to offer industrial-size fans for the home. 

We're talking about HVLS fans.  HVLS stands for High Volume Low Speed.  HVLS fans have a blade diameter (tip to tip) of 7 feet or more, and operate between 61-220 rpm.  They are incredibly energy efficient, because they move large volumes of air (hence the name) with small motors of 1 hp or less that turn relatively slowly.  Ceiling fans produce a jet of downward moving air that turns horizontal when it hits the floor, producing a horizontal floor jet, which continues to a wall or vertical structure.  A large, slow-moving column of air actually penetrates farther into a room than a small, turbulent one, and creates a taller horizontal floor jet.  The main objective of HVLS fans is evaporative cooling, assisting our bodies in cooling by increasing evaporation rates. 

HVLS fans were originally developed in the late 1990’s for the dairy industry, to cool large milking houses.  The larger the fan, the deeper the horizontal floor jet.  For comparison, an 8 foot diameter fan produces a floor jet approximately 36” deep.  A fan of 24 feet diameter can produce a 108” deep floor jet, which can cool a standing human or cow (Wikipedia).  The benefits of HVLS fans extend to warehouses, factories and homes with large spaces and high ceilings. 

Increased evaporative cooling actually decreases air conditioning requirements, because individuals feel cooler at the same dry bulb temperature.  Increased air circulation in a room also lowers humidity, to reduce mold issues. 

With about 30 years since development, HVLS fans are now widely available for industrial, commercial and home applications, and the newest differentiation adds air purification technology.  

• Big Ass Fans has several HVLS models with polar ion generators installed at the tip of each blade, and claim to produce higher in-room levels of ions than HVAC-installed systems. 

• Big Ass Fans has several HVLS models with UV-C lights installed on the top side of the motor shroud, pointing toward the ceiling, so that UV light can kill pathogens in the air without being a safety concern to the room occupants.  

So there you have it–if you have a big room, it’s worth getting a big fan for it!

How do I improve air quality in my home when the people around me don’t care?

We’ve heard it many times: living in apartments or multi-family buildings causes your air quality to suffer.  The guy below/besides me smokes.  The lady next door boils Fabuloso on the stove to keep the fragrance going in her apartment, but it’s unbearable in mine!  My neighbor burns incense 24/7… what can I do?

We hear you, and it is not easy.  According to BlocPower, a Brooklyn-based climate technology company that helps building owners make their buildings more efficient and healthy, “In dense urban areas like New York City, Boston, or Chicago, most multifamily buildings were built before 1973, with no IAQ design in mind.”  Most of those buildings have no mechanical ventilation to provide fresh air, only natural ventilation like windows, or one dedicated exhaust duct that connects the bathroom and kitchen ventilations, and relies on the “leaks” in apartment walls and hallways to supply fresh air.  When there is a significant difference between colder outside and warmer inside temperature, the dominant airflow force in effect in multifamily buildings is the stack effect.  Since warmer air tends to rise, it will do so in every way possible: through holes for lighting fixtures, between floors, through wall openings, etc.  What does that mean for people living above the first floor?  You will be breathing in air from the floors below you.  People on the first floor will have cold and sometimes more polluted air leak in.  This natural way of building “breathing” can be very unhealthy when tenants constantly add more VOCs like smoke or cleaning products.  If you signed a lease that may not expire for 8 more months, what do you do in the meantime?  You shouldn’t need to spend more money just because your neighbors are polluting the air, but doing nothing is not an option. 

First, we advocate for peaceful neighbor relations.  You can mention that you can smell their smoke without even opening the window, or that working from home is hard when your nose is constantly running for all of the cleaning product vapors.  Here are some more tips to deal with problems peacefully:

• Try to understand their situation. Maybe it’s an older person who needs help getting their garbage to the dumpster on a regular basis, or a single mom who works and lets her teenager prepare (read: burn!) meals when she’s not home.   
• Try to discuss the problem in a calm way, and if necessary, bring someone who has a calming influence with you.  
• Offer to help.  You never know if a better relationship awaits just by lending a helping hand.

If discussions are unfruitful, you can address the building supervisor about the problem… especially if it lies in common areas like hallways.  Someone who constantly leaves trash bags and empty takeout containers outside their apartment, is likely causing unhappiness for more than one other tenant (you).  Plus, the smell that is permeating their apartment is unlikely to be easily resolved if they move out.   Here are a couple ways to educate yourself and your landlord about healthy air quality and how to affordably achieve it: 

• Surprisingly, the EPA endorses this step too: they actually have a guide for building owners on indoor air quality, which you can download and review.  At 228 pages, I don’t recommend printing it out and handing it to the landlord as it would likely land in the nearest trash can!  It’s not law, but it can give you an idea if the problem is caused by just the stinky neighbor, or the building, or both.    
• BlocPower is one organization that works with local grants and funding to help building owners upgrade their heating and cooling systems at lower cost.  You can check out your building’s eligibility for their services  here.   Their goal of “greening” older buildings is to break the stack effect mainly by sealing leaks in every space, and installing dedicated HVAC systems (such as heat pumps) in each apartment that allow tenants to control their own space.  If their services are not available in your city, you can search for other companies and programs that are.

Third, do your best to mitigate the problem in your space!  Just as in our post on “Which Air Purifier Should I Choose? Part I”, dilution ventilation is the number one, and most important step.  It’s bringing outdoor air in, to dilute the unhealthy air you have.  If your outdoor pollution is low enough, open window(s) across your space, to get air moving horizontally, and turn on ceiling or portable fans to move it vertically as well.  There are several fans you can actually leave in your windows to use whenever you need to:

• Bionaire Window Fan with Twin 8.5” Reversible Airflow Blades, $70, has a water-resistant motor 
• Lasko 16” Reversible Window Fan with Storm Guard, $107, allows you to close the window without moving the fan. 

If the outside temperature, humidity and air quality allow you to bring the outside air in, then using a fan is doing one more good thing for you.  It creates a slight positive pressure in your space, so that air between apartments flows out of your space, not into it from the stinky places.  If you can’t open the window wide due to air pollution or uncomfortable outside climate, then just cracking it open may be better than leaving it closed. 

Now, obviously there are still VOCs and/or particulates flying around with fresh air, so you will need to clean the air as well.  There are two ways to do this: 

1. Let your HVAC do the filter work! Our HVAC Home Filters with Activated Carbon come in a variety of MERV ratings so that you can the best of both particulate and odor filtration.  

2. Our bipolar ionization products Air Angel (300ft2 coverage) and Whole Home Polar Ionizer (2000 ft2 coverage) take care of mold spores, pet dander, allergens and fine particulates like those in smoke.  The Air Angel has an AHPCO cell as well to handle the toxic gases and smells.  This unit can be moved from one area to another if necessary.  We would recommend to pair either of them with a good HEPA filter with charcoal layer, to further clean and freshen the air.  Here are some recommendations for standalone HEPA filters:

• The Blue Pure 311 Auto, $249.99, is an attractive filter for medium-size rooms (up to 388 ft2).  It has a pre-filter fabric cover that can be vacuumed or machine washed, and filter changes are reasonable at $34-40 (you can save $6 by getting on their subscription program) every six months when used 24 hours per day.
• Lenoit has several models that fit comfortably into bedrooms and small to medium size living spaces. This one can purify spaces up to 129 ft2 in as little as 15 minutes.  
• For DIY’ers / very low budget:  check out this DIY Box fan air cleaner which at the highest setting, can clean over 1600ft2 every 15 minutes (assuming you have 8 foot ceilings).  Since it only has HEPA, there is no carbon filtration of smells or VOCs, but 4 HEPA filters in one unit are certainly going to impact your life in terms of better air quality!

If your space has a dedicated air-conditioning unit, you could consider the Whole-Home Polar Ionizer, which you can run 24/7 to keep the air fresh and safe. 

PureRoom by Pure Wellness is the new standard for hypoallergenic hotel rooms (see our post “Hypoallergenic Hotel Suites?”) and they have a good philosophy for converting existing hotel rooms to hypoallergenic ones.  Their strategy is to take over a floor, or wing of the hotel, to make the whole zone hypoallergenic.  If you are passionate about non-toxic living, why not organize an interest meeting in your apartment building, so that similar minds can exchange ideas, or even plan to move next to one another?  With health-minded tenants speaking together, you may find your landlord will listen and make changes for the good of all. 

How does my home's lighting influence my health?

Lighting has important psychological effects on us as human beings, from when we wake up til the time we go to bed.  Examining the three characteristics of light, brightness, saturation and hue, helps to better understand what is going on. 

Brightness  (scientifically called luminance) is important when you think of the many different workspaces you have around the house.  The kitchen needs adequate illumination, as does the bathroom, stairwells, and any office or study space.  We want brightness for good productivity and energy.  

Brightness does not have one simple measurement!  Illuminance is the amount of light falling on a surface, which is what we need for task lighting.  It is measured in lux, and is affected by the brightness of the bulb (measured in lumens), the angle (for LEDs) and distance to the surface you’re measuring.  These are a lot more factors than the typical light bulb package reveals!  For example, we are used to describing light bulbs in watts (the power used), which did give an idea of brightness for incandescent bulbs, but in the advent of CFL and LED lighting, watts don’t adequately describe brightness.  It would be more helpful to understand the bulb brightness in terms of lumens (the scientific way of measuring its brightness), which is how bright the bulb actually is.  Fortunately, package labeling has changed to include this information. 

This label is from the energy.gov website, which also gives guidelines for replacing bulbs.  Since energy-saving bulbs use fewer watts, we can replace a 100 watt incandescent bulb with a 1600 lumens bulb, a 75 watt incandescent bulb with 1100 lumens bulb, 60 watt incandescent bulb with 800 lumens bulb, and 40 watt incandescent bulb with 450 lumen bulb.   The label, then, corresponds to the brightness of a 60 watt incandescent bulb, but since it uses only 13 watts, we know that it is not incandescent.

The other factors that affect brightness are the distance (and beam angle of light hitting your surface, if it’s an LED light).  More distance and greater angle means more diffused light (less light you will see at the surface).  Lux is the measured light we see at a surface.  For example, 500 lux minimum is recommended for studying.   If you only have overhead lighting and it doesn’t seem to be bright enough, you can use this online calculator tool to convert lux to lumens to see what bulb you will need, or add a desk light to amp up the lux.   When redesigning a space with recessed lighting, you can use a calculator that incorporates the ceiling height and room dimensions to get the number and spacing of overhead lights to provide general lighting, and add task lighting such as lamps wherever more light is needed (like next to a recliner for reading).  Since many more of us are working from home at least part-time now, it's super- important not only to make it comfortable and healthy.  Adequate lighting is a big player in transforming a part of your home to a healthy office.

Hue: This is the color of lighting, which as I said in the post about “Why wear my sunglasses at night?” is extremely important.  Cooler lights (blue tones) energize us, while warmer lights (think amber and red tones) increase melatonin production to help us get sleepy.  There is even a correlation between green light and healing; green colors were introduced in hospitals in the 1930s to increase patients’ mood of growth and recovery.  Surgeons use different color lighting to their advantage to reduce eye strain, stress and perform better, so why not use them in our homes?  Philips Hue is a smart lighting system that uses the connectivity of wifi to change the color and brightness of your lamps to invoke different moods or times of day, as well as turn lighting on and off remotely.  This is quite tempting, especially after reading a testimonial that by turning off white lights and turning on amber lights, kids were able to go to sleep faster.  Also, you can set the “mood” of your living space simply by saying a command or changing it through the app.  However, the availability of the blue light in these LEDs is concerning for homes with children and teenagers, because their eyes are not able to fully filter blue light and are more sensitive to cold blue light, according to a French environmental authority report.  For a healthy home and not just entertainment value, ideally smart bulbs would be programmed to change from blue-green in the morning (to waken us) and red or amber in the evening to get us ready for bed.

Maximizing Your Sleep

For many of us, sleep is the “margin” in our day; everyone and everything that needs more time usually sucks it out of our sleep time.  It’s not supposed to be that way, but until you can put a lock on your sleep time, there are ways to maximize the hours you do get.

There are several critical and some helpful factors in maximizing sleep: air, light and noise.

Air: Of course, you can’t sleep well when you can’t breathe well.  Spending 7+ hours in one room of your house with the intention of “recharging” your body, deserves a hard look at your sleep environment and what you are breathing in.  Here’s the facts, some of which are from the The Asthma and Allergy Foundation of America (AAFA):

• Keep pets out of the bedroom
• Wash bedding once a week in water that is at least 130 deg. F
• Use bedding that is hypoallergenic, such as organic cotton and silk for sheets, and synthetics such as memory foam, latex and polyester fiber for durables like pillows, mattress toppers and mattresses.  See our related posts on The Matrix of Mattresses and Bedding for Better Sleep.
• Encase the mattress and pillows in hypoallergenic casings to protect from dust mites and allergens infestation. Vacuum the bedroom floor and mattress weekly with a HEPA vacuum cleaner (see our recommendations on Vacuums)
• Shower and put on clean nightclothes every night if possible, to remove pollen.  If you don’t shower every night, you can do a quick wash with a wet washcloth.   Cover or wash your hair at night.  (Using shampoo every day is not good either, but you can try a quick “rinse” with or without conditioner, to remove most of the pollen.)  
• Remove wet or damp clothing to another room (but don’t let it pile up anywhere!)
• Replace your mattress every 10 years, and pillows every 2 years, to reduce allergens in bedding and air
• Off-gas (air out) new furniture in another room (see our FAQ about Off-gassing)
• Remove scented candles and potpourri
• Use a certified air cleaner (HypoAir has not been certified by the AAFA, but our units definitely reduce allergens and VOCs, as proven in numerous studies).
• If you have a connected bathroom: 
  • Run a bathroom fan at least 15-20 minutes after showering
  • Fix leaks
  • Clean the shower, sink and tub often to prevent mold (see our related post on non-toxic cleaners)

Darkness:  No matter what the sun is doing outside, our bodies need darkness to enter into the “sleep mode” of our circadian rhythm.  Darkness also cues our pineal gland to produce melatonin, an important sleep-inducing chemical.

The sun’s light during the day is a very powerful, intense light (estimated at up to 10,000 lux, which is a measure of light intensity).  This is way more intense than office lighting (around 500 lux), or artificial lighting at home.  However, even just a little light can disrupt our circadian rhythm, so it’s best to sleep with as little light as possible.  Try to leave electronic devices that emit light (phones, tablets, televisions) out of the bedroom so that these don’t delay dim light melatonin onset (DLMO), the time when your body starts to produce melatonin.

There are many products that help us avoid light in the few hours before and during sleep:

• Use blue light filtering glasses in the hours before sleep: https://www.swanwicksleep.com/
• Replace white light bulbs with red or amber ones in the lights you may use at night, such as in the bathroom or hall nightlights, because red and amber light does not cause disruption in the sleep cycle.
• Using a sleep mask that’s comfortable will eliminate residual light because just closing your eyes is not enough, unless your room is pitch dark.  This study showed that light transmitted through the eyelids reduces melatonin production significantly, and also delays the timing of DLMO.  Sleep masks used to be a one-size fits all, flimsy device that ended up on the floor or around your neck; I know because I have used them for a long time!  However, there are some great ones out there now that:
  • Are weighted to provide gentle pressure around the eyes
  • Have contoured eye cups to allow eyes to move during sleep
  • Are large and stay on better than other masks

Noise:  It’s tempting to listen to music at night to “wind down”, but it actually has the opposite effect, and surprisingly, instrumental music (without lyrics) interrupts sleep the most!  "Almost everyone thought music improves their sleep, but we found those who listened to more music slept worse," Scullin said. "What was really surprising was that instrumental music led to worse sleep quality -- instrumental music leads to about twice as many earworms." (Michael Scullin, Ph. D, in his study on how earworms, those songs that replay in your head even when the music stops, affect sleep).  

Being a “light sleeper”, college dormitory rooms were crushing my ability as a late teen to sleep deeply.  That’s when I discovered ear plugs.  The right ear plugs do not block out fire alarms or even loud cell phone rings, but dampen noise just enough to allow your body to get that sleep it so desperately needs.  Many people claim they cannot stand something in their ears while sleeping, but like sleep masks, earplugs have evolved too!  Here are some choices beyond the usual foam inserts:

• Happy Ears, designed in Sweden, come in different sizes so you can find the right size for you.
• This mask/ear muff combo is good for those who don’t want anything in their ears during sleep.
• Taking the combo a step further, this comfy mask offers 3 levels of white noise in the ear section to cancel outside noise.

So, we've got the basics: air, light and noise.  Check out our posts on The Matrix of Mattresses and Bedding for Better Sleep to keep maximizing your sleep.

Adding fresh-air ventilation through your HVAC system

How can you get that "fresh air" feeling in your home if bringing in outside air means bringing in the cold or humidity?

In order to improve IAQ, the EPA recommends that homes receive “0.35 air changes per hour but not less than 15 cubic feet of air per minute (cfm) per person.”  These air changes can occur through natural ventilation such as open doors or windows, infiltration such as cracks and joints around doors and windows, or mechanical means such as fresh air intake of HVAC units.  This third option is what we’re aiming at in this post: consider this option like the “fresh air” vs. “recirc” buttons on your car’s climate control.  

“Dilution Ventilation” is critical for improving IAQ because it adds fresh air to the soup we are breathing when staying indoors.  Doing it through the HVAC system is best because on those days when it’s too muggy or too cold to open the windows, your IAQ should not suffer.  

• The simplest way of bringing in fresh air through the HVAC involves a motorized damper and controller.  When the damper is open, it delivers fresh air from the outside to the “return” side of the furnace so that the incoming air can be properly filtered and conditioned before being distributed with the recirculated air.  Here are several makes of simple damper/control systems: AirCycler and Honeywell.  These do not exhaust air outside, however, so they result in a net positive pressure in your home as compared to outside. 

• When the fresh air coming in is very cold, warm or humid compared to the air inside your home, it’s most efficient to use the air that’s already in your home to change the temperature and humidity of the fresh air.  An Energy Recovery Ventilator (ERV) is a heat exchange system to: 1) exhaust stale air from your home and 2) bring in and exchange energy with fresh air from outside.  By doing a volume and energy exchange, you are getting net neutral air pressure in your home and less lost energy by using the stale air to heat or cool and dehumidify the fresh air.   Here are several options to:

• Exchange heat and humidity in equal volumes with each other.  It only requires energy for the fan and controls.

• Bring in fresh air and heat or cool it with a heat pump.  This requires a little more energy but for small spaces, can even be the sole heat/cooling source.

• Bring in fresh air and dehumidify it with a dehumidifier.  This is best for hotter, more humid climates where cooling and dehumidification is needed more often than heating.

If you don’t know how or when to “let the fresh air in”, let your HVAC system do it for you!