No matter what season or time of the year, ventilating your home is vital. It's important to keep a steady flow of fresh, quality air within your home all year round, but in the winter it can be more difficult to ventilate the home. After all, you want to prevent the indoor heat from escaping, and though closing up your home during the cold weather might help to keep heat in and chilly air out, some ventilation is also needed. Research indicates that spending too much time indoors without enough fresh air can be harmful for well-being, making good ventilation doubly important. By ventilating your home properly, you replace polluted and humid indoor air with fresh air from outside, helping to prevent breathing problems, tiredness, headaches and other consequences of indoor air pollution. To improve indoor air quality in your home this winter, try following these tips:
Open windows: Regardless of how bitterly cold it may be outside, open your house's windows for at least 20 minutes once a day. Opening a window for even just a few minutes will help the old, moist air to exit your home and fresh air to enter. It's also essential to ventilate after you turn off your heating system. If you turn it off before leaving the house or before going to bed, briefly open up a door or window to alleviate any condensation. If it is tolerable, keep a window in your bedroom slightly open overnight, as the air circulating in your room will make it more comfortable.
Close cupboard doors: Make sure to close closet or storeroom doors when you open windows to help fresh air move throughout your house.
Dust and vacuum regularly: Cleaning is a great way to help ventilate your home. What's around you can influence the quality of the air, so clear the air by dusting at least once a week. After you dust, vacuum vigorously. Every time you dust or hoover, you're removing the tiny particles around you that can cause havoc for your breathing.
Cultivate houseplants: Fill your home with indoor air purifiers in the shape of plants like English ivy, peace lilies, spider plants and others to help purify the air and increase levels of oxygen.
Use natural air fresheners: Store-bought air fresheners, even those labelled natural, can contain chemicals that can be dangerous to your health. For a more natural and cleaner way to freshen your indoor air this winter, try simmering a pot of water containing the peels of oranges or lemons and fresh herbs on your stove.
Install extractor fans: Kitchens and bathrooms are areas that benefit the most from a good airing as they can get overly warm and stuffy. Installing an extractor fan over your stove and in your bathroom can help to suck moist and bad-smelling air out of your house, improve ventilation, and keep the air in your home fresh.
*A version of this article appears in print in the 13 February, 2020 edition of Al-Ahram Weekly.
