What Symptoms Are Often Linked to Poor Indoor Air Quality?

Here at Air Control Heating and Air, experts in air purification and HVAC installation in Roswell, our eyes are focused on improving indoor air quality. Left unmanaged, dangerous air pollutants can cause discomfort, chronic illness, and worse.

Discussions surrounding air quality typically focus on outdoor, urban environments alongside images of traffic congestion and industrial pollution. However, regulations have come a long way since the days of billowing industrial smokestacks and smog-covered skylines. What’s more, outdoor air pollution gets diluted by mother nature’s fresh air while our indoor spaces rarely do. Below, we’ll go over symptoms and causes linked to poor indoor air quality as well as how to correct it.

Emphasis on Indoor Air Quality

Most people are surprised to learn that poor indoor air has a greater direct impact on our health than outdoor air. It has a greater impact due to the fact that we spend about 90% of our time indoors. Combined with pollutants getting trapped indoors, we have a perfect recipe for elevated adverse health effects.

To make matters worse, modern home and building design and materials, cleaning and pesticide sprays, and more have led to increased concentrations of pollutants indoors. It quickly becomes clear why this issue is so important and why we’re so passionate about it.

What to Expect from Polluted Air

Whether it’s for hours everyday, in the case of your home or work, or it’s only for a short time every now and then, such as eating in a café, breathing in contaminated air has an impact. There are immediate symptoms that some people might encounter, especially if they suffer from diseases like asthma or COPD. Some of these symptoms include:

• Headache
• Eye irritation
• Fatigue
• Dry throat
• Sinus congestion
• Dizziness
• Nausea

Alternatively, long-term exposure to poor indoor air quality increases the risk of developing conditions such as:

• Stroke
• Ischemic heart disease
• COPD
• Lung cancer

What Creates Poor Air Quality?

Numerous factors pollute indoor air, including things both inside and outside a structure. The most common causes of decreased air quality are ventilation issues and a few categories of pollutants:

• Bioaerosols – Airborne particles originating from a biological source. Things like pet dander, mold, pollen, bacteria and viruses, etc.
• Combustion – Think car exhaust, candles, furnaces, fireplaces, gas stoves, etc.
• Organic Vapors – These originate from many household products and even building materials. Paint, paint thinners, gasoline, pesticides, disinfectants, urethanes, and more all produce harmful organic vapors.

In research conducted by the NIOSH, it was found that inadequate ventilation was the primary source of poor indoor air quality in over half of the studied buildings. 

To conserve energy, HVAC systems typically recirculate indoor air, but this has the unintended consequence of also circulating pollutants throughout the home. Alternatively, the HVAC system brings in outdoor air along with outdoor pollutants.

How to Establish and Maintain Clean Indoor Air

Although it’s impossible to completely eliminate all allergens and pollutants from your home, there are things that can reduce their abundance and severity. Cleaning more often – decluttering, vacuuming, dusting, and washing areas and linens – can greatly reduce the significance of symptoms related to poor air quality. Opening windows and doors helps too.

Other sources of harmful contaminants aren’t reached or spotted as easily and thus require another approach. Whole-home and building in-duct air purifiers, like those provided by your Roswell HVAC installation experts, proactively treat every cubic inch of air conditioned space.

Breathe Freely – Air Filters and HVAC Installation, Roswell, GA

Since 1993, our team has been dedicated to providing our community with dependable, efficient, and top-quality service. Through our capable, proven indoor air purification options, our neighbors and clients have peace of mind knowing they’re breathing clean, fresh air. You deserve to have that same confidence in your home and office indoor air too.

Put an end to poor air quality and find out why thousands of Georgia businesses and homeowners put their trust in us. Contact us today through our online form here or by phone at 770-667-5300. And check out our promotions by clicking here (including $200 off any Reme Halo Whole Home Air Purifier) to see how you can save.