Watch: Creating a Healthy Indoor Environment with Melanie Go
Why we should care?
• Building Biology is the impact of building environment on the inhabitants — humans and our health.
• Sick Building Syndrome is when the building, office, or home is the cause of your ailment.
• Indoor Environment is 2-5 times more toxic as the outdoor environment according to the EPA (Environmental Protection Agency)
• An average person spent 90% indoors at home or in the office and 100% during the quarantine or lockdown
General Toxins Indoor
1). Building physics and airflows toxin
2). Building and furniture materials toxin
3). Electro Magnetic Freq toxins from gadgets and WIFI
4). The chemicals, dirt, and dust we bring inside.
• Body Burden. The body has a built-in mechanism to detoxify but the rate of absorbing toxin is faster than excreting toxin.
• We are exposed to the toxins when we inhale, ingest, inject or absorb it in our skin.
How to Eliminate Toxins at Home?
Step #1: Know what the sources of the Toxins we Inhale
1). Particulates (fine particles) from carpet, stuff toys, curtains. dust, and smoke (smoking)
2). Biological pollutants from pollen, dander from pets, parts of insects, rodent pee, dust mites, mold
3). Volatile Organic Compounds (VOC) from fumes of personal care products, cleaning products like laundry soap, fabric conditioner, disinfectant, insecticides, or mothballs.
4). Furniture synthetic fabric and foam, particle boards, glues or adhesives, fire retardants, candles, or air freshers
Step #2: Focus on what we can do at home specially during the lockdown
• Don’t bring it more inside. Leave your shoes and worries at the door.
• As soon as you get home, change and take a shower
• Don’t bring toxic chemicals inside your home or replace with non-toxic equivalent.
Step #3: Ventilate your whole house.
• Flush the air every day. Create cross ventilation with openings for in-flow and out-flow on opposite sides of the room
• Bathrooms. Reduce humidity by drying damp area specially those with wood and paper so that it does not breed mold.
• Kitchens should have a proper exhaust system when cooking. Open the windows when cooking so that you don’t inhale the fumes from uncombusted gas or from the oil or whatever is in the pan.
• Cookware. Use traditional palayok, good quality stainless steel, glass or ceramic coated cookware. Avoid non-stick or aluminum cookware.
• Under the kitchen, under the sink. Make sure it is well ventilated and avoid rotting wood
• When waking up, let the bed and pillow air out by putting everything in the foot and don’t do your bed. Leave the bed open to breathe.
• You can add indoor plants but not in the sleeping areas and be mindful of the soil not to be damp
• Change beddings at least once a week.
• Change towels after 2x usage during the rainy season or longer when you dry it under the sun. Don’t leave it damp.
Step #4: Proper Cleaning
• Leave things under the sun, blankets, rug, mattress with natural UV light.
• Huwag mag-walis. Apart from a good vacuum, use a flat -fabric mop so that you can change it easily and dry it. Don’t use toxic chemicals but use water and vinegar and some essential oils.
• Clean the Aircon filter. Deep-clean the aircon using professional cleaning services with high-pressure water. Minimum twice a year to avoid making it a breeding ground of molds and bacteria.
• Molds at home. Don’t use toxic chemicals because the molds will excrete micro-toxins. Use simple soap and water.
BONUS Tips
• Don’t use Alcohol unnessarily — it gets absorbed by the skin and can still affect your liver. Use soap and water to clean your hands.
• Using UV Light to disinfect — it produces Ozone that touches the anaerobic bacteria. Pls don’t inhale the gas (which smells chlorine which is highly corrosive for the lungs and skin.
• Masks are a breathing ground for bacteria. Use an organic Cotton mask where you insert N95 or surgical mask so that you can wash it easily with soap and dry under the sun
Watch: Creating a Healthy Indoor Environment with Melanie Go
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To learn more, you can contact Melanie Teng-Go via her FB Melanie Teng-Go or IG @melanietgo