Our home is our comfort zone, a place to kick off our shoes, plop down on the sofa, and forget about the outside world. But how comfortable is your abode for allergens? Do dust mites dig that old sofa as much as you do? Do cockroaches share your fondness for cakes and cookies? Do mold spores love lingering in that warm, steamy shower, too? Those unseen and unwanted housemates can turn a happy home into a house of horrors for allergy sufferers. This article will focus on the ways to clean your home when you suffer from allergies. No area is overlooked. From the grimy garage to the dust-prone bedroom, we will tell you how to minimize your risk of agitating your allergies at home. We will begin with a few tips for allergy-proofing beginners.
Preparation is Important
Allergens can easily be tossed off the sofa, out of the kitchen, and away from your bathroom by allergy-proofing your home. A vital part of any allergy-treatment program, allergy-proofing the home takes some effort and time. But once you develop routines, implement housecleaning strategies, reduce allergens, and stick to a goal, you can breathe a sigh of relief...without sneezing, sniffling, or wheezing.
Dusting and Allergies
Never use a feather duster to dust. It only stirs up dust, adding more airborne allergens to your breathing space.
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Moderation is the key. (However, allergy sufferers need to tread on the cleaner side of moderate.) Try to cover the basics in allergy-proofing your home (for example, encasing all beds in mite-proof material), follow a regular cleaning schedule, and when possible, make additional improvements.
Allergy-proofing your home won't eliminate all allergens or all your symptoms. But, the more effort you give it, the better you'll feel.
Gearing Up
Ideally, an allergic person shouldn't be doing extensive housecleaning. The cleaning process, after all, stirs up the very allergens that provoke your symptoms. Unfortunately, life is such that unless you're fortunate enough to have an angelic housemate, a teenager who needs chore money, or the financial resources to hire a professional cleaning service, you'll have to do it yourself.
To rid your home of allergens, you need to be well-equipped. After all, you'll be nose-to-nose with sneaky spores, multitudinous mites, and drifting dander.
Here's how to best protect yourself:
- Wear a high-quality dust mask, which you can find at any hardware store. You may get sweaty under that mask, but which do you prefer: sweaty or sneezy? When working with harsh cleaning agents, you may consider donning a more expensive vapor mask.
- Wear junky clothes while cleaning and then wash them in hot water immediately after you're finished. Only hot water kills dust mites.
- Wear plastic gloves throughout the cleaning process.
- Use a damp rag to capture dust before it flies off.
- Use a vacuum cleaner that has a HEPA (High Efficiency Particulate Arrestance) filter. Allergists recommend HEPA-filter vacuums because they reduce airborne allergens by trapping dust mites and other small particles and don't re-release them into the air. This separates them from regular vacuum cleaners, which also take in dust, dirt, and allergens but unfortunately redistribute them back into the air.
- Take a shower after cleaning.
- Ask, employ, or bribe a family member or friend to do the real dirty work, such as cleaning the air filters and vacuuming underneath the bed.
Now that we've learned the basics, it's time to clean the space where you spend almost a third of your life -- the bedroom. The next section will focus on the ways you can allergy-proof the spot where you sleep.
| What's a Dust Bunny?If only dust bunnies were related to Bugs Bunny, they could at least amuse us. Instead, dust bunnies (the plural form is preferred as they travel in groups) are annoying clusters of dust particles that seem to be here, there, and everywhere. Bunnies are a complex mix of stuff that can include pet dander and fur; insect feces; insect body parts; fibers of such fabrics as wool, silk, and cotton; spider-webs; human dander and hair; mold spores; pollen; dirt; fiberglass particles; and dryer lint. Keep dust bunnies at bay with regular vacuuming and damp dusting. |
This information is solely for informational purposes. IT IS NOT INTENDED TO PROVIDE MEDICAL ADVICE. Neither the Editors of Consumer Guide (R), Publications International, Ltd., the author nor publisher take responsibility for any possible consequences from any treatment, procedure, exercise, dietary modification, action or application of medication which results from reading or following the information contained in this information. The publication of this information does not constitute the practice of medicine, and this information does not replace the advice of your physician or other health care provider. Before undertaking any course of treatment, the reader must seek the advice of their physician or other health care provider.
