Why Are Air Purifiers Essential?

Believe it or not, even with the hustle and bustle of modern day living, most people still spend most of their days inside their homes - or at least, indoors. Even those people who consider themselves the outdoor-type still spend a lot more of their time looking at the four corners of a room than a green horizon under an expansive sky. This is not necessarily a bad thing. In fact, a lot of health care providers are advocating that people (especially very young children, the elderly and the infirm) spend a bit more time indoor, preferably inside architectural structures with working air purifiers.

This is a bit of a tradeoff from earlier beliefs that in order to gain better health, you need to spend more time outdoors. This shift in public opinion is due to the rising amount of pollutants in the air. Most congested cities are living under a blanket of smog, which contributes a lot to the increasing number of respiratory problems and life threatening air-borne diseases. According to the Environmental Protection Agency, particulate matter in the outdoor air we normally breathe contains allergens, chemicals (both toxic and non-toxic), gases, lung irritants, and volatile organic compounds (VOC). It is estimated that we literally breathe in 2 tablespoons of hazardous materials each day; and more so, if we spend more time outdoors breathing in unfiltered air. Even in areas where the nature thrives abundantly, like forests and nature parks, carbon dioxide hovers increasingly closer to the ground. Carbon dioxide in itself is a veritable poison to the human lungs.

Having an air purifier indoors therefore has several advantages. For starters, the intake of irritants and pollutants to the lungs are greatly reduced. It is said that 9 out of 10 breaths that a normal person takes comes from indoor air. That means a working air purifier should be able to strain out the most toxic particulate matter around. Additionally, purifiers limit the possibility of acquiring any kind of airborne diseases. For very young children whose lungs are still developing, or for the elderly and the infirm who may already have one or more types of respiratory related illness, purifiers make breathing easier to do.

Another advantage of having air purifiers indoors is that some of these machines have dehumidifier options. These options help keep mold and mildew at bay. Although the appearance of mold and mildew are usually treated by the application of chemical products, these may become respiratory hazards as well. Mold and mildew multiply by releasing microscopic spores into the air, and these can easily be inhaled or ingested. Likewise, the chemical fumes of harsh chemical products (although invisible to the naked eye and not usually detected by scent) also become part of the air that we breathe indoors. Purifiers with humidifier options thereby help eliminate these toxic materials from the air.