If you're living in a big city, commuting to work, and exercising at the gym, chances are you'll be spending around 90% of your time indoors (CPSC, The Inside Story-A Guide to Indoor Air Quality, CPSC Document #454, US Consumer Product Safety Commission accessed 25/6/08). So, now more than ever, it's worth making your home as health-giving as you can.
We need to clear the air
Both at home and at work, indoor pollutants could be negatively impacting your health. What's more, when air circulation or exchange is reduced, these contaminants could be building up to potentially harmful levels.
Small particles from dust mites, cat fur, pollens, and moulds are often the source of indoor air quality issues. However, chemicals released by interior furnishings and building materials could also be to blame.
While the impact is varied in both scope and intensity, these airborne gases and particles could be giving your family itchy eyes, scratchy throats, respiratory illness, headaches, dizziness, or fatigue.[EPA 402/F-08/008, September 2008, Care For Your Air, A Guide to Indoor Air Quality].
Soak it up with soft furnishings Interior furnishings and textiles can act as ‘sinks’ to absorb these indoor pollutants. Because of their size and construction, carpets have a greater potential for gas absorption than other interior furnishings in the house. In particular, wool carpet can effectively purify indoor air by absorbing indoor air pollutants such as formaldehyde, nitrogen dioxide and sulphur dioxide.
From carpet and drapes to insulation, choosing natural fibres is an easy way to reduce harmful pollutants in your home.
Sleep soundly Sleep is an essential element in healthy living. We all know the benefits of optimising the quality and duration of each night’s shut-eye. Using a bedspread that’s made from wool is just one of the many ways you can set up your bedroom for a better night’s sleep (link to sleep article).
Hear me out While it may not be something you think about until your neighbour gets a drum kit, unwanted noise in your home can be a real pain in the ears.
Exposure to unwanted noise has been associated with hearing damage, sleep deprivation, impaired concentration and a range of other stress-related symptoms (Schust 2004).
In comparison to carpet, hard flooring options are less effective at dampening noise-pollution from in and around your home. In fact, a carpeted room will create 7-12 times less surface noise than bare tile floors (IWTO, 2010).
If you’re installing a home theatre system, the acoustic properties of your living room will become even more important. In this situation, your carpet can act as a buffer between the TV blaring in the living room and your baby that’s sleeping in the bedroom.
Wool carpet is a great way to minimise unwanted noise in your home. It essentially absorbs a portion of ambient sound being generated by footfall, passing traffic, or the budding musician next door. With wool carpet, you could be enjoying the sweet sound of silence (and, no, I don’t mean the song by Simon & Garfunkel).
As you can see, we’re anything but sheepish about the benefits of wool. Join the wool revolution and breathe easy in your quiet, woolly, health-giving home.
