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Five tips for creating healthier home and work environments
- Furnish naturally. Use paint with no lead, avoid carpeting and furnish floors with wood or ceramic tile. If you have to carpet, choose carpets made of cotton, wool or hemp, and use natural rubber underlay instead of foam. Upholster your furniture with organic fibers.
- Avoid noise pollution. Noise pollution causes an increase in stress hormones. These, in turn, raise blood pressure and blood lipid levels -- both significant factors in heart disease. If you have noisy neighbors or co-workers, ask them politely to turn the sound down. If that approach doesn't work, try blocking out the noise with earplugs or by listening to your favorite music with headphones.
- Grow plants and ensure your building is well ventilated. Indoor air can be much more polluted than outdoor air due to the increasing use of plastic and synthetic building materials and the air-tightness of modern buildings, which prevents fumes from escaping. Plants help to filter these harmful pollutants from indoor air. Remember to occasionally open the windows or otherwise ventilate your rooms, so that pollutants and allergens can't settle in one place.
- Clean your house regularly with natural cleaning products. Regular cleaning of home and office will lessen your exposure to dirt, dust, mould and other allergy-causing particulates. When cleaning, avoid using cleaning products with chemical additives, particularly sodium lauryl (laureth) sulphate, which is an irritant and potential carcinogen.
- Eliminate harmful chemicals from your home and workplace. Commercial cleaning products, garden chemicals, paint, solvents and transmission fluid all contain potentially harmful chemicals, as do many personal-care products like toothpaste, shampoo, soaps and deodorants. Read product labels, educate yourself about harmful chemicals and start to use more natural and environmentally friendly products.
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