While your skin and hair are direct targets for airborne pollutants, your overall health is also indirectly affected. You may be wondering where these pollutants come from and how to get rid of them.
Indoor Air Quality and Health
Within your home environment there are varying degrees of dust, mold, fungi and bacteria. Additionally, there are other chemicals, gases, vapours, and odours that can become airborne and circulate within the air you breath. Poor ventilation and high temperatures causes these pollutants to build up in your environment. When exposed to these pollutants over the long term, they may cause you to become sick or may cause other conditions. In fact, some studies have even shown that poor air quality can contribute to premature aging, hair loss, and eczema.
Indoor Air Quality and Skin (2)
Your skin is a protective barrier and the body’s first defense against bacteria and toxins from the outside world. Keeping one’s skin happy and healthy may help in their overall well-being. That being said, the skin is one of the main targets for airborne pollutants. Being the main target signifies that the skin suffers repeated “abuse” from being in direct contact with these airborne enemies.
The skin is also indirectly affected when you inhale these pollutants. When inhaled, these pollutants end up in the blood stream. As the blood circulates the pollutants are distributed throughout the body and within the tissue. As a result, the pollutants don’t only affect the superficial layers of the skin. The pollutants make their way into deeper skin layers and into the system, wreaking havoc over time.
While the skin is very resilient, long term exposure can result in disturbances to skin metabolism and can cause inflammation and oxidative stress which leads to premature aging. Long term exposure can also result in a variety of other skin conditions such as hyperpigmentation, wrinkles and spots!
Hair There and Everywhere! (9)
The hair, similarly to the skin, is also one of the first protective barriers between the outside world and the body. Constant exposure to poor air quality can affect one’s hair and scalp health and can eventually lead to “sensitive scalp syndrome”. This syndrome manifests as pain at the roots, oily scalp, dandruff, itchiness, hair loss and a prickling sensation on the scalp. This is because, like the skin, the scalp is in direct contact with these pollutants. These pollutants land on the scalp and are inhaled. They make their way into the tissue of the scalp and within the hair follicle itself. As a result, one may feel irritation and the damage may cause inflammation, as well as oxidative stress.
The good news is that a “care program” has been studied to reverse the hair loss and treat the syndrome:
- Taking supplementary antioxidant
- Regular hair washing with non-medicated shampoos
- Consistent application of coconut oil to the hair shaft
Time Spent Indoors
Before the pandemic it was estimated that we spent around 90% of our time in public and private indoor environments (Leech et al., 2002). At the time of writing, it’s probably more around 98-99% of our time thanks to COVID-19! As such the quality of our indoor air is more important than ever. It is well established that poor indoor air quality increases the risk of a variety of respiratory disorders and can worsen many others (i.e. sinus infections, asthmas etc.).
Air Quality and Overall Health
Illnesses and acute symptoms can be linked to indoor air quality and content. The Canadian Center for Occupational Health and Safety ( CCOHS) give some examples of illnesses and symptoms that may be linked to air quality.
- Sick Building Syndrome (SBS) or Tight Building Syndrome (TBS) refers to cases in which building occupants experience adverse symptoms depending on the time they spend in the building.
- Building-Related Illness (BRI) refers to cases in which individuals become ill after being in a building at a certain time, this is a less frequent occurrence, but is very serious.
- Multiple Chemical Sensitivities (MCS) refers to the percentage of workers who react negatively to a specific chemical within the indoor air.
Individuals commonly report the following symptoms after having spent several hours within a building with poor air quality:
- dry and itchy eyes
- irritation of the nose, throat, and skin
- headaches
- fatigue/tiredness
- trouble breathing/shortness of breath
- hypersensitivity and allergies
- sinus congestion
- coughing, wheezing and sneezing
- dizziness, and nausea
Chronic exposure to airborne pollutants also result in several health conditions overtime including cardiovascular diseases, respiratory disorders and diseases such as asthma.
Additionally, according to the CCOHS, individuals can even become sensitive to these pollutants over time! This is all the more reason to pay attention to the air you breathe! While there are a variety of cosmetics on the market to help combat the effects of pollution on skin health, prevention is better than a cure!
So, What’s the Solution?
The obvious solution is to reduce the concentration of airborne pollutants. The question is how? Well, here are 3 easy ways to go about this:
1. Crack open a window!
Opening up your window is a cheap, quick and easy way to vastly cut down on circulating dust, bacteria, odours, chemicals and so on and so forth. In fact, the CCOHS even regards insufficient indoor-outdoor air exchange as a major contributor to poor indoor air quality! According to one study, poor ventilation and high ambient temperature contributed to an immense increase in pollutant build up and pollutant emissions, respectively. Which is all the more reason to bust open that window and let in a crisp cool breeze! (Kim et al., 2014)
2. Consider Investing in an Air Purifier!
Indoor air purifiers are widely available and are generally affordable. Research does show that they are effective (Yoda et al, 2020). In order for the air purifiers to work optimally and be as effective as possible, one needs to ensure that the filter is often maintained and cared for. Additionally, dusting one’s house and ensuring cleanliness will help in removing the airborne pollutants.
Keeping your home environment clean is a great way to reduce the presence of bacteria (Apt & Salvi, 2016). Furthermore, apparently the placement of your air purifier is also very, very important! The general rule of thumb is to place it in an open area, away from corners, where flow is greatest (i.e. hallways or doorways) (Medical Advisory Secretariat, 2005). With proper placement, you can increase the efficiency of the air purifier by up to 20%! (Medical Advisory Secretariat, 2005).
3. Introduce a Little Green!
Plants have been used for centuries as a lovely addition to the bedroom but they’re more than just decorations! Plants have been found to not only help improve air quality but also alleviate physical fatigue (Kim et al., 2014). Moreover, multiple studies have also shown that plants also have many benefits to mental health and even increase productivity! (Lohr & Pearson, 1996).
Plants rid the air of these pollutants by absorbing them through direct contact between the air and the leaf over the course of the day. Plants actually use these airborne substances by breaking them down and using the microbes to make energy and supplement their growth ( Giese et al., 1994). Therefore, having your little green friend around helps the both of you in your growth!
Where you place your plant makes no difference. That being said, having one plant isn’t enough to reep all the air filtration benefits! The more plants, the more you may feel the positive effects on your well-being. Some examples of great plants to have around are:
- Dracaena Trifasciata
- Parlour Palm
- Money Tree
- Peace Lily
- Pothos
- Dumb Cane
- Rosemary
- Spider Plants
- English Ivy and many more!
Most of these plants can easily be found in your local grocery store, are affordable, and come in all shapes and sizes! While you may be disinclined to have plants due to the frequent watering, you may want to remind yourself of all the good they will also bring you!
Wrap Up
The air quality inside your home may have negative effects on one’s overall well-being, skin, or hair. To reduce the concentration of airborne pollutants within an indoor space, you may consider opening a window, or purchasing plants and a purifier that can absorb the toxins in the air.
Acknowledgement
We recognize that it may not be everybody’s reality to invest in the proposed solutions to help reduce airborne pollutants within your home. We present the research and hope people will come up with conclusions of their own, given their reality.
References
- Apte, K., & Salvi, S. (2016). Household air pollution and its effects on health. F1000Research, 5, F1000 Faculty Rev-2593. https://doi.org/10.12688/f1000research.7552.1
- Araviiskaia, E., Berardesca, E., Bieber, T., Gontijo, G., Sanchez Viera, M., Marrot, L., Chuberre, B., & Dreno, B. (2019). The impact of airborne pollution on skin. Journal of the European Academy of Dermatology and Venereology : JEADV, 33(8), 1496–1505. https://doi.org/10.1111/jdv.15583
- Canadian Center for Occupational Health and Saftey (2016) Indoor Air Quality-General. Taken from :https://www.ccohs.ca/oshanswers/chemicals/iaq_intro.html#:~:text=IAQ%20problems%20may%20arise%20from,Insufficient%20outdoor%20air%20intake.
- Giese, M., Bauer-Doranth, U., Langebartels, C., Sandermann, H. Jr. (1994) Detoxification of formaldehyde by the spider plant (Chlorophytum comosum L.) and by soybean (Glycine max L.) cell-suspension cultures. Plant Physiol, 104(4), 1301-1309. https://doi.org/10.1104/pp.104.4.1301
- Kim, H. H., Yang, J. Y., Lee, J. Y., Park, J. W., Kim, K. J., Lim, B. S., Lee, G. W., Lee, S. E., Shin, D. C., & Lim, Y. W. (2014). House-plant placement for indoor air purification and health benefits on asthmatics. Environmental health and toxicology, 29, e2014014. https://doi.org/10.5620/eht.e2014014
- Lohr VI, Pearson-Mims CH. (1996). Particulate matter accumulation on horizontal surfaces in interiors: influence of foliage plants. Atmos Environ, 30(14), 2565-2568. https://doi.org/10.1016/1352-2310(95)00465-3
- Leech, J.A., Nelson, W.C., Burnett, R.T., Aaron, S., Raizenn, M.E. ( 2002). It’s about time: a comparison of Canadian and American time-activity patterns. J Expo Anal Environ Epidemiol. 12(6), 427-32. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/12415491/
- Medical Advisory Secretariat (2005). Air cleaning technologies: an evidence-based analysis. Ontario health technology assessment series, 5(17), 1–52. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/23074468/
- Rajput, R. (2015). Understanding Hair Loss due to Air Pollution and the Approach to Management. Hair: Therapy & Transplantation, 5(1). http://dx.doi.org/10.4172/2167-0951.1000133
- Yoda, Y., Tamura, K., Adachi, S., Otani, N., Nakayama, S. F., & Shima, M. (2020). Effects of the Use of Air Purifier on Indoor Environment and Respiratory System among Healthy Adults. International journal of environmental research and public health, 17(10), 3687. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph17103687
