If there is one place on earth where you expect to feel safe and secure, it should be your home. After all, this is your sanctuary, and no matter what else is happening in your life, no matter what trials and tribulations you might be experiencing at work or with friends and family members, you should be able to go home and feel at peace. Even if you work from home, you will ideally at least be able to shut the door on your home office and forget about things for a while in a happy, healthy environment.
Yet what if that environment is not a healthy one? What if your home is actually making you sick, or at least has the potential to do so? Although you might assume all is well and that you are safe at home, the reality is that there could be problems just around the corner or even already happening. With that in mind, here are some of the best ways to feel healthier at home. Read through the list and see if there are any changes you might need to make to ensure your home is the best place it can be.
Listen to Music You Love
Do you often have music playing in your home? If not, you might accidentally make your home an unhealthy (at least a little anyway) place to be. Of course, not having music playing all day is not going to make you sick, but if you can put on music from time to time, as long as it’s not going to distract you from what you’re meant to be doing, it can certainly help to boost your mood. It can also help to relax you, and this is good for your health as you’ll be less stressed. Since stress can lead to mental health problems as well as physical issues such as high blood pressure, migraines, and heart attacks, being less stressed is always a positive thing.
When you are at home, and you’re feeling down, or you just don’t know what to do, put some music on and see how you feel then. It’s highly likely that your mood will be improved, and you may even find you’re more productive when it comes to your work. Housework becomes an easier task when you have music to clean along to, and cooking the evening meal can be fun when you’ve got some great tunes on in the kitchen. Try adding more music to your life, and your home environment should improve.
Make the Air Healthy
You might assume that once you get inside your home, you’ll be safe from the pollutants in the air. However, in some cases, the air inside your house can have more pollutants than the air outside. This is due to the fact that once they get in, it’s hard for them to get out again. This is why you need to focus on the air purity of your home. Otherwise, you can get sick, and if you don’t do anything about your indoor air quality, you might find it’s a sickness that lasts for a long time.
Having green plants in your home is a good step in the right direction. These plants help to purify the air, and they look lovely, too, helping you feel more comfortable and relaxed in your home. You can also add mechanical air purifiers to speed up the process if you prefer or if you don’t like the idea of having to take care of plants and keep them alive – not everyone is happy to do this. Finally, you can have an air conditioning unit installed if you don’t have one. This will keep the air circulating and will remove pollutants more easily. If you already have an HVAC unit, have it serviced regularly to ensure it continues to work at its best.
If none of these things works, it’s wise to test for allergens to find out exactly why you’re still getting sick. Once you know what the issue is, you can put measures in place to reduce the problem.
No Shoes Indoors
How strict are you about wearing shoes indoors? Some people require guests to remove their shoes when they come in, whereas others are less concerned about this, and people are able to wear their shoes around the house. Although the latter might be a more relaxed way to live, the former is actually the healthier option.
If you think about it, shoes that have been worn outside will have pollutants attached to them. Not only does this include the dirt and mud you can see (which is why you might not want people to wear their shoes indoors in the first place), but plenty that you can’t see as well. If you don’t want your home to be full of germs and allergens from outside, having people take their shoes off as they enter and then keeping those shoes in a cupboard until they are needed again is the best solution.