Your home is supposed to be your safe space, your safe haven, and the place where you can feel at peace, and it is for many people. But if you don’t take care of your home, it could be the very thing making you sick.

For quite some time, the world has been making efforts to reduce the pollution happening in the world when really, there is another form of pollution going on right inside our own homes. This is called indoor pollution. This can impact your overall health physically. On top of that, there are certain aspects of your home that impact your health mentally as well.

Your home environment plays just as significant of a role in your physical and mental health as the outside world. You already go through enough dealing with work, traffic, and other outside factors, that the last place that needs to bring you down is your own home.

The thing about unhealthy homes is that it’s not always clear to tell when your home is negatively impacting your health. In your mind, you’ve “always” had allergies and breathing problems… But how long have you had those issues? Could those issues truly be from having that condition or did you seem to have developed those issues recently?

If you don’t ask yourself these questions, it will be even more difficult to tell what’s causing the issues you’re having. Nonetheless, you should try to keep a healthy home anyway for preventive measures. Whether you realize it or not, here are some aspects of your home that could be making you sick and the solutions to them.

How Your Home Could Be Making You Sick and the Healthy Home Solutions

Having Clutter in Your Home

There are some people who can’t stand to see clutter in their home, and then there are those who don’t mind it and will look past it. Well, whether you like clutter or not, it’s a major contributor to feeling anxious and overwhelmed; it even can cause feelings of depression. Everything from clothes being left on the floor to bills sitting on the table, those are all components of cluttering your home and how it can impact your mental health.

Even your home’s décor can create clutter. All those cute little pigs you collect… They’re part of your clutter. That’s not saying to necessarily get rid of them, because they’re part of your collection, but you also don’t have to set every single one of them out.

Solution

Storage. Put things where they’re supposed to go. Put your clothes in the dirty clothes hamper, go paperless for your bills or put them in a drawer, or install shelves to put things where they need to go. The point is that everything should have a place and that will reduce your clutter tremendously.

Also, take a look at your knick-knacks… If you have too many, either store them away or sell/donate them. People fail to realize that those things are “dust collectors” anyway so if you don’t really need them, get rid of them.

Heating and Cooling Systems

Whether it’s the air to cool your home or heat it, the air flowing through your home could be impacting your health in a major way. When air conditioning runs to cool your home, it leaves traces of water in the ducts, making it the perfect breeding place for mold and bacteria. This might leave you with allergy-like symptoms, headaches, and breathing difficulties.

Plus, running your heating and cooling systems can cause stress and anxiety simpy because it does play a role in your electricity bills. In those hot summer months and cold winter months, people tend to see spikes in their electricity bills, but you have to run it to keep cool and keep warm.

Solution

Have your air ducts and heating systems cleaned and serviced every couple of years to ensure they operate more efficiently and cleaner. Also, be sure to change the filters in your A/C when it’s time to. This will improve the air quality of your home.

For the stress and anxiety associated with your heating and cooling systems, consider switching electricity providers in your area. For example, if you live in Connecticut, you could look for electric suppliers that offer electricity at lower rates.

Leaks in the Ceiling and Walls

Have you looked at your ceiling and walls and saw brown spots? That is a direct link to mold growing in your home. If you have asthma or other respiratory health problems, this is only going to intensify it.

Solution

Check areas like your closet, basement, pipes, and attic to see if you see any visible wet areas and dry and clean those areas. You’ll then want to contact a professional plumber or roofer to fix the source of the leaks. With the accumulation of mold, it’s what you can’t visibly see that should worry you the most. You might want to get a mold inspection as well.

Cleaning your home is the overall key to success, and it doesn’t have to be expensive either. From decluttering to checking for mold, we are in high-risk times, especially with the COVID-19 pandemic happening now. So you want to make every effort to maintain a clean home and keep yourself healthy to prevent trips to the doctor.

There’s no need to overwhelm yourself in your efforts either. Just take your time and go room by room to check your home; if you notice anything, get in contact with professionals to handle the matter.