Although you might not give it much thought, air quality has a big impact on your health. Good air quality is essential for humans, plants, and animals. Unfortunately, the air quality in your home can often suffer because of pollutants. Learn more about the science behind air quality and some easy tricks you can follow to improve air quality.

What Is Air Quality?

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In broad terms, air quality is the condition of the air around us. When air quality is good, it’s clean and free of pollutants and impurities. On the other hand, when air quality is poor, it can negatively impact the environment and your health. Although you might believe air quality only affects you when you step outside, researchers now say what’s more dangerous is indoor air pollution. This is because we’re spending more time indoors and the air inside is more concentrated.

Harmful Components of Air Quality

According to the Environmental Protection Agency, the harmful components of air quality come from three main sources: naturally occurring sources, mobile sources, and stationary sources. Naturally occurring sources include dust from windstorms and volcanic eruptions. Mobile sources include nearly every type of vehicle that moves, such as cars, trucks, buses, planes, and trains. Finally, stationary sources can include everything from large manufacturing businesses, like factories and power plants, to smaller facilities, such as degreasing operations and dry cleaners.

VOCs and Indoor Air Quality

Volatile organic compounds (VOCs) are one major harmful component of indoor air quality. VOCs are gases emitted from other products, and they come with a variety of short- and long-term health effects. Paints, cleaning supplies, aerosol sprays, pesticides, dry-cleaned clothing, furnishings, copiers, printers, and certain glues and adhesives all give off VOCs. Health effects can include eye, nose, and throat irritation; headaches; and damage to the liver and kidneys.

How Poor Air Quality Can Affect Your Health

While most air pollutants are gases, some are solid particles that are less than 1/7 of the width of a human hair. The problem with these microscopic particles is that the smaller they are, the deeper they can travel into your lungs when you breathe. Once these particles get inside your lungs, they can block the small tubes that carry air into the lung tissue, which can then cause a respiratory illness. Additionally, poor air quality can aggravate asthma; irritate your eyes, nose, and throat; cause shortness of breath; and even lead to heart and cardiovascular issues.

What You Can Do About It

While poor air quality is a serious threat, you do have options for fighting it. While you can’t control naturally occurring sources, you do have several options for improving indoor air quality inside your home. Conserving energy by turning off lights and electronics when not in use can cut down on pollutants produced by stationary sources. Plus, using your car less often can help with mobile sources.

Now that you understand the science behind air quality and its harmful components, you know what you can do to make sure you enjoy better air quality inside and outside your home.