What you do with your clothes at home could impact your air quality.
It’s no secret that the air we breathe when we go outside isn’t the best quality, especially if you live in a city or built-up area that has a lot of cars and other polluters. But did you know that your indoor air quality could be even worse?
Factors such as poor ventilation, chemicals from cleaning supplies and paints, and burning fuel for cooking or in a fireplace can all worsen the air quality in our homes. In fact, even radon, a naturally occurring gas that comes from the ground as the earth decays, can worsen air quality and accumulate inside buildings.
According to the NHS, indoor air pollution can cause short-term respiratory symptoms and worsen asthma in those who already have it. In the long term, it can affect the lungs, heart, and blood vessels, leading to stroke, heart attack, or lung cancer.
But one toxicologist on TikTok has claimed there’s one thing we can all do to improve our indoor air quality without making any changes to our homes. It all comes down to what you do with your clothes when you get home.
Doctor Yvonne Burkart told Steven Bartlett on his Diary of a CEO podcast that one of the easiest ways to improve indoor air quality is to take your shoes off as soon as you get inside.
She said: “This shocks a lot of people but there are simple ways to improve your indoor air quality, and one of them is taking off your shoes. Not wearing your outside shoes in your home. That doesn’t mean you have to go barefoot. You can wear slippers, you can wear other shoes that are specifically meant to stay indoors.
“That’s because shoe soles are vectors for faecal material, pathogenic bacteria and viruses, heavy metals, industrial chemicals, pesticides, things that are outside and should stay outside.”
In the podcast clip shared on TikTok, Dr Burkart also said that opening your windows to increase ventilation is key – even in the winter. This doesn’t mean having your windows open all the time, but promoting air flow when you’re cooking or for a few minutes every day can improve your overall air quality.
She added: “People are not adequately ventilating their homes when doing things like cooking. Cooking generates particulate matter too. But do we need to stop cooking? No.
“We need to prioritise what’s important and what’s not important. Burning candles, for example, how important is that to you? Make sure you choose a better candle, and make sure you’re opening the windows.”
Commenters on the video were torn on the advice, because while some said they always open a couple of windows in their home to create a flow of air, others said they wouldn’t be able to cope with having a window open in the winter.
One person said: “My mum taught me to always open two windows. One in the front, one in the back. Create air flow. Even in winter, even in the summer.”
Another added: “This is not realistic in actual cold places – our heating would constantly be turning on if windows were open.”