The air in our homes can become very stale. This is not good for our health, nor that of the family and pets we dwell with.
In the work place, the quality of air and its temperature remains one of the comforts that employees complain about most frequently. People often complain that it's too cold or too hot. They will also complain with great passion that someone's perfume is too strong and will give them a headache, or that there are fumes from work being done that will make them sick.
Now consider the place we call our own castle. Our homes. What do you do to improve the air quality there?
I have an e-reader, and I enjoy exploring very old books free of cost, as you can download these for free. I am pretty sure you can go to google books and download any old book to your computer too. I have several books on housekeeping and faith issues. My curiosity of how people approached life in the past has provided me several hours of fascinating discovery.
In some respects, people have not changed much in terms of our struggles and temptations in life. People were trying to keep up with the proverbial Joneses 150 years ago, just like they do today.
Life styles and cultural expressions have most certainly changed though.
I discovered in several of my old books that the quality of air was as great a concern in the past as it is today. In fact, it was probably even a greater concern. Due to the fact that people burned fires in their homes, they were constantly fighting the soot from fires and the toxins released from burning fires.
Here is a quote from Progressive Housekeeping, written by: Catherine Owen - Copyright 1889.
"Space did not allow me, in speaking of the Monday routine to give details of the bed-room work. It is perhaps needless to say that, on leaving the room in the morning, the windows should be thrown open, top and bottom, the pillows put on the sill to air, and the sheets also. The mattress should be half turned over and left so until the bed is made up. In some very, very neat houses, especially in the country, the beds are made up very early. I have known the girls of a family to be brought up to make their beds before they leave the room. It looks neat and nice to leave a chamber in perfect order, but it is not a healthy custom. A bed requires at least an hour to air it. During the night exhalations from the skin pass into the bedclothes (I am afraid to say how much of these exhalations weigh, according to science, but it is something much larger than the unscientific mind can easily take in). If these bedclothes are thoroughly aired in the hot sun or wind, they pass out, but this cannot happen if the bed is made up again a few minutes after occupation, the mattress, in fact, still warm from it. This so-called very neat and tidy habit of anti-breakfast bed-making is, therefore, an unclean one. For myself, in warm weather I think the bed of an adult should be left a couple of hours before being made up."
Here also is some mention of air quality in The Young Mother, written by: William Andrus Alcott Copyright 1838 (4 quotes below from the chapter on ventilation of the nursery)
"Few people take sufficient pains to preserve the air in any of their apartments pure; for few know what the constitution of our atmosphere is, and in how many ways and with what ease it is rendered impure."
"In a nursery there is the mother and child, and perhaps the nurse, to render the air impure by breathing, the fire and the lamp or candle to contribute to the same result, besides several other causes not yet mentioned. One of these is nearly related to the former. I allude to the fact that our skins, by perspiration and by other means, are a source of much impurity to the atmosphere; a fact which will be more fully explained and illustrated in the chapter on Bathing and Cleanliness. It is only necessary to say, in this place, that it is not the matter of perspiration alone which, issuing from the skin, render the air impure; there are other exhalations more or less constantly going off from every living body; especially from the lungs; and carbonic acid gas is even formed all over the surface of the skin, as well as by means of the lungs.
One needs no better proof that carbonic acid is formed on the surface of the body, than the fact that after the body has been closely covered all night, if you introduce a candle under the bedclothes into this confined air, it will be quickly extinguished, because there is too much carbonic acid gas there, and too little oxygen. "
"Whatever may be the structure of the room the circumstances of the occupants, or the state of the weather, every nursery ought to be most thoroughly ventilated, once a day, at least; and when the weather is tolerable, twice a day."
and finally..."Fumigations with camphor, vinegar and other similar substances, have long been in reputation as a means of purifying the air in sick-rooms and nurseries: but they are of very little consequence. Fresh air, if it can be had, is always better."
Here is my musings on the matter. I think that because we heat our homes by means of either gas, propane or electricity, and we don't burn fires all the time, and for the most part we don't use dangerous chemicals in our homes, I suspect that most of us don't give much thought to the notion of airing our homes.
I had a co-worker who told me that his mother would once every month or so, even in the winter, turn off the heat and open EVERY WINDOW IN THE HOUSE to thoroughly air out the house for about 1 hour. An hour would significantly cool the house. She felt the small increase in the heating bill was far outweighed by the benefit of the fresh air in the home.
Since doing all of this reading, I must say that I now open windows every chance I get.
Between people and pets, I am sure there is lots of fresh air being used up all the time at home and at work or school, even before we add activities such as cooking or cleaning products or burning a candle because it's pretty. The more you allow yourself the freshest air possible, the more you will quickly notice when the air is stale.
Practical steps to cleaner air:
1. Check your furnace filter and make sure it is fresh.
2. Get your air ducts cleaned ( every 3-5 years. depends how busy your household is)
3. Open those windows every day and let some fresh air in. Open the kitchen window just a bit. Enough to allow some fresh air to pass through without quickly cooling the room and causing the furnace to click on.
4. Open your bedroom windows every morning for about 15-20 min. During this time, leave your bedding folded back in half so the mattress and pillows are exposed and can air out. By the time you have gotten dressed and done other parts of your morning routine, you can close up the windows and make the bed.
5. Keep up with your sweeping, dusting and vacuuming.
6. If possible, once a week open several windows on each floor of the house or in your apartment to allow as much fresh air to circulate through as possible.
Enjoy the gift of fresh air, it can be found in any part of the world!
Thanks for reading, and I wish you all good health.
Cassie
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