Have you ever stopped to think about the air you’re breathing indoors? Whether at home, in the office, or anywhere else, indoor air quality (IAQ) plays a massive role in your health and comfort. Today, we will shed light on the crucial issue of indoor air quality and how to ensure the air around you is as clean and healthy as possible.
This post will explore the importance of maintaining good indoor air quality, the common pollutants affecting it, and practical tips for improving the air you breathe daily. By the end, you’ll know how to create a healthier indoor environment for yourself and those around you.
What You’ll Learn
- Importance of Indoor Air Quality: Understand why good indoor air quality is crucial for your health and well-being.
- Common Indoor Pollutants: Learn about the typical pollutants that can compromise indoor air quality and how they can affect you.
- Tips for Improving IAQ: Discover practical strategies for improving the air quality in your indoor spaces and ensuring a healthier environment.
Introduction
Since the energy crisis of the 1970s, building construction has focused on minimizing energy loss by constructing airtight buildings with artificial ventilation. Unfortunately, this has contributed to a degradation of air quality inside such buildings. According to the EPA, indoor levels of pollutants may be up to 100 times higher than outdoor pollutants and have been ranked among the top five environmental risks to the public (Seguel et al., 2017).
Although recent certification initiatives such as the WELL Building Standard (International WELL Building Institute, 2021) establish requirements that promote clean air and reduce or minimize the sources of indoor air pollution, there is still more work to do.
Sick Building Syndrome (SBS)
SBS describes a medical condition in which people in a building suffer from symptoms of ill health or feel unwell for no apparent reason. As the inhabitants spend more time in the building, the symptoms increase in severity. The symptoms become less or even disappear when they are away from the building.
SBS results in substantial disruption of people’s work performance and personal relationships. It can also seriously affect productivity. The problem is widespread. It may occur in offices, homes, hospitals, restaurants, schools, and daycare centers.
Although the cause-effect relationship is unclear, it is possible to modify affected buildings, and new buildings have a good chance of avoiding these problems.
Symptoms of SBS
Although the symptoms associated with SBS are often broad-based and non-specific, they can be divided into various categories:
- Dry symptoms – stuffy nose, dry throat, dry skin (Wolkoff, 2018)
- Allergic symptoms – runny or itchy nose, watery, itchy eyes
- Asthma – tight chest
- General symptoms – lethargy and headache, nausea, reduced memory.
Physical Factors to Consider with Indoor Air Quality
The main factors affecting the air quality inside a building are the generated contaminants combined with the physical conditions. Temperature, humidity, and air movement can contribute to general discomfort. It is also essential to consider that comfort is a primarily individual perception. Optimal humidity ranges indoors are between 40 percent and 60 percent. The skin becomes dry below a relative humidity of 20 percent, and mucous membranes feel dry and itchy. If the relative humidity rises about 80 percent, fungal and bacterial contamination may become more prevalent. Air movement can also affect an occupant’s comfort. Air movement near the feet gives the feeling that the area is drafty.
Contaminants
The primary contaminants that contribute to inadequate indoor air quality and may affect the prevalence of SBS can be divided into ten main areas:
- Asbestos and fiberglass
- Carbon monoxide
- Electromagnetic radiation
- Endotoxins and mycotoxins
- Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs)
- Environmental Tobacco Smoke (ETS)
- House dust mites
- Radon
- Other chemical products.
Investigating the Indoor Air Quality Issue
When investigating an indoor air quality issue, it is crucial to begin with an initial survey to;
- Identify signs and symptoms of ill health
- Investigate the ventilation system
- Survey the pattern of occupancy and complaints
- Generally, discuss the nature of problems.
Some preliminary measurements of temperature, humidity, and airflow patterns may also be helpful. To enable the collation of information, a detailed questionnaire may be utilized for a large workforce or at large premises. A thorough site survey should follow this (although this will depend on the initial study results).
A detailed site survey will involve:
- Measuring ventilation and reviewing air purification methods (Kelly & Fussell, 2018)
- Obtaining detailed information about the temperature, humidity, and carbon dioxide levels, including reviewing facility management data/data from the Internet of Things (IoT) (Marques et al., 2019; Pitarma et al., 2017)
- Measuring for individual contaminants
- Sampling for airborne microbial contaminants and those in reservoirs or on surfaces
- Identifying possible sources of contaminants (both indoors and outdoors).
Summary
Data analysis from an indoor air quality investigation will depend upon the appropriate guideline or standard chosen. The data may be analyzed by comparing conditions between indoor and outdoor situations or correlating the data with symptoms or complaints.
Helpful Resources
- Managing Indoor Air Quality, by H.E. Burroughs and Shirley Hansen
- Indoor Air Quality, by Kathleen Hess-Kosa
Bibliography
International WELL Building Institute. (2021). WELL Certification. International WELL Building Institute. https://legacy.wellcertified.com/en
Kelly, F., & Fussell, J. (2018). Improving indoor air quality, health and performance within environments where people live, travel, learn and work. Atmospheric Environment, 200, 90-109. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S1352231018308410
Marques, G., Ferreira, C. R., & Pitarma, R. (2019). Indoor Air Quality Assessment Using a CO2 Monitoring System Based on Internet of Things. Journal of Medical Systems volume, 43(67). https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007%2Fs10916-019-1184-x
Pitarma, R., Marques, G., & Ferreira, B. R. (2017). Monitoring Indoor Air Quality for Enhanced Occupational Health. Journal of Medical System, 41(23). https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10916-016-0667-2
Seguel, J. M., Merrill, R., & Seguel, D. (2017). Indoor Air Quality. American Journal of Lifestyle Medicine, 11(4), 284-295. https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/1559827616653343
Wolkoff, P. (2018). Indoor air humidity, air quality, and health – An overview. International Journal of Hygiene and Environmental Health, 221(3), 376-390. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1438463917306946
