Everyday things around your house for improving health

**Snake Plissken** · Posted On: 1/12/2009 11:40am

So as I was doing some normal household chores this weekend, I got to thinking about how, over time, I have developed little tweeks in our home to try and improve our health and thought that, together, we could pool information for some "definitive living" suggestions.

Air Filters:

Make sure you change your air filters regularly.

I use a 3M Filtrete Micro Allergen 1000 which is a Merv 11 and change them every 3 months, which is the recommended usage. In the summer and spring months, I use the 1250, which has a greater filtering capacity.

I use filters both in the air register returns as well as a washable filter at the actual furnance. I have had service techs tell me not to use both, but the owners of the heating and cooling company suggested it and stand by this practice.

Dirty air filters will increase the amount of dust and other allergens (pollen and pet dander) within the house which in turn will increase the amount of this things you are breathing.

Make sure you use good quality filters and change them regularly.

Air Purifiers:

I have 3 air purifiers in the house and all three are Sharper Image Ionic Breezes. I have used other air purifiers and have found these to be the most sturdy.

Living in the desert, dust and pollen get to be just unbearable at times and the usage of air purifiers tend to help.

Humidifiers:

During the summer months, we will put a humidifier in our son's room at night to put a little moisture in the air while he is sleeping.

Vacuum Cleaners:

Make sure you change your vacuum bag often to reduce the recycling of dust and other particulates in the air.

Change the bag outside or in the garage to reduce the possiblility of secondary dust transfer.

We have a Dyson, which is just great, but it is a bagless vacuum, so we make sure to empty the cannister in the garage.

Water Filters:

I know there have been alot of studies about bottled water and tap water, however, our area, in the last couple of years, have had two seperate incidents where they suggested we "Boil" our water or not drink the tap water for a few days.

One was small traces of Benzine (if memory serves) and another for some manner of protozoa.

If you can swing a reverse osmosis system, do it. The water tastes better and is supposed to be safer to drink.

Make sure you change the filters on a regularly scheduled interval.

Household Cleaners:

If you can use "natural" alternatives to many household cleaners, it may end up being safer in the long run.

Simply Green, is supposed to be safe, non-toxic and enviornmentally sound. I hate the fucking smell, but use it from time to time.

I also use vinegar for window cleaning and have begun using the "Greenworks" line of cleaners and X-O Odor Neutralizer.

I try to keep in mind what I am putting on my counters and such will possibly go into my food.

Pillows:

jnp and I had discussed this on another thread:

you pretty much spend a third of your day asleep, make sure it is restful and counts.

I began using a Tempurpedic memory foam pillow a few years ago and it really helps my neck. It provides support and yet is still comfortable and I pretty much wake up in the same position I fall asleep in.

Especially considering the beating your neck takes in training, it can lead to other injuries and ailments: back and shoulder pains, headaches.....

They are pretty expensive, but I think they are worth it. Try finding them on E-Bay where they are less expensive.

Bed:

Same as the pillow, except for your whole body.

Make sure you bed isn't too firm or too soft. Again we spend a third of our time asleep in bed and it is the time our body begins resting and healing for another go-round.

I have a "Select Comfort Sleep Number Bed" and I really can't remember getting a full decent night's sleep before it.

I would wake up feeling like I hadn't gotten any sleep and felt as beaten or worse as when I went to sleep. I tossed and couldn't find a comfortable position, would have a sore back, sore neck or headaches from the "pillow top" mattress we had before.

As I had posted previously, I was pissed when my wife spent the money, but it was worth every cent and I have difficulty getting restful sleep in a hotel.

These are just a few off the top of my head and hope everyone can correct any misinformation I may have posted, submit their own ideas or expand upon those I have listed.

We spend hours training up our bodies and if any of these small suggestions to improve upon our time away from training and improve ourselves, it is all worth it.

**AeroChica** · Posted On: 1/12/2009 9:27pm

Sign up for the Enviromental Working Group's newsletter at www.ewg.org. I love these guys - they put some real science in to finding ways to improve health. No hippy-hysteria here - they use the statistics and the studies to back up their findings, and work hard to keep regulatory bodies in line. They were largely responsible for bringing the concerns about bpA to the forefront over the last year.

I love their Shoppers Guide - the recognize that most people cannot choose to buy all organic food, so through thousands and thousands of samples, they have found the 12 most frequently contaminated foods and the twelve least often contaminated ones, and published a list. For example, don't waste your money on organic bananas to avoid pesticides - they don't have much, but it's worth it to get organic tomatoes and peaches.

They also put out a very comprehensive database of sunscreens and another one of personal care products (shampoo, moisturizers, etc), carefully breaking down what chemicals are in each, what risks are associated with them, and if you should be concerned or not (did you know there are about 5 different trade names for formaldehyde, and that most shampoo contains it? Yikes). It helped me to choose the best sunscreen to use on my kids, and know it would actually work to protect them.

***jnp*** · Posted On: 1/12/2009 10:03pm

Air Filters: Change your air filters every month, regardless of how long they say they will last. My dad is a minor indoor air quality expert. Those filters continue to function properly for three months under ideal laboratory conditions only. Pets are never part of the laboratory experiment by the way.

Household cleaning supplies: I use alcohol wipes to clean most of the surfaces in my home. Bleach and vinegar round out my cleaning supplies. I know many people don't like using bleach, but it's not nearly as bad as many other cleaning compounds. Did you know you can sterilize a gallon of water with a capful of bleach and then drink it? It won't help you if there's arsenic or heavy metals in the water, but you won't have to worry about giardia.

The main thing I stay away from is resonating compounds like benzene (not found in cleaning products) or alpha-pinene (it's in pine-sol). Resonating compounds are not good for animal tissue, whether you're a slug or a human. Thanks sophomore level organic chemistry.

Products that are sold to blow dust off of electronics are full of pretty toxic chemicals. I refuse to use those in my house.

Vacuum: I use a vacuum cleaner with a HEPA filter. The filter has to be replaced once a year, and is expensive as hell. The vast majority of vacuums suck up particulates only to spit out almost all of the dust and dust mites in a nice distribution pattern.

Indoor Air Quality: Lastly, one of the best and cheapest things you can do to promote indoor air quality is to have indoor plants. NASA performed a study many years ago to find out what plants were most efficient in "scrubbing" the air clean of impurities. I can't remember the whole list, but Pathos Ivy's were in the top five. They are sold all over the U.S. and are hard as hell to kill. I have one that's over fifteen years old and has survived some pretty impressive plant trauma.

**TheRuss** · Posted On: 1/13/2009 12:02am

Good thread. Let me try one.

Toothbrush: Good oral hygiene reduces your chances of getting sick in all sorts of interesting ways (one of the first Google hits is for pancreatic cancer). That's the good news. The bad news, in two words: toilet aerosol (lots of other interesting stuff at that link, check it out). So either put the lid down or move the brush out of range. Also, change toothbrushes regularly.

***jnp*** · Posted On: 1/13/2009 12:21am

You should also clean your toothbrush once a week by soaking it in hydrogen peroxide. See the tiny bubbles? That's the cell walls of some of your former mouth bacteria rupturing. Lyse, lyse baby.

Edit: Oh jesus, you guys made me bust out the science rap.

**Hiro Protagonist** · Posted On: 1/13/2009 4:10am

Very good info here! Thank you all very much!

***Cassius*** · Posted On: 1/13/2009 5:56am

Snake: You watch a lot of infomercials, don't you?

**oldman34** · Posted On: 1/13/2009 6:24am

Originally Posted by Snake Plissken

I use filters both in the air register returns as well as a washable filter at the actual furnance. I have had service techs tell me not to use both, but the owners of the heating and cooling company suggested it and stand by this practice.

Owners of these types of companies know very little about HVAC. Trust the techs on this one. This can cause some long term problems with the compressor and indoor fan motor.

Trust me here.

You are better off getting an electrostatic air filter that can be washed or getting an electronic air filter installed.

Originally Posted by Snakeepoo

Water Filters:

I know there have been alot of studies about bottled water and tap water, however, our area, in the last couple of years, have had two seperate incidents where they suggested we "Boil" our water or not drink the tap water for a few days.

One was small traces of Benzine (if memory serves) and another for some manner of protozoa.

If you can swing a reverse osmosis system, do it. The water tastes better and is supposed to be safer to drink.

Make sure you change the filters on a regularly scheduled interval.

Good idea. I use a Brita tap filter and have a filter in the refrigerator door water line too. My kids use a mouthwash/rinse that has flouride in it and they have a proper diet supplemented with vitamins to ensure that they are getting what little benefits tap water can provide. We have also had "boil alerts", about two a year, and Memphis is supposed to have some of the best aquifiers in the US.

Household Cleaners:

If you can use "natural" alternatives to many household cleaners, it may end up being safer in the long run.

Simply Green, is supposed to be safe, non-toxic and enviornmentally sound. I hate the fucking smell, but use it from time to time.

I also use vinegar for window cleaning and have begun using the "Greenworks" line of cleaners and X-O Odor Neutralizer.

I try to keep in mind what I am putting on my counters and such will possibly go into my food.

I use the Simply Green stuff.

Pillows:

jnp and I had discussed this on another thread:

you pretty much spend a third of your day asleep, make sure it is restful and counts.

I began using a Tempurpedic memory foam pillow a few years ago and it really helps my neck. It provides support and yet is still comfortable and I pretty much wake up in the same position I fall asleep in.

Especially considering the beating your neck takes in training, it can lead to other injuries and ailments: back and shoulder pains, headaches.....

They are pretty expensive, but I think they are worth it. Try finding them on E-Bay where they are less expensive.

I cant believe that you dont have a "pillow bag" on your pillow. It prevents dust mites from living in it, which can cause some allergy problems.

Bed:

Same as the pillow, except for your whole body.

Make sure you bed isn't too firm or too soft. Again we spend a third of our time asleep in bed and it is the time our body begins resting and healing for another go-round.

I have a "Select Comfort Sleep Number Bed" and I really can't remember getting a full decent night's sleep before it.

I would wake up feeling like I hadn't gotten any sleep and felt as beaten or worse as when I went to sleep. I tossed and couldn't find a comfortable position, would have a sore back, sore neck or headaches from the "pillow top" mattress we had before.

Same as pillow.

***Cassius*** · Posted On: 1/13/2009 6:26am

Compared to all of you, I am a dirty, dirty man who sleeps on a crappy mattress. Except I am constantly sweating, thus flushing toxins from my body. And I shower twice a day. And totally use mouthwash.

And tap water is delicious.

**oldman34** · Posted On: 1/13/2009 6:29am

Originally Posted by Cassius

Compared to all of you, I am a dirty, dirty man who sleeps on a crappy mattress. Except I am constantly sweating, thus flushing toxins from my body. And I shower twice a day. And totally use mouthwash.

And tap water is delicious.

And one day when you die, we will all be laughing at you and your filthy ways. Unless we die first.