Ecology at home

ECOLOGY AT HOME
 Did it sometimes happen with you like this: you come from work to your lovingly repaired and furnished flat–– and it begins: running nose, dry throat, unpleasant feelings in the eyes, some inexplicable tiredness and dizziness, and you decide to visit the doctor at once after work. But in the morning, on the way to work everything disappears. And the whole working day you feel quite normal. Leaving your work, you didn’t experience a special tiredness and were ready to do a heap of home affairs. But at home everything begins anew: aching joints, pant, insomnia. May be, home atmosphere irritates? It seems, there is no reason: the apartment is lovingly repaired, furnished. And the relations in the family are normal. Such strange things may go on by days, months, years. And no doctor will be able to guess the reason. The only explanation – nerves.
 HOME ALLERGENS
Many of you are acquainted with such a phenomenon: running nose and eye irritation, not connected with the bad weather or catching cold. Most truly, it deals with something allergic. And such reactions may last for months and years, either failing, or deteriorating. But the enumerated things are their easiest manifestations. And nobody is ensured against such a calamity. In recent years more and more people became the victims of allergy:  poor ecology.,,
The way out is to arm oneself with the principle – “no one but you can help yourself”.  We should try to find the enemy – the allergen– and render it innocuous. Most often this enemy impudently has occupied our home in the way of dust particles –indestructible and elusive.
.WHAT DOES HOME DUST CONSIST OF?  Its composition is extremely motley. It may be pollen of the plants in blossom, capable to cause the sharp allergic reactions. But they, fortunately, pass almost without complications. The constant components are much worse – particles of prick and exhaust gases from traffic and industrious emissions. The particles of minerals and soil are less dangerous. Much worse is the rubber dust from the bus tiers, grated against the road.
And don’t think that you can defend your home by means of the close frames and doors, vacuum glazing. Particles of air in the room compress, and a new portion of air, carrying the dust from  earth, rubber and exhaust gases, easily penetrate into the microscopic chinks on the fourth-fifth floors due to the temperature vibrations :  in the cool time the air in the room compresses and the new portion of air, bringing dust, is sucked inside from the outside.
Unfortunately, the air in our homes, as a rule, is dustier, than outside, the more so, that the active dust source (don’t be surprised) are you yourselves.
.Do you know that home dust in 20% consists of the microscopic flakes of our skin, which are constantly getting off –up to 50 million a day – and are substituted by new ones. Little less constitute textile and paper fibers of our clothes, underwear, books. But the most unpleasant in the composition of home dust is the so called dust mite which feeds exceptionally by our skin flakes (they are not interested by the live skin). Until recent times it was considered that they are harmless for a man. But the trouble is that it is the release of the dust mites in the form of the tiniest particles, that is the most dangerous. The English scientists discovered in one gram of home dust up to 250 thousand of such particles. The dust mites penetrate into our apartments with air streams, brought by the clothes, footwear, furniture, carpets, mattresses and pillows. They also live in the soft toys. The vacuum cleaner helps, but little, because worked out air lifts together with the dust much more mire mites, than they are sucked into the dust collector, and they are spread still more actively. And the mites, got into the dust collector, immediately return back to the flat.  Probably, it would be wise at once to pour boiling water on the dust, contained in the collector. Now special steam vacuum cleaners are produced, where the dust mites are destroyed with the strongly warmed steam.
But if you don’t have such a vacuum cleaner, try to air the flat as often, as possible, especially arranging the draft. One more way to fight with the dust is heating the bed linen or, vice versa, freezing them outside. It is also useful frying them in the sun.
If someone in the family suffers from the dust allergy, then it is necessary to change the pillows, blankets and mattresses for the new ones without feathers or fir inside.
And of course, one can’t but mention that home pets also may serve the source of skin flakes, as well, as wool fibers and feathers. If you can’t do without them, then don’t at least allow them to get into your bedroom. Change woolen plaids, scarves, clothes for the synthetic ones. True, some of their kinds also happen to be allergic, but much less. Wash all linen in the hot water, which kills the mites not less, than once a weak. Clean the soft furniture with the vacuum cleaner. Regularly clean the soft toys and if it is possible, wash them in the hot water.
If there is a strong allergy in the family, better to take the carpets away from the rooms, where you spend much time .
MOLD, CAUSING INJURIES
  Some more bad components are contained in home dust – molds and their spores.  Mold, developing in our homes, appears in the places, where it is wet: in the bathrooms, under the kitchen sink, linoleum and carpet covers, in the cellars. The last investigations discovered mold fungi also in the air conditioning.
Mold is multiplied by microscopic spores, spread around the house by the air streams, causing the strongest reactions and chronic respiratory diseases. One of the American journals, mentioning about these undesirable dwellers in our homes, referred to them by the words: “they cause injuries”. How to defend ourselves against them?
Regularly wash in the bathroom the floor, walls and the bathtub itself with one fourth cup of bleaching powder in the bucket of water. It kills the mold.
Then wash the nylon curtains, and if you have plastic ones, then change them every 2 months. In the air conditioner wash its filters.
Don’t keep humidifier at home, the dust mites don’t like too big dryness and stop multiplying. Besides, some constructions of humidifiers may issue into the air, apart from mold spores, the tiny mineral particles, irritating the respiratory ways.
Many allergens are contained in the ecologically dirty houses. In the United States they are called “sick buildings”. These are mostly old constructions. But modern houses are also not quite harmless because of some modern decoration materials. We find allergens in the new furniture, household chemistry and appliances, paints for repairs and water in our taps.
So, to take care of our health we must do our utmost to find the ways to fight this enemy – allergens.