Our most important nutrient
So anyone who is a cool kid these days is pounding down their triple organic kale smoothies and rocking health and wellness like it’s no one’s business... right?
There are so many different theories on the best way to eat, the best colours to eat and the best time to eat but are we getting the best of our most important nutrient?
Oxygen
Sounds crazy right, not exactly something we need to order at the juice bar is it, but should it be?
Let's just appreciate for a minute that we can live weeks without food, days without water, but only seconds without oxygen and that it is essential for every cell in our body. However these days people aren't getting enough good, clean oxygen and here’s why:
Reports are showing that your average person can spend up to 90% of their time indoors and that the toxicity levels inside our offices are higher than the air outside and shockingly even the air in our children's classrooms can be up to 6 times more toxic than the air outside.
Many factors influence this but being surrounded by plastics, air conditioning and invisible chemicals from office equipment, machinery combined with a poorly ventilated space will do it. Let’s just say we throw in a 'plug in' air freshener and now we have the release of chemicals like phthalates, formaldehyde and naphthalene into the air which have been shown to aggravate asthma and potentially affect reproductive development, especially in babies and children.
Not good!
So what can we do? Here are some simple steps we can do to improve our air quality.
Air out your home daily
Opening windows and doors to encourage airflow and increase oxygen. This is also important in winter with the increased use of heaters.
Deep breathing exercises
The body uses the lungs as part of its detoxification process, deep breathing helps to clear the lungs and help to oxygenate the blood which also helps you feel better and more energetic. Deep breathing is simply breathing gently into your diaphragm for about 5 breaths, no need for crazy inhalations or more than a few breaths and it can be done anywhere.
Make use of air-filtering plants
A simple search of the NASA study of air-filtering plants will quickly link you to the charts showing the plants that will do the dirty work for you. Here are some of the best
Peace Lily (Spathiphyllum 'mauna Loa) not only is this plant affordable and pretty, but it also takes all the big nasties such as Benzene, Formaldehyde, Trichloroethylene, Xylene, Toulene and Ammonia.
Florist Chrysanthemum (Chrysanthemum Morifolium) Another flowering and affordable plant that filters a wide range of nasties from the air.
English Ivy (Hedera Helix) This plant has also been shown to remove 60% of airborne mould and 58% airborne faeces in just 6 hours.
Exercise outdoors
Leave the office for lunch or walk instead of driving. Seems obvious but there are real benefits to swapping out a gym session for an outdoor workout or going all out with a mountain hike, bush walk or beach swim.
Salt Lamps
To be honest the effectiveness of these lamps is really reduced to a small amount of space however they are the perfect companion on your office desk or next to your bed in a small bedroom.
use Air Filters
A HEPA filter will take the particulate out of the air like dust, skin and pollen and a negative Ioniser will produce negative ions in the air that bind to pollutants, mould and potential allergens. These are more heavy-duty measures you can take to tackle pollution in the home or office.
Move to the beach and surf daily
I'm kidding! but yes if you can do it, you should!
Spend a minute now thinking about the quality of the air you breathe daily, the machines you sit next to, the plastic office equipment you are surrounded by and the time you spend in gas heating or the plug-in air fresheners? Can you get it a bit clearer? I certainly think these conversations are important in your workspace or even in relation to your child's classroom if need be. Oh and please never use a plug-in air freshener.
http://www.worldwatch.org/node/5378
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4133758/
https://breathing.com/