Friday, August 23, 2013

Sleep Disorders and Indoor Air Pollution: Is There A Link?


Fortunately, the answer appears to be 'yes'. Sleep disorders such as sleep apnea, twitching, and snoring affect millions of people every day. Until now, sleep disorder causes have been primarily focused on abnormalities or malfunctions in the body, genetic causes, and obesity. However, as people are finding varying degrees of relief from sleep disorders by cleaning up the indoor air in their sleeping areas, indoor air pollution is now being seen as potentially the main culprit. And that's good news, because indoor air pollution is something that can be fixed fairly easily.

More and more, the occurrence of snoring or other sleep disorders is being found directly related to the amount of airborne particles / chemicals present in the air. As recently as March of 2012, there was a study done by American Innovative Research Corporation with people that have COPD, testing to see if reducing / eliminating indoor air pollutants had an effect on sleep. The results showed conclusively that the test subjects who had an air cleaning system in the sleeping area got relatively good or better sleep and had less breathing issues the following day. Similar results have been found with regard to snoring. By cleaning up the air pollution in the home, there is less irritation of the tissues in the airway, which reduces inflammation and allows the airway to remain more open (without these tissues touching while air goes past, which is what causes the snoring sound).

One air pollutant known to get in the way of 'good sleep' is mold. Mold produces spores and mycotoxins, both of which cause all sorts of allergy-type reactions when they enter the nose, throat, bronchial and lung areas. There are serious health issues that can result from prolonged exposure to mold, but the more obvious immediate problem is inflammation of the tissues in the airway, which is one thing that tends to cause sleep interruptions. Does mold have a link to sleep apnea? Mold in the home may not cause sleep apnea, but as Dr. Steven Park states,"if you have an underlying sleep-breathing problem such as obstructive sleep apnea, you'll be extra sensitive to molds compared with someone without sleep apnea." Wondering how to test for mold in your home? Simple mold air test kits are available to answer that question. These mold air test kits feature a test strip you rub on the wall, mail off in a postage paid envelope and in a few days you'll know for sure if your home has mold spores floating around, or not.

What else can you do to get good sleep? Well, instead of taking herbs, an easy, natural sleep aid is a quality air purifier that is 1) designed for removing mold spores / mycotoxins, and 2) quiet enough to be used in a sleeping area. One "sleep-oriented' air purifier that is we have found perfect for mold concerns and cleaning up the air in your home in general is the Blueair 450E. This air purifier features a powerful HEPA filter that removes up to 99.99% of particles, healthy negative ions to further purify the air, activated carbon to remove chemical vapors, and an available lifetime warranty. And it's very quiet. Don't forget, however, if you have mold, you may also have a leak somewhere where moisture has allowed mold to grow in your home and that's a problem that needs to be found and fixed. Let us know if you need more information on mold removal.

As always, if you have any questions, give us a call at 1-800-701-2513. The expert staff at Air Purifiers and Cleaners.com is standing by to help.

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