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5 Elements Of A Green & Healthy Home

You have probably heard of Green Building or Green Home – the concept about building that is resource-efficient and environmentally responsible by consuming less energy (it is all about cost saving only, really).

The concept of Green Building may be great but is the building truly green for your health? We are aware that the medical bill and health related expenses are high in Malaysia (they will continue to rise no matter what), to prevent health problems to arise IS COST SAVING . In this article, we will explore the 5 elements which helps families to spend less and creates a home free of health hazards.

1. DRY

What is it?

Water in your home can come from many sources. Water can enter your home by leaking or by seeping through basement floors. Showers or even cooking can add moisture to the air in your home. This moisture can encourage biological pollutants to grow.

What Should I do?

  • Prevent water from entering your home through leaks in roofing systems
  • Prevent rainwater from entering the home due to poor drainage around the outside of the home.
  • Check your interior plumbing for any leaking.

Why?

    • To prevent health hazards trigger by mould & moisture.
    • These health hazards include:
      – Eye & skin irritation,
      – Coughing,Wheezing
      – Asthma symptoms
      – Hypersensitivity pneumonitis

2. Clean

What is it?

VOCs (Volatile Organic Compounds) are potentially harmful pollutants, released by household items, including cleaning products and air fresheners. These have been associated with a range of adverse health effects, including asthma, eczema, reduced fertility, and cancer risk.

What Should I do?

  • Control the source of dust and contaminants (including knowing if the cleaning supplies you are using are organically made/free of man-made chemicals)
  • Create smooth and cleanable surface.
  • Reduce clutter.
  • Use effective wet cleaning.

Why?

    • To prevent health hazards from VOCs (Volatile Organic Compounds) which comes from cleaning supplies
    • Short-term (Acute) symptoms due to high levels of VOCs – Eye, nose and throat irritation – Headaches and dizziness – Nausea/vomiting – Worsening of asthma symptoms

Long-term (chronic) symptoms due to high levels of VOCs

    • Increased risk of cancer
    • Liver and kidney damage
    • Central nervous system damage

3. Geopathic Stress Hazard

What is it?

The existence of Geopathic Stress has been known for a few thousand years, maybe even since the beginning of mankind. Geopathic Stress is the distortion of natural radiation as it rises through the earth. An independently monitored experiment in Germany by Dr. Von Pohl has demonstrated a 100% correlation between cancer and Geopathic Stress Zones. The experiment was repeated in larger and smaller towns with always the same results – 100% correlation.

What Should I do?

  • Hire a building biology consultant experienced with geopathic radiation testing to identify Geopathic Stress Zones in your home especially bedrooms and living hall area.

Why

    • Identifying Geopathic Stress Zones can be tricky if you do not have the right expert with the right machinery as there are several underground sources which contribute to Geopathic Stress. It is best to hire a professional.
    • Sources of Geopathic Stress includes water veins, geological fault, and global grids.
    • Despite of the 100% correlation between cancer and Geopathic Stress Zones, Geopathic Stress Zones do not cause diseases directly but rather lower individual’s immune system to fight incoming diseases..
    • Symptoms of Geopathic Stress exposure:
      – Night sweat
      – Insomnia
      – Night cramps
      – Poor concentration
      – Feeling exhausted despite of many hours of sleep Symptoms of bruxism

4. Physically Safe

What is it?

Proper container labelling and storage of food ingredients or chemical Products reduced the rate of accidental consumption of dangerous substances by 60%. The risk of physical hazard can be reduced through substance labelling, proper storage, clearing children’s play area & installing smoke detectors in home.

What Should I do?

  • Store and properly label
  • Keep poisons out of the reach of children
  • Install smoke and carbon monoxide detectors and keep fire extinguishers on hand

Why

    • We are constantly preoccupied with our work and thoughts, storing items with proper labels would help you save time and potential errors of picking the wrong items for the wrong task.
    • The second point is obvious, but still, there are Malaysians who are careless and cost the parents fortunes in medical fees.
    • Children’s poor ability on situation hazard judgment has caused accidents across the country. It is up to us, to make sure the children’s play environment is safe for them. After all, they are the country’s future leaders.
    • Installing smoke and carbon monoxide detectors are great way to prevent unanticipated fire accidents.
    • Fire extinguisher is an inexpensive tool to solve manageable fire accidents before the need to call in the Fire and Rescue Department of Malaysia (Bomba).

5. Well-Ventilated

What is it?

Not to mention the good air quality, enough air ventilation helps a person to feel refreshed and ready to take on challenges of the day.

What Should I do?

  • Ventilate bathrooms and kitchens (possible just to open the kitchen windows after cooking or open the bathrooms’ windows after “toilet businesses” for about 30 minutes).
  • Use whole-house ventilation for supplying fresh air to reduce the concentration of contaminants in the home (if not possible, look at the next point).
  • Use air purifiers with HEPA filters instead of ionic and ozone filtration.

Why

    • Keeping the air circulate in the bathroom and kitchen matters because breathable fresh air is needed to replace the gasses emitted during cooking or “toilet businesses”.
    • Air purifiers with HEPA filtration works by mechanical means unlike the ionic and ozone filtration which use negative ions and ozone gas respectively. So, the chances of potential pulmonary side-effects like asthma and allergies is much lower with HEPA purifiers.
    • HEPA filters are critical in the prevention of the spread of airborne bacterial and viral organisms and, therefore, infection.

Now that I have all the information I need, what else can I do?

I believe you are serious about improving your home environment and your health. Why do we say so? Because rarely anybody will read this far for an article like this.

Home environmental health can be underrated in this era, given that most people rarely understand the importance of the environment and how it can affect their loved ones.

Health issues from allergies, asthma symptoms, chronic fatigue to cancer are the possible results from a subtly unhealthy environment. We are not here to scare you with such information but it is a fact that we cannot ignore: Especially on the case of Asian women, because the gene variant (MTHFR C677T) which are commonly found among them makes them susceptible to toxicants in the diet and the environment.

With knowledge provided in this article, you now have the power the act. The power to eliminate the worries of unhealthy environment that may bring to you and truly live your life. What else you can do? You can inquire us for a free pre-home health survey consultation (in Klang Valley area only) so that you get to know more on how to upgrade your home environment for better health.