Dr. Kelly Brogan, a Board certified Psychiatrist and a practitioner of integrative holistic medicine, said in her book “A Mind of Your Own: The Truth About Depression and How Women Can Heal Their Bodies to Reclaim Their Lives,” that in order to combat the toxic fumes from furniture, electronics, and household goods that can affect your health people should do the following:

  1. Ventilate your home well and install HEPA air filters if possible.
  2. Change your air-conditioning and heating filters every three to six months.
  3. Get the ducts cleaned yearly.
  4. Avoid air deodorizers and plug-in room fresheners.
  5. Request that people take off their shoes when they enter your house.
  6. Reduce toxic dust and residues that you cannot see or smell from furniture, electronics, and textiles by using a vacuum cleaner with a HEPA filter.
  7. Keep as many plants in your home as possible, as they naturally detoxify the environment.  Spider plants, aloe vera, chrysanthemums, Gerbera daisies, Boston ferns, English ivies, and philodendrons are good choices.  Use fifteen to twenty plants per 1,800 square feet.

Dr. Brogan’s book links nutrition, toxic environments and activity levels to depression as well as other common health issues.  Her goals for people to help to heal themselves include:

  • Introduce a new way of nourishing your body through the foods you eat.
  • Green your home and environment, divorcing yourself from the modern love affair with toxicants.
  • Incorporate a daily meditative practice into your life, one that stimulates the body’s natural relaxation response and paves the way for lasting transformation.
  • Prioritize getting routine restful sleep and adequate exercise throughout the week.

At One Hour Heating & Air Conditioning® of Johnson County, we have seen the benefits of cleaning the air in your home.  Our homes are so “tight” that indoor air quality is much more polluted than outdoor air due to the chemicals in our homes.  For this reason, we offer duct cleaning, duct sealing and high quality HEPA and MicroPower Air Filters to clean the air of toxins, dust and allergens.