The quality of the air we breathe impacts our health. According to a recent report published by the American Lung Association, more than 142 million Americans - 75% of the nation's population - are breathing unhealthy amounts of air pollution. Dangerous as polluted outdoor air can be to health, polluted indoor air actually poses a greater health risk. Environmental Protection Agency studies have shown that levels of air pollutants indoors may be anywhere from 2 to 5 times greater than outdoors, and in some cases more than 100 times greater. Research indicates that people spend approximately 90 percent of their time indoors. Thus, for many people, the risks to health may be greater due to exposure to air pollution indoors than outdoors.

Indoor air quality (IAQ) refers to the physical, chemical, and biological characteristics of air in the indoor environment within a building or an institution or commercial facility.

Factors that influence IAQ include the following.

Inadequate supply of outside air

Contamination arising from sources within the building (e.g., combustion products including carbon monoxide and environmental tobacco smoke; volatile organic compounds from building materials, fabric furnishings, carpet, adhesives, fresh paint, new paneling, and cleaning products; ozone from office equipment; mold from water damage).

Contamination from outside the building (e.g., ozone, carbon monoxide, and particulate matter) through air intakes, infiltration, open doors, and windows.

Microbial contamination of ventilation systems or building interiors. Poor indoor air quality in your home, school or workplace can cause a number of health problems, such as asthma, allergies, coughing, wheezing, dizziness, nausea, headaches, inability to concentrate, short-term memory loss and hyperactivity. Children may be especially susceptible. While there is no universal solution, there are complementary ways to control aspects of our indoor air quality. Usually the most effective way to improve indoor air quality is to minimize or eliminate the use of products and materials that cause indoor pollution, employ good hygiene practices to minimize biological and chemical contaminants and use good housekeeping practices to control particles, dust, pollen, bacteria and mold.

Recent studies have found that using a quality air purifier can reduce the level of allergens in your indoor air. Some air cleaners use an electrical charge that produces ozone, which manufacturers claim will "purify" the air. But ozone can irritate the lungs, and is especially a problem for people with asthma. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), American Lung Association and California Air Resources Board have recently warned against the use of ionic air purifiers because they generate and release unhealthy levels of ozone, in many cases equal to a stage one smog alert.

HEPA air purifiers do not produce ozone and can effectively trap large and small particles. A True HEPA (high efficiency particulate air) filter can remove from the air at least 99.97% of dust, pollen, mold, bacteria and any airborne particles with a size of 0.3 microns or larger. In hospital operating rooms, burn centers, laboratories and manufacturers of critical products like computer chips, where particle and bacteria free air is mandatory, HEPA filtration systems are used to remove bacteria and other airborne contaminants. HEPA filters require no cleaning or maintenance to maintain efficiency, and studies have proven that HEPA filters actually increase in efficiency with use over their 3 to 5 year life.

Along with a HEPA filter to trap particles, an air purifier should contain activated carbon in order to remove noxious chemicals, gases, odors and volatile organic compounds (VOCs) which can cause respiratory distress and long term harm to health. Activated carbon is widely adopted by air purifier manufacturers for the removal of gaseous pollutants. Activated carbon is charcoal that has been treated with oxygen to open millions of small pores between the carbon atoms. These pores adsorb harmful gases and odors. Due to the large surface area of the carbon granules, carbon filters are excellent at trapping gases that pass through traditional particle filters.

Controlling the home environment is a very important part of asthma and allergy care. In addition to seeing a doctor when there is a medical problem, it is important to reduce or eliminate as many allergy and asthma triggers from your home and office environment, as well as investing in a quality HEPA air purifier to clean the air. Breathing clean indoor air promotes good health, more energy, better sleep and helps prevent chronic respiratory diseases later in life, thereby living longer with a healthy lifestyle.