Why I decided to health audit my home

ou're probably wondering what is a "health audit" for the home? sound silly?

Well before I delve into the detail here's a few facts:

Did you know?

We typically spend 90% of our time inside buildings
Indoor air is 5x more polluted than outdoor air
In the past 28 years childhood allergies and ADHD has increased by 400%
1 in 4 children have asthma
Testicular and breast cancer have more than doubled since 1960
Many general household cleaning, cosmetic and general use products contain endocrine-distruspting chemicals
Cleaning products are not covered by any regulatory body in Australia
90% of BPA-free plastics are replaced with products that release chemicals that in some cases have greater oestraogenic activity than BPA containing ones (ie. BPS instead of BPA)
WIFI is banned in schools in many countries like the Council of Europe

According to New Scientist, 2017, “there's increasing evidence that the chemical mixtures we use to clean our homes create indoor pollution."Most of our exposure to hazardous pollutants occurs indoors, and a primary source of these pollutants is our everyday consumer products," says Anne Steinemann at the University of Melbourne in Australia”

Indeed it is easy to develop a toxic home environment due to the concentration of chemicals in such an enclosed space and the sources are everywhere, from perfume and aerosol deodorant, to cleaning products and sprays, to air fresheners, scented candles, gases from the stove while cooking and even our vacuum cleaner can create more particulate matter in the air. Then there is what we create from the use of our home products and there is the pollutants we bring in from our shoes into the house. Finally let’s not forget there is EMF exposure from WIFI, smart TV’s, apple TV and our iphones and the cumulative effect means our home can become the source of our health issues rather than our sanctuary for health and recovery.

According to New Scientist, “How we build modern homes compounds the problem. "What we've done to our housing is to seal it to prevent energy loss," says Stephen Holgate at the University of Southampton, UK. The problem is worst in the most efficient homes. "Ventilation is very low, and chemicals can accumulate in the air and dust."

So what can be done? And how far does this rabbit hole go?

Years ago I decided to clear out as much toxic accumulation in our home as possible and indeed as perfectly put by Good health and medicine journal:

“Keeping an ecofriendly house isn't just a vote for the environment or climate change - it's about looking after your own family and their health. Re-think how you manage, renovate and care for your home to help prevent some allergies and illnesses.” - Good Health and Medicine Journal “

So what have I done to date and what did I do to take it a step further?

I went green: I went natural with cleaning products, deodorant, no perfume, no air fresheners, natural detergents, I removed carpets from the home, I got air purification plants in my home, I opened up windows and let fresh air in as much as possible, I went organic in my bedsheets, organic with my food, installed a good water filter for the entire house including reverse osmosis with remineraliser and alkaliser for drinking… we have done a lot!

So I decided to put it to the test, and I hired an expert to do a health home audit.

I found out some additional interesting facts about my home health and extra things I could do to eliminate toxins and improve our family health via better feng shui, energy flow and even geopathic stresses (more on that one later!)

I hired Amanda from healthy spaces by design (see link to their site in sources below) who issued me a questionnaire to fill out so she could get started. When she arrived to my home, went through the whole house and she checked EMFs via a portable device around appliances especially next to the beds and in my sons room and also my office. She went through all my cleaning products, we discussed the new floors and their material, we looked at the type of bedsheets, mattress and how old they were, the water quality of my home and any additional air fresheners and aerosols used in the home and also my vacuum cleaner which is really old and does spill a lot of dust!

We were able to identify where the biggest sources of toxins came from and how to mitigate and change them. Finally Amanda checked geopathic stresses and feng shui, now this was something I had no idea about but is quite a science. Basically if you house and your bed is positioned underneath deep water courses or geological faults then this can disrupt the flow of energy and cause health issues over time. I know that the previous owners in my home lived there 23 years and had health issues for many years. As well as this Amanda picked up on negative energies, still present in the house, from the previous owners. Now for some people this might be too “voodoo” and even for me, I’m not comfortable with those sorts of energies or even delving into it but Amanda was very reassuring about it and I let her do her thing to release this from our home and address the geopathic faults.

I have a list of things to work on in improving both the toxic aspects but also the energy flows and these include:

Replacing my vacuum and adding a HEPA filter
Replacing my old pillows (eek I know!)
Turning off apple TV when not using it
Hard wiring my internet cable rather than relying on WIFI for my laptop
Switch to microfiber clothes such as the Norwex ones as this is much healthier and reduces the use of chemical sprays
Switch to an organic bed topper or mattress ( this is an expensive one but I am keen to do this!)
Add some warmer tones to improve our feng shui – warmer colours, positive and inspiring artwork to help my creativity
Make my own natural products - I use natural products now but I would like to learn to make my own!
Space clearing – now this is a ritual to re energise the home with our energy and create a calm, clear and fresh space

While some things might be obvious, and I had already done a lot, I hope this helps others to release the many sources of toxins.

My biggest tips to anyone are:

Remove your shoes inside the house
Switch to natural cleaning products and detergents
Switch to organic bedsheeting and an organic mattress
Get a good water filter for drinking water and an adaptor for the shower to remove chlorine and fluoride
Open windows and air your house as much as possible
Get some nice indoor plants to purify the air like fiddle leaf which are beautiful and easy to look after ( thanks to NASA research into crewed space flight, plants can absorb organic chemicals like benzene and formaldehyde from the air!)
Switch WIFI off at night and all devices to airplane mode

The list is kind of endless like as far as going into the energies of the house and geopathic stress. If you’d like to learn more see my links and articles below!

Sources

http://www.healthyspacesbydesign.com/healthy-homes-audit/

Geopathic stress: http://www.healthyspacesbydesign.com/dowsing/

New Scientist, 14/01/2017, Vol. 232 Issue 3108, p31-32, https://www.newscientist.com/article/2117653-attack-of-the-household-products-hygienes-hidden-risks/

Good Health & Medicine, 01/06/2008, p80-82