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5 Crazy Ways Your Home is Making You Sick

Right now, we’re all spending a lot more time at home than usual, and if you find that you are starting to get sicker than you ever normally would, it could be that your home is the culprit. It might sound strange, but it really could be that your home, whether it’s a house or an apartment, is the thing that is making you sick. To find out for sure, you’ll need to visit a medical professional, but it’s also useful to know what to look out for in your home – read on to find out.

Even though we clean our homes often, there's certain things that we overlook. Here are some items in our home that might be making us sick.

Cooling Systems

If you start to feel unwell when you’re at home, your heating and cooling system might have something to do with it. Your AC unit produces water as it cools, and if this water isn’t thrown out and the receptacle area of the unit cleaned regularly, mold and bacteria can start to grow there.

Also, if you were to breathe in this bacteria or mold, it could negatively affect you, making your breathing more difficult, causing you problems sleeping, giving you headaches, and even reducing your appetite among other symptoms. If this is an issue, you can contact AC maintenance in Palm Springs, CA, or wherever you live, and get someone to carry out your AC unit’s disinfection for you; although it is something you can usually do yourself as well.

Nevertheless, if you don’t have an AC unit, you might be getting sick because it’s too warm in your home. You need fresh air for your body to function properly and to keep a clear head. If you find you’re getting too warm, open some windows to allow for a breeze to flow through your home. If you have patio doors, these can be even more useful; take a look at philadelphiawindow.com/patio-doors/ for more information.

air conditioning cooling system

Bed

Another way your home could be making you sick is through your bed. Being away from home for even one night, you’ll know how great it feels to get back into your own bed – there is something very special about the bed in your home. Unfortunately, as much as we love our beds, they can also make us sick sometimes. It’s even worse if you’re feeling sick and decide to have an early night, or spend the day in bed trying to recover; you could be making things worse.

 

The problem is dust mites. The longer you’ve had your duvet, your pillows, even your mattress, the more chance there is of finding dust mites living in them. There could be thousands of them in your bed, but they are so small you can’t see them with the naked eye. You’ll find them in beds more than anywhere else as they like to be close to human bodies; it’s not a nice idea, but it’s probably that this is an issue in your home. Dust mites can cause allergic reactions, and the symptoms are swelling and itchy skin.

 

Luckily, a dust mite infestation isn’t too much of a problem once you realize that’s what you have; they can be removed without too much effort. By washing your sheets (and your pillowcases) on a more regular basis, ideally once a week, you can eliminate the problem in your bedroom. Since dust mites can live in your carpets too, vacuuming at least once a week, and ideally more often, can help with this.

new mattress

Bath Mat

When was the last time you washed your bath mat? This seemingly innocuous piece of bathroom paraphernalia, the thing you leave on the floor so that you don’t slip getting in and out of the bathtub or shower, can also be making you unwell if you don’t wash it often enough.

 

Just think of how many times you step on that item with your bare feet. The bacteria that love to live there could be contaminating you. The bath mat is the best place for bacteria to live since it is damp most of the time, and it’s warm too (since you will keep your bathroom heated). Every time you think you’ve cleaned your feet, you’re just adding more bacteria to your skin.

 

As you would clean your towels, you should do the same to your bath mat. Treat it in just the same way, and it will be much less likely to house bacteria. Plus, if you stand in the tub when you dry yourself off and only step out when you’re nearly completely dry, this will prevent the mat from getting too damp, and it will be less attractive to the bacteria.

cleaning your bath mat

Fridge

Worryingly, your fridge could actually be one of the most dangerous elements in your home, and it could be making you sick without you knowing about it. To keep your fridge safe, it needs to be cleaned out every week, and if anything spills in it, that mess needs to be cleaned up immediately.

Anything that is left, anything that spills or lands on the shelves or walls of the fridge, will become home to bugs in no time at all, and everything else in the fridge will quickly become contaminated. The bugs will be particularly keen to enjoy the fresh food and even breed on it. When you eat it, it can cause you gut problems and pain.

The tray beneath your fridge should also be cleaned as often as possible, and if you have a frost-free fridge it’s even more critical as a lot of water will drip here, and that can become stagnant.

cleaning your fridge

TV

Your TV might not be making you sick directly, but if you think about what you do when you’re watching it and the bad habits you could be forming, you might start to understand how it can be problematic. Some of these habits include:

watching tv

If the TV wasn’t on, these problems would be much less likely to occur, and you wouldn’t get so sick. Although watching TV is a great way to unwind, you should try to switch off the set at least an hour before bed. Plus, try not to eat in front of the TV; it’s much healthier if you eat at the table instead.

Even though we clean our homes often, there's certain things that we overlook. Here are some items in our home that might be making us sick.

 

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TWL Working Mom

Jennifer is the owner of TWL Working Moms. She is a full time teacher, a mom & step mom, and NBCT Facilitator. Jennifer lives in Washington State and is a born + raised New Yorker. In her spare time, she loves traveling, yoga, the beach, writing, listening to books and drinking coffee.

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2 Comments

  1. I’m just gonna ignore fridge one because cleaning it out weekly is so tedious 🙈 but you’re right!

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