As devices for the home, is an air purifier good for health? What are its benefits? What do air purifiers help with? If you want these questions answered and more, read on below to find out.
We deeply care about your health and that’s why we wrote this article – to inform you about how an air purifier can improve your life. Air purifiers are known to clean the air, but that’s just its main function – their benefits to your health and other aspects of life will get you convinced into buying one.
After all, who doesn’t like fresh air and a clean home? Not only will a clean space help you work or study better but it will also make guests and family members feel at home.
Do air purifiers make you healthier?
The straight answer is yes! Air purifiers were built with one purpose in mind: to clean the air from pollutants such as dust, pollen, dirt, mites, pet dander, smoke particles, VOCs, kitchen odor, gas, and more. Here’s how an air purifier can make you healthier:
1. Fewer allergies and asthma
The HEPA filter of an air purifier will absorb dust, pollen, pet dander, and the like. These pollutants are what trigger allergies and asthma symptoms, so if you have an air purifier around, you will be less likely to cough or sneeze.
Many health experts advise people suffering from allergies and asthma to have air purifiers at home. For instance, the Asthma and Allergy Foundation of America (AAFA) has recommended certain brands of air purifiers for such a purpose.
2. Alleviates insomnia
If you can’t sleep at night due to coughing and stuffy air, you’ll need an air purifier to help you rest better. When the air is fresh and less polluted, you’ll sleep more soundly.
Aside from that, air purifiers don’t have a lot of motor noise and blinding lights – some of these units have a quiet mode for nighttime use. Look for air purifiers with motor noise levels of around 28 dB or less.
Likewise, stuffy air due to mold can also make you feel uneasy. With an air purifier to help reduce the mold and other bad odors (using an activated carbon filter), you will sleep comfortably.
3. Improves mental focus
Mental focus is greatly needed when you work from home, attend online classes, do chores at home, or do any other activities at home. When your allergies attack or if you can’t breathe easily due to polluted air, that’s when an air purifier does its job to clean the air.
Combined with proper ventilation, an air purifier will make the air more breathable so you can continue to focus on your task ahead.
4. Keeps away airborne diseases
Do you know why air purifiers are found in hospitals? That’s because they are known to take out airborne particles that could cause sickness in humans. If you have a higher-quality filter such as an H13 HEPA, otherwise known as the medical-grade HEPA filter, you’ll have a better chance of staying protected against airborne diseases like the flu.
5. Removes harmful VOCs
Volatile organic compounds or VOCs are commonly found in the home once there’s a concentration of chemical smells. Have you recently done a painting job? Are there household cleaners that smell too strong? Did you conduct home repairs in which you used smelly adhesives? Those can contribute to your indoor air quality.
Fortunately, if your air purifier has an activated carbon filter, it will help in reducing the VOCs in the air. Activated carbon filters eliminate smells and chemicals that could put you at risk for cancers and other illnesses when inhaled in large amounts. Therefore, air purifiers keep your breathing space healthy by taking out harmful chemicals.
What is the healthiest air purifier?
So, with the stated benefits above, which is the best air purifier to buy to maintain healthy indoor air? Here’s how to look for your ideal air purifier based on what you need:
1. Quality HEPA filters
A HEPA filter, otherwise known as a high-efficiency particulate air filter, is the most common and standard air purifier filter that you’ll find in the market. It is known to clean pollutants and particles as small as 0.3 microns (0.1 microns in H13 HEPA filters).
2. Activated carbon filters
If you want to clean the air from smelly chemicals and kitchen odors, go for an air purifier with activated carbon filters. As mentioned above, they absorb the bad odors to help your air become breathable again.
3. Ozone-free
Many air purifiers in the market now have little to no ozone, which is beneficial to your health and the environment. Instead of using ozone to clean the air, they use HEPA and activated carbon filters. CARB-compliant air purifiers are ozone-free.
4. Rated room size
Look for the rated room size of your air purifier in mind. Will it be suitable for your room? Fortunately, most manufacturers indicate their recommended room size (in square feet) for an air purifier.
5. Automatic sensors
An automatic sensor in an air purifier will help you to sleep soundly without having to manually adjust the fan speed every single time. If your air purifier knows what your ideal fan speed should be (based on the air quality), you can simply relax.
Do air purifiers work for viruses?
Yes – if the right filter is inserted or included in the air purifier. We recommend H13 HEPA filters because they will filter smaller particles – as much as 0.1 microns in size, making them suitable for hospitals and asthmatic/allergy patients. They are also more suitable for babies.
Certain air purifiers are meant to take down viruses thanks to their quality filters. If you want to find out more, check out the best air purifier for viruses for you to decide.
Conclusion
To wrap it up, if you are looking for a device to clean air in the home, an air purifier is a great candidate for that. With their quality filters to suck up the dust and other pollutants in your indoor space, expect to breathe easier and focus better on your tasks at home (or in an office).
