When Building Biology Means Building Courage

by | affirmations, building biology, buildings and health, indoor environmental health, inspiration, life lessons

Developments in My World Around Building Biology

Building courage has been important in these three great things that have happened in the last week or so.

First

Firstly, I finnnaaalllllyyyyyy completed my Advanced Diploma in Building Biology. With only one subject to go, loads of travel, and a lot of work on my plate, it was such a struggle to get this done. Pretty much every block of time that I had set aside to study, something came up or someone needed something, and my study time disappeared. I started to recognise the pattern, so I set a date. I focused and worked really hard to get through the enormous pile of readings, and do the assessments. I had to push the date out a tiny bit, but I DID IT!!

Second

The second one was the talk I did for the AustralAsian Academy of Anti Ageing Medicine conference on 3rd August. I was so ridiculously nervous. I have spoken to around 5000 people in the building industry in the last twelve months, but this one had me running scared. Why? Because I created an idea of what I thought they expected and knew I wouldn’t be doing that. I made up this story that had me all freaked out and in avoidance mode. To top it off, I was the second speaker for the day, and listening the to first one confirmed my stories (he was incredible!!). I had to really get the self-talk happening, that it was going to be fine – completely different style, completely different level of information, and perfect in its uniqueness. It was a smaller group that I was used to (around 70), but this actually made me more nervous! Anyway, I got up there and did it. I could hear a slight waver in my voice, fortunately no one else noticed. At the end, I was astonished at the positive reception I had for it. And now, all of those medical professionals are more aware of the role that our built environments play in our health, and are thinking more broadly in how best to assist their patients.

Third

And most recently, I heard back that my application to be a speaker at the Indoor Air Quality Association conference in 2019 in the US was approved! Applying for this was scary as it meant putting myself out there, possibly being rejected, and then if accepted, speaking in front of some amazing scientific minds… I did it anyway, even though I was literally terrified. Straight after sending it, I posted “I did it!” on social media – because it was such a big deal…

do it anyway

So, why am I sharing all of this?

I think all of us get scared of doing things, and procrastinate and push them down the list. But I think all of those things we need to do are important on the grander scale, and it is only the stories we create that hold us back.

I really want to encourage you to just do it anyway. You never know just how your action can ripple out into the world and make it a better place.

Sleep: Why Is it So Important?

by | affirmations, detoxification, dust mites, electromagnetic radiation, EMF, health, high frequencies, indoor air quality, indoor environmental health, mould, radiofrequencies, sleep, stress

Do you struggle to get a good night’s sleep?

Many people do these days, and this can have a bigger impact that just feeling sleepy all day, or perhaps being on the caffeine-cycle. Ironically, according to apps on our devices, there is an “insomnia epidemic.”

When you are tired, you don’t function so well – your mood is off, your tolerance levels are down, you are easily agitated or stressed. As well, over time, this can deplete you and your immunity is also affected.

Why is Sleep so Important?

Sleep is incredibly important as it is the time that we heal and recover from our day – in preparation for the next day. Sleep is when we detoxify, when we create melatonin (a hormone which has an antioxidant effect) and when we rest.

It is one of the most important physiological functions we do, in my opinion.

What Affects Sleep?

There are many factors that can impact sleep. Some of these are:

  • Stress
  • Eating too late
  • Caffeine
  • Conversation
  • Poor sleep hygiene
  • Environmental stressors

eco-health-solutions natural

 

Did You Know…?

Did you know that if you use your device for two hours in the evening that it affects the quality of your sleep; melatonin production; your mood, attention and accuracy the following day?

Research links this to the short-wave light emitted from the LED lights inside our devices (Green, et al, 2017). I wonder if there is more to it, and the use of these devices on wi-fi or 3G/4G/5G is also playing a role.

What Can I Do to Improve My Sleep?

I am going to focus purely on environmental stressors here…

1) Promote melatonin production – ensure your bedroom is dark. If this isn’t possible, it would be worth using an eye shade. 

2) Reduce the radio frequency electromagnetic energy (RF EME) – turn off your mobile phone and wi-fi router

3) Reduce indoor air contaminants – remove scented reeds and candles from your bedroom

4) Minimise exposure to allergens – use a silk pillowcase to reduce issues with house dust mites (HDM)

5) Reduce your exposure to biotoxins – address any mould in your home

Still Concerned?

Then contact me and we can arrange a
Virtual Indoor Environmental Health Assessment
to assess and address stressors in your environment.

 

References

Green, A, Cohen-Zion, M, Haim, A & Dagan, Y (2017) Evening Light Exposure to Computer Screens Disrupts Human Sleep, Biological Rhythms and Attention Abilities Chronobiology International (Online) Available at https://doi.org/10.1080/07420528.2017.1324878 (May 2017) 

#sleep #indoorenvironmentalhealth #environmentalstressors

 

House Dust Mites are Everywhere

by | air pollution, building biology, buildings and health, dust mites, indoor air quality, indoor environmental health

House Dust Mites (HDM) are Everywhere!

House dust mites are tiny, opaque, feast on skin cells and love to live in mattresses, with their population being three times higher in a mattress as compared to a carpet. They are so small that around 50 HDM can fit onto the head of a pin.

HDM can trigger symptoms for people – interestingly, it is actually the protein in their faeces, not the mite themselves that cause problems.

According to Better Health Channel, HDM can trigger wheezing, coughing, breathlessness, a tight feeling in the chest, runny nose, itchy nose, itchy eyes, itchy skin, skin rashes.

Health

Even in people who aren’t allergic to HDM faeces, their existing asthma may be exacerbated and they can experience chronic bronchial hyper-reactivity.

For those affected, this can be a year-long problem (that is, it isn’t seasonal), symptoms are worse at night or upon waking, symptoms may be relieved when humidity is lower.

What They Need to Thrive

HDM are unable to drink – so they rely on a humid or moist environment to keep them hydrated. They need the relative humidity to be over 40%.

They need a warm environment and thrive when temperatures remain at or above 24oC.

Food in the form of animal and human skin cells, pollens, microbes.

They love mattresses for all of these reasons, they are warm, moist and full of skin cells (food).

10 tips for managing house dust mites (HDM):

  1. Keep your home clean – use damp microfibre cloths and water to collect dust, not just move it from surface to surface
  2. Pull back the covers on your bed each day and allow it to air and dry out
  3. Vacuum your mattress regularly to reduce the HDM population
  4. Mop your home using a microfibre mop to collect dust
  5. Consider silk bedding – HDM don’t like anything excreted by other insects
  6. Consider HDM-resistant bedding – fabric that is tightly woven, and thus the HDM can’t fit through them
  7. Wash bedding (sheets and pillow cases) as well as night clothes weekly
  8. Replace mattresses every 10 years
  9. Maintain relative humidity to between 40-60% – and a dehumidifier can be key in this process
  10. Use vacuum-storage bags to store clothes (ones that are vacuumed to keep compress them

If you want to learn more about creating a healthier home,
then join us in Detox Your Environment Inner Circle. >>

Home is the Most Important Place

by | air pollution, babies, building biology, buildings and health, chemicals, cleaning products, diet and lifestyle, drinking water, dust mites, electromagnetic radiation, EMF, family, indoor air quality, indoor environmental health, lead, mold, mould, perfumes, personal care products, radiofrequencies, smart meters, VOCs, water

Home is the most important place. It is our castle.

Home is our safety haven, our sacred space, our island in the midst of the world.

For many of us, the world can be a bit full-on. The onslaught of fragrances, noise, wi-fi, people, lights… it can be overwhelming at times.

Also, most of these things are out of our control.

The best thing to do is to have a healing, safe, and nourishing home to come back to.

A virtual Indoor Environmental Health Assessment Can Short-Cut Your Route to a Healthy Nurturing Space

By assessing your home with great care, and attention to detail, we can shortcut the agonising searching for information and hazards.

Whether it be:

  • electromagnetic fields
  • phone towers
  • neighbours wi-fi
  • the smart meter
  • air pollutants
  • indoor air quality
  • volatile organic compounds
  • lead and other heavy metals
  • drinking water contaminants
  • mould and water damage
  • personal care and cleaning products
  • and more!

By assessing your home, I can determine the hazards, the potential problems AND provide you with solutions.

Many of my clients experience not only peace of mind, but improved health after implementing the recommendations.

They know that they have made their home safe for their families.

Get in touch so we can arrange your assessment.

Indoor Air Contaminants – The 3 Most Commonly Overlooked

by | air fresheners, air pollution, building biology, buildings and health, environmental sensitivities, health, indoor air quality, indoor environmental health, perfumes, personal care products, VOCs

Indoor Air Contaminants – Discover Which 3 Are Most Commonly Overlooked

Indoor air contaminants are largely ignored – even though the indoor air can be up to 10 times more polluted than the outdoor air.

DID YOU KNOW..?

Air is one of our most basic needs, yet it is often not as clean as it should be.

When people think about air pollution, they usually think about traffic-related air pollution. “Smog.”

In early 2020, many Australians also considered smoke due to the horrendous fires that we started the year with.

This is all pretty much about outdoor air (ambient air).

However, very few people consider indoor air – contaminants, quality and so on.

When you consider your indoor air, what springs to your mind first?

  • Is it the bathroom, when someone has used the toilet?
  • Is it the rubbish bin?
  • Or maybe it is the gym bag full of sweat-laden clothes and shoes.

There are more indoor air contaminants that what readily spring to mind.

I made this short video to help you understand more about this topic, and also to shine a light on the three most overlooked ones.

 

I encourage you to read more about our indoor air. Here are some posts that may pique your interest:

If you'd like my advice, then book a call with me.

BOOK YOUR CALL HERE

Lead Poisoning Prevention Week of Action

by | detoxification, health, heavy metals, indoor air quality, indoor environmental health, lead

Lead Poisoning Prevention is Essential

This last week of October recognises the risk of lead poisoning in our lives – this is international Lead Poisoning Prevention Week of Action.

Lead was the cause of the downfall of the Roman empire and it has been recognised as the cause of German composer Ludwig van Beethoven health problems, loss of hearing and early death.

Yet lead abounds in our daily lives – primarily from its previous use in petrol, but also in paints, water pipes, leaded crystalware, lead-light/stained glass, sinkers, ammunition, and potentially even in the imported painted toys that your children may have. The LEAD Group (2012) also point out that it can also be found in flashing (an important consideration if you drink rainwater collected from your roof), kohl eye and lip pencils, old metal toothpaste tubes, radiation shielding in hospitals, some PVC products, leadshot, painted pre-1970 furniture, road marking paint, painted china and so on.

Given that most of us spends more than 90% of our time indoors, it is always important to consider potential hazards.

Another important point is that lead is sweet – so children and animals may lick, suck on or even consume paint.

I had a quick chat about Lead Poisoning Prevention with Elizabeth O'Brien from The LEAD Group, which you can watch here.

The Silent Epidemic

Elizabeth O'Brien took part in the 2016 Environmental Sensitivities Symposium. Here is an excerpt from her chapter in the 2016 Environmental Sensitivities Symposium: Text Book.

Even though most of us have never been tested for lead and therefore have not been diagnosed with lead poisoning, we are all exposed to lead in the modern world, and every microgram (millionth of a gram) of lead and even every molecule or atom of lead, does damage in the body.

If you have other risk factors (for example, family history) for any of the huge range of health effects of lead there’s virtually no chance that lead will be identified as one of the contributors or causes (Vella et al, 2014). Also, unless you suffer overt lead poisoning – an extremely high dose acute lead poisoning, the symptoms of typical modern chronic lead exposure may not show up until years, or decades, later.

Thus lead poisoning is known as “the silent epidemic.”

Therefore, the number one action that you can take today, is to organise a test with your doctor to assess your blood lead level. Obviously zero is the goal, but The LEAD Group advocated taking action to reduce exposure if your result is not below 1 microgram/decilitre.

Signs and Symptoms of Lead Poisoning

In Babies and Children

The Mayo Clinic (June 2014) list the following symptoms of lead poisoning

In newborns

  • Learning difficulties
  • Slowed growth

In children

  • Developmental delay
  • Learning difficulties
  • Irritability
  • Loss of appetite
  • Weight loss
  • Sluggishness and fatigue
  • Abdominal pain
  • Vomiting
  • Constipation
  • Hearing loss

In Adults

According to the Department of Health and Human Services (2016) list out the following signs and symptoms (for adults and children), but do point out that “some children or adults may not have any symptoms at all.”

Symptoms of acute lead poisoning:

  • Muscle pains
  • Fatigue
  • Abdominal pains
  • Headache
  • Nausea and vomiting
  • Seizures
  • Coma

Symptoms of chronic lead poisoning:

  • Irritability
  • Lack of energy
  • Loss of appetite
  • Learning disabilities
  • Behavioural problems
  • Poor school performance
  • Poor coordination
  • Impaired growth

In Dogs

Dr Becker (1997-2016) lists the following signs of lead poisoning for dogs:

  • loss of appetite
  • colic (pain, inflammation, gas or discomfort in the colon)
  • vomiting
  • diarrhoea
  • constipation
  • anxiety
  • hysterical barking
  • jaw champing
  • salivation
  • blindness
  • problems with coordination and movement
  • muscle spams
  • convulsions
  • abnormal posture from severe muscle spasms
  • pressing the head against a wall

Please consult your vet immediately if you notice the symptoms.

 

”If

#lead #leadpoisoning

References

Becker, Dr K (1997-2016) Signs and Symptoms of Lead Poisoning in Dogs (online) Viewed 25 October 2016. Available at http://healthypets.mercola.com/sites/healthypets/archive/2016/06/16/lead-poisoning-dogs.aspx

LEAD Group (4 June, 2012) Sources of Lead (online) Viewed 25 October 2016. Available at http://www.lead.org.au/lasn/lasn006.html

Mayo Clinic (10 June, 2014) Lead Poisoning: Symptoms (online) Viewed 25 October 2016. Available at http://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/lead-poisoning/basics/symptoms/con-20035487

O'Brien, E “Save Lives by Testing for Lead” in Curran, L (2016) 2016 Environmental Sensitivities Symposium: TextBook Building Vitality, Melbourne

Department of Health and Human Services, State Government of Victoria, Australia (2016) Lead Exposure and Poisoning (online) Viewed 25 October 2016. Available at https://www.betterhealth.vic.gov.au/health/healthyliving/lead-exposure-and-poisoning

Hawthorn University Holistic Detoxification Presentation

by | building biology, buildings and health, chemicals, cleaning products, detoxification, diet and lifestyle, electromagnetic radiation, EMF, environmental sensitivities, grinding teeth, health, high frequencies, indoor air quality, indoor environmental health, ingredients, mold, mould, perfumes, personal care products, radiofrequencies, scents, self-care, sleep, smart meters, stress, water damage

Hawthorn University: Holistic Detoxification

Hawthorn University offer high level online training to health practitioners, predominantly naturopaths. So, I was thrilled to receive an invitation from Hawthorn University to present a webinar.

I have watched many of their webinars, which are available for free and are presented by highly respected people, so as you can imagine, getting an invitation from them was such an honour.

The topic which I presented on is, of course, so dear to my heart – Holistic Detoxification: How to Create a Healthy Home Which Supports Healing.

Too often I hear stories of people on the (expensive) merry-go-round of treatments, objects, supplements, drugs… when in many cases the cause is environmental and can easily be addressed by changing the environment.

I wanted to help students of natural therapies and practitioners understand more about this and avoid unnecessary treatments and delays.

In a nutshell, the topics that I covered in my webinar include:

  • why detoxification is so important
  • case studies
  • our built environment
  • hindrances to detoxification
  • action steps for your clients/patients
  • when to think of the environment

After the webinar, I was able to answer the questions asked by the audience – and they were such fabulous questions.

I would like to publicly thank Hawthorn University for the opportunity to present this webinar, all of the audience members, and everyone who has watched it since. What an honour!! 🙂

Hawthorn University Presentation

#hawthornuniversity #holisticdetoxification #buildingbiology #health

Water Damage Sources and More Information

by | building biology, buildings and health, mold, mould, water damage

Water damage can create massive issues for our homes and our health.

Sources of Water Damage

Water damage can occur as a result of many factors, here are some to consider:

water damage home

EXTERNAL

  • flooding
  • storm damage
  • rising damp
  • building design
  • building materials
  • damage to the roof
  • lack of adequate fall in the roofline
  • damaged gutters
  • blocked gutters
  • box gutters (and other internal gutters)

INTERNAL

  • condensation
  • overflowing gutters
  • structural damage eg holes in the roof, gaps between windows and walls, and so forth
  • occupant activities such as bathing, cooking, sleeping, perspiring, laundering and drying your clothes
  • lack of or damaged water proofing
  • lack of or damaged caulking, silicone or grout

Read more…

I have written more about the effects of water damage, and mould, on the Australasian Society of Building Biologists (ASBB) site.

This article begins:

As a building biologist, my primary role is to identify the possible cause of health complaints and then hunt out the hazards in a home. It is quickly evident when there are problems with indoor air and electromagnetic radiation. However mould and problems from water damage is far less obvious – except to a trained professional.

Many people don’t realise that materials that remain wet for more than 24 hours begin to become problematic.

“Don’t worry about it, it’s only water!” Something we all have said… and then left the spill to dry out naturally.

Although this is a common behaviour, it is something that needs changing…

 

As well, I have another post about it here on the Eco Health Solutions site. In this, I go into relevant signs and symptoms and have a list of references.

Here is that post: Mould Water Damage and Health

If you have any concerns, please contact me.

#mould #mold #water-damage