indoor air Archives - Eco Health Solutions

The Benefits of an Outdoor Workplace

by Lucinda Curran | air pollution, building biology, buildings and health, EMF, EMR, health, indoor air quality, indoor environmental health, informed choice

Outdoor Workplaces

An outdoor workplace may sound odd – perhaps you imagine a landscaper, gardener or builder being people who have outdoor workplaces. But most of us can move our workplaces to the outdoors. It’s easier than you think, and well worth the benefits to health and wellbeing.

Here’s Why Outdoor Workplaces Are So Important

If you’re like a large population of Australians, you likely spend most of your day working in an indoor office setting. According to research from the Australian State of the Environment, the average Australian spends about 90% of their day indoors. For many, this often involves sitting at their desks and staring at computer screens for up to nine hours in a day.

Sitting all day indoors has many health repercussions, including exposure to indoor air pollutants, increased risk of heart conditions, and even sick building syndrome.

Human beings are biologically built to live in changing scenery conditions, which aren’t offered inside buildings. More and more our modern environments are controlled by HVAC systems, artificial lighting and air fresheners.

While adjustments like addressing humidity levels and reducing EMF and following best practices can help, working outdoors is the most effective solution.

Benefits of Outdoor Workplaces

Research shows that exposure to natural sunlight, trees, and outdoor fresh air can positively impact our wellbeing, creativity and performance.

While not all jobs can be conducted outside, a workplace that has things such as outdoor lunches, walking meetings, indoor plants, and allowing remote work can all make a difference in our health. The best workplace will combine both a well-maintained indoor building and the setting of nature.

For those of you who work from home, make sure you take your meal breaks outside, introduce plants into your home office, and open the windows!

To learn more about the benefits of an outdoor workplace, check out this new infographic from BigRentz. From improving your memory to honing your focus, the benefits show the value of taking your work from your desk into the outdoors.

Outdoor Workplaces

Created by BigRentz

Do You Ventilate Your Home?

by Lucinda Curran | building biology, fragrances, health, indoor air quality, indoor environmental health, mold, mould, VOCs

Do You Ventilate Your Home?

What did I notice when I first started assessing homes? I discovered something that surprised me – and still does. A vast number of people don’t ventilate their homes.

This means, that in many cases they rarely (or never) open windows and doors to air the place out.

Why is this a problem?

Put simply, it means that everything builds up. Statistics have shown that the indoor air can be anywhere from 5-10 times MORE polluted that the outdoor air!

The indoor air is not diluted, which can result in dangerous levels of indoor air contaminants, including the deadly carbon monoxide.

If you use pesticides, including plug-ins, the levels of neurotoxins will build up.

It means that levels of volatile organic compounds build up – this is obviously made worse with the use of “air fresheners,” scented reeds and the like.

It means that moisture builds up – from bathing and cooking, but also breathing and perspiring. This can create the right environment for mould to flourish.

*Every day* open your windows and doors to exchange the air.

#ventilate #openwindows #diluteIndoorAir

The Principles of What Are We Aiming For

by Lucinda Curran | building biology, buildings and health

Principles – What Are We Aiming For?

When entering a building – be it your home, your workplace, a school, a factory or any other structure – I am wearing my Indoor Environmental Health Consultant Goggles. These goggles enable me to see beyond the immediate – a little like Superman’s x-ray vision.

These goggles are formed based on the Building Biology Principles – which are like the core belief system of someone trained to assess the way the building affects health.

Simply put, nature is our ideal – and this is what we are striving to achieve in the internal of a building.

Building Materials

Buildings should be built in harmony with their environment – with the building materials used reflecting what suits the individual site.

As well, the materials used should have low embodied energy and rate well in a life cycle analysis.

Indoor Air Quality

Indoor air is affected by the materials used, and therefore materials are selected that enhance the quality of the air, the moisture content, and the thermal nature.

The air should smell like natural clean air – as though you were in the country.

Mould and Water Damage

Our goal is to ensure that the mould inside our buildings is similar in variety to that in the environment our building is in, and the levels are equally as low or lower.

Mould is ultimately a moisture issue, so we need to design and build to prevent issues.

ElectroMagnetic Fields (EMF) also known as EMR or EME

The electro-climate (electromagnetic fields) should preserve the natural fields of the planet and minimise the impact of the human-created ones.

The “background” levels of nature are what we are striving to achieve.

Buildings and Health

Buildings, ultimately, should be beneficial – to people, animals and the environment.

They should support our health, our sense of happiness and vitality as well as supporting us “in the world” (in terms of being productive and social).

Where We Can Help

We can become involved:

at the planning stage – to match your building to its environment;
before building or renovating – to advise on suitable (both to the site and sustainable) building materials and design; and
existing buildings – to identify both problems and solutions for health.

Looking for help with this?

Book A Call Today ~

Building Biology? What is it?

by Lucinda Curran | building biology, buildings and health, environmental sensitivities

Building Biology??

In a nutshell, Building Biology is the science of the way that a building impacts upon your health.

Building Biology, for me, is another set of skills that I can use to improve the health and wellbeing of you – my client.

Sleeping Well – Or Are You?

In my work as a Chinese medicine practitioner, I’ve had many people tell me that they sleep well. However, a large percentage of them wake up feeling tired.

This can be caused by electromagnetic fields (EMF). EMF can prevent a person from fully resting at night-time, resulting in waking up tired.

The “big picture” view of this is that your body does not get the opportunity to heal properly and regenerate for the next day.

Of course, there are many other aspects to the way that EMF can impact upon your health. Some other examples are:

Grinding or clenching your teeth
Ringing in your ears
A sense of being agitated or restless

Headaches? Frequent Colds? Finding It Hard To Focus Your Thoughts?

Again, your home or workplace could be impacting upon your health.

These can all be caused by the quality of your indoor air.

Did you know that on average, we spend 80-90% of our time indoors.

What is more, indoor air can be 10 times more polluted than outdoor air.

Astounding, I think.

You’ve seen the advertisement where her animal friends compliment Mrs Hippo about the lovely smell of her home? By using the product that she advocates, you are actually ADDING to the indoor air pollution.

Air fresheners act in two ways:

They coat an air pollutant – they don’t get rid of them; and
They inhibit your ability to smell – which means that they are changing your body’s normal functioning.

Mould also contributes to the pollution of indoor air. Mould does not have to be visible to be a problem.

Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs) are released into the air from building materials, furnishings, plastics, personal care products and cleaning products. They often have a large impact upon the indoor air quality, and because of their constant presence can contribute to a general feeling of being unwell.

What About A New Building?

All too often people laugh off the idea of mould, “My building is brand new!,” they scoff.

However, there have been enough brand new buildings that I have assessed, some that haven’t even been lived in yet, that have mould issues.

With an understanding of building science, embodied energy, life cycle analyses and the ways that building materials and furnishings behave with regards to indoor air quality and EMF’s, I am able to advise you on choosing products that are beneficial to your health – whether it be at home, at school or at work.

How Do I Know If I Need A Building Biologist?

You may relate to many of the symptoms discussed above.

Another really clear sign that something within a building that is affecting you is when you feel better once you are out of it.

This of course is different to feeling good because you are not at work (sadly not everyone loves their work as much as I do!). But if your symptoms ease off or disappear when you are out of the building and return when you are there again, we can certainly suspect the building.

Some examples:

“Bob” had a raging headache that became a severe migraine through the day when he was at work. However, by Sunday evening it had eased off. As soon as he got back to work it returned and increased in severity. This happened for three weeks. Then he found out that a “smart” meter had been installed three weeks earlier.

“Samantha” felt “off” every day, she felt that she always had a cold that never quite eventuated. Like Bob, on weekends, she felt fine. It turned out that there was a problem with the quality of the air at her workplace.

“Peter” moved into a new home. After living there for a short period of time, his friends noticed that he was emotional and angry, seemingly without cause. His new home was full of mould.

What to do…

“Sick Building Syndrome” is a term that describes the negative health effects of a building upon the health of the occupants.

If you suspect there is something going on, then we can help you!

We have a cost- and time-effective solution – that we can only offer due to Lucinda’s extensive experience and training:

A Virtual Indoor Environmental Health Assessment

Book Yours Now >>