Indoor air quality (IAQ) is an increasingly important public health issue, with growing evidence linking the air we breathe inside our homes, workplaces, and public buildings to a wide range of health outcomes.
Poor indoor air quality has been associated with several serious health conditions, including allergies, asthma, lung cancer, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), and cardiovascular disease. More recently, research has also begun to explore potential links between poor IAQ and cognitive health, including dementia.
Why Indoor Air Quality Matters
On average, people spend around 90% of their time indoors, with approximately 16 hours a day spent at home alone. This makes indoor environments one of the most significant sources of long term exposure to air pollutants.
In many cases, the air indoors can be more polluted than outdoor air. This is due to a combination of factors such as building materials, heating and cooking activities, cleaning products, ventilation rates, and the accumulation of pollutants in enclosed spaces.
As a result, the level of exposure to airborne pollutants indoors can be significantly higher than that experienced outdoors, even in urban environments where air quality is often a concern.
Understanding the Risk
Because of the amount of time spent indoors, even low or moderate levels of indoor pollution can accumulate into meaningful health risks over time. This is particularly important for vulnerable groups such as children, older adults, and individuals with pre-existing respiratory or cardiovascular conditions.
Improving indoor air quality is therefore not just a matter of comfort, but a key component of preventative health and wellbeing.
Improving indoor air quality is therefore not just a matter of comfort, but a key component of preventative health and wellbeing.
Checkout more in our video below.
Join the Ventilation Group
Delivering healthy indoor air solutions. Poor indoor air quality costs the NHS over £1 billion every year. Join BEAMA’s Ventilation Group to be part of the solution, shaping policy, addressing skills and competency challenges, and promoting high quality ventilation systems that support healthier indoor environments and stronger businesses.
This was launched as part of BEAMA’s My Health My Home public awareness campaign.
The campaign raises householder and house builder awareness of the potential impacts of poor indoor air quality on human health and the importance of effective ventilation in managing indoor air quality. It also draws attention to the impact that certain behaviours, household products, furnishings and building materials can have in relation to levels of pollution inside homes.
It has been widely featured in the media, including the Guardian, the Observer, the Daily Express, the Daily Mail, the Mail on Sunday, the Daily Mirror as well as on This Morning and the ITV News.
The campaign has a range of useful resources, including guides, research and expert insight.