Indoor contamination with critical substances can be as high as 10 times the external contamination level of inner city environments.
Formaldehyde has been classified as carcinogenic and may be released into the environment from carpets, furniture, adhesive, paints, and varnishes. Paints emit chemicals long after they have been applied and care needs to be taken when choosing suppliers to reduce emissions to a minimum, particularly when people living in the space are young or elderly. Consider choosing natural fibres, wood, clay, lime etc when possible, to keep your environment as healthy.
We spend 90% of our time indoors and 30% in our bedrooms. Ventilation is essential as the carbon dioxide levels of 2 people in a room with a closed door can easily go over the recognised safety limit. In winter we tend to keep all windows closed to conserve energy but ventilating regularly is essential. Another option is to have house plants that purify the air, an asparagus fern is one of the most efficient and even meant to absorb bacteria.
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