It’s always nice to be able to share the joys of the holidays with friends and family – including the four-legged members of your family. But what are you going to do if one of your friends or a family has pet allergies? Air MD’s specialists can provide a thorough environmental testing, but when it comes to testing for allergens in your home your guests’ noses may provide an adequate indoor air test!

Thanks to the folks at Realtor.com, we have some advice that may be helpful in preparing your house for a visit from people with pet allergies.

Of course, if you’d rather not set a place at the table for Cousin Ralph who is allergic to your lovely cats and who always talks about his prostate – loudly, please feel free to ignore this advice from your friends at AirMD, an air quality testing and mold testing company in Boca Raton with more than 10 years of experience in environmental testing – and with large families of our own.

Cleaning Tips If You Have Pets

If you have allergy-prone guests coming this holiday season, you’ll definitely want to get out the vacuum, dust cloth and sanitizer and give your house a good cleaning. According to Realtor.com you may also want to try these tips to make sure your guests will be comfortable:

• Give Fido a Bath Bathing your pet can reduce that amount of allergens – but only temporarily. You would have to be giving your dog – or if you’re very brave, your cat – a bath every 2 or 3 days to keep things under control in the long term.
• Chill Out! Close the windows and turn on the a/c. You may think that the open windows will help clear the air, but they will also raise the humidity levels in your house – especially if you live in South Florida. Andrew S. Kim, medical director of Allergy & Asthma Centers in Virginia told Realtor.com, “Higher numbers of airborne allergens are found in homes with high humidity.”

If there’s anything that the indoor air quality experts at AirMD can do to help make your holidays happier, please contact us.

The post Offer Holiday Guests a Healthy Welcome with these Tips to Help You Pass the Home Allergen Test appeared first on Air Quality Testing by AirMD Since 2007.

At AirMD, an environmental testing company specializing in indoor air quality assessments, we pride ourselves on our science-backed approach. So, as Thanksgiving approaches, we were intrigued to find scientific research on gratitude.

What Is Gratitude?

Robert Emmons, who has been studying the effects of gratitude on physical health, psychological well-being and on our relationships with others, is perhaps the world’s leading scientific expert on gratitude. He is a professor of psychology at the University of California, Davis, and the founding editor-in-chief of The Journal of Positive Psychology. He is also the author of a number books, including Thanks! How the New Science of Gratitude Can Make You Happier, Emmons argues that gratitude has two key components, which he describes in a Greater Good essay, “Why Gratitude Is Good.” “First,” he writes, “it’s an affirmation of goodness. We affirm that there are good things in the world, gifts and benefits we’ve received.”

In the second part of gratitude, he explains, “we recognize that the sources of this goodness are outside of ourselves. … We acknowledge that other people—or even higher powers, if you’re of a spiritual mindset—gave us many gifts, big and small, to help us achieve the goodness in our lives.”

The Benefits of Gratitude

Emmons and his colleagues have studied more than a thousand people of various ages and found that people who practice gratitude consistently (through the use of a gratitude journal or some other practice) report a host of benefits, including:

Physical Benefits

• Stronger immune systems
• Less bothered by aches and pains
• Lower blood pressure
• Exercise more and take better care of their health
• Sleep longer and feel more refreshed upon waking

Psychological Benefits

• Higher levels of positive emotions
• More alert, alive, and awake
• More joy and pleasure
• More optimism and happiness

Social Benefits

• More helpful, generous, and compassionate
• More forgiving
• More outgoing
• Feel less lonely and isolated

If you put together AirMD’s scientific expertise in environmental testing and the benefits associated with gratitude, you could be on the way to your family’s most peaceful holiday gathering ever! If you would like to “clear the air” before everyone arrives, call us at 1-888-GO AIRMD (1-888-462-4763) and ask about having an indoor air test, home allergen test, mold assessment or any of the other environmental testing services our company provides.

The post The Science of Gratitude appeared first on Air Quality Testing by AirMD Since 2007.

Seasonal allergies usually get the most attention. You’ve probably seen those ads showing people enjoying the great outdoors thanks to one antihistamine or another. Indoor allergies are also very common. If you or someone in your family has been struggling with allergies, having a home allergen test done might be the first step in getting the problem under control.

Causes of Indoor Allergies

Indoor allergies might not get as much attention because all those over-the-counter medications you see advertised aren’t always as effective when it comes to treating them. When you think of indoor allergies, the first thing that comes to mind is probably your aunt’s allergy to cats or that old boyfriend’s alleged allergy to your dog.

Dust mites are among the most common indoor allergens, however. If you live in a really dry environment, like the desert, you’re in luck. Dust mites need humidity to survive. As the American.Lung Association explains, “Humidity is the most important factor in determining whether a house has high concentrations of dust mites. Dust mites do not drink water like we do; they absorb moisture from the air.”

If you don’t live in the desert, chances are there are dust mites in your home – and your chances go up if you live in areas with high humidity like South Florida – including Boca Raton, where the indoor air quality experts at AirMD are based.

Dealing with Dust Mites

“Dust mite allergens, unlike pet allergens, do not usually stay airborne. They cling to particles that are too heavy to remain in the air for long,” the American Lung Association says. “Dust mite allergens settle within minutes into dust or fabrics, such as pillows, bedding or upholstered furniture, which serve as nests. Most exposure to dust mite allergens occurs while sleeping and when dust is disturbed during bed-making or other movements.”

If you’ve been washing your bedding in hot water every week and vacuuming with a HEPA filter vacuum frequently, but are still having issues, you may want to think about some of the less obvious places where dust mites can be hiding, including:

Stuffed Animals

When it comes to your child’s allergies, toys are nothing to play around with! As the Asthma and Allergy Friendly® Certification Program, a partnership between the Asthma and Allergy Foundation of America (AAFA) and Allergy Standards Limited (ASL) that tests and certifies products and services to improve the air quality and health of homes, explains, “Like bedding, stuffed toys attract dust mites and other allergens and irritants. They may also contain dyes and materials that can be irritating and cause allergy or asthma symptoms.”

What can you do?

To help reduce allergens, the experts at Asthma and Allergy Friendly recommend the following:

• Wash your child’s stuffed toys every week in water that is above 130°F.
• “You can also freeze toys for at least 24 hours to kill dust mites,” they say.

Furniture

Your favorite chair may be aggravating your allergies. Dust mites love hanging out in your upholstery.

What can you do?

According to the American Lung Association, you should definitely consider reducing the amount of upholstered furniture in your home. Your options include:

• Embrace the minimalist style and simply remove some of the furniture
• Invest in furniture with smooth surfaces. You don’t have to sit on a hard, wooden bench, there are a number of very comfortable options. If leather doesn’t work with your budget or your animal-loving spirit, don’t worry. You can find pieces made with good-quality faux leather made from nylon, cork, or polyester. Faux leather also is stain resistant and more durable than leather.

For more information on indoor allergens and home allergy testing, contact the science-based pros at AirMD, a leader in environmental testing and mold remediation.

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