Buying an air purifier for dust

Dust is something we all find in our homes at one point or another: trapped under our beds, on our furniture, and even suspended in the air we breathe in our rooms. These seemingly harmless dust bunnies are, however, not as harmless as we think, sometimes even containing radioactive elements! Read on to learn more about dust and how we can protect ourselves from its health effects using an air purifier to remove dust.

What is dust?

Interestingly enough, there is a common misconception that dust consists almost entirely of dead skin cells. While that is certainly a portion of dust’s composition (about one third of its make-up), the majority of dust (upwards of two-thirds) found in our homes is material that comes from outside¹.

When you walk outdoors, particles all get tracked into your home on your shoes, clothes, and even your skin. According to a program in Australia called DustSafe where individuals from 35 different countries send in dust samples from the rooms in their homes for analysis, the results have been astounding: the particles you bring in from outside can be seriously dangerous to your health. They may include the typical suspects like dust mites, pollen, and soot, but they may also include fine particle pollution, trace metals, radioactive elements, microplastics, and perfluorinated chemicals (PFAS)¹. Once brought indoors, these particles then settle onto the surfaces of your home but can easily become airborne when you clean, hoover, shake out rugs, and move about.

Some of the more notorious locations that collect dust are electronic devices like televisions and computers, rugs and carpets, ceiling fans, skylights, awnings, door frames, windows, and armoires.

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Dust’s effects on health

The degree by which a person is impacted by dust depends upon how the dust is inhaled: particle size, in which quantity, whether inhaled deeply, through the nose or mouth, and how many times throughout the day.

As we all know, dust can lead to allergies in many individuals, causing sneezing, coughing, a runny nose, congestion, and even breathing difficulties or trigger asthma attacks in those with asthma. Prolonged exposure to dust may also create extreme sensitivity.

The contaminated particles mentioned in the previous section of this article that are found in your household dust can be contributors to poor indoor air quality and pollution. This may cause significant effects on your health and daily well-being. Studies show that indoor air pollution in our rooms/spaces can lead to negative health effects like various cancers, respiratory and immune conditions and diseases, and birth defects to name a few (read more here about the effects of air pollution on our health).

The advantages of buying an air purifier for dust

Fight against allergies

Investing in a dust air purifier with a HEPA filter (read more below) to combat dust allergy is an excellent way to ease allergy symptoms (also known as allergic rhinitis) which may cause a runny or stuffy nose, congestion, sneezing, coughing, and/or eye and throat irritation. As previously mentioned, for those who are particularly sensitive, dust may trigger asthma attacks and skin irritation like eczema.

Rid your home of dust mites found in dust

A dust air purifier with a high-quality filter can also help remove dust mites from your home and breathing air. Dust mites are often the root cause of dust allergy symptoms: humans are often sensitive or allergic to their droppings and skin cells which are commonly found in our homes, especially in our living rooms and bedrooms (and in our bedding!).

Aside from allergies, an air purifier for dust and dust-sized particles can protect you from the various negative health effects listed in the previous section.

How to choose an air purifier to eliminate dust?