How your home environment can affect your family’s immune system and wellness this winter!

Our environment is probably not something you think about when you think about improving your family’s wellness and supporting their immune system, but it’s an extremely important factor to consider and has a significant impact on our health as a whole, both mentally and physically.

Things in our environment can trigger our immune system to work harder if our environment is not supporting our health. Our environment is everything we eat, drink and breathe in – from food to cleaning products, air fresheners, candles and personal care products. At the bottom of this blog I’m going to sharing with you an easy tip I used when I started my low tox journey that you can implement in your home.

When there is a combination of immune triggering factors (eg. bad diet, not enough sleep, lack of exercise, exposure to toxins in our environment or high levels of stress), it causes our immune system to work harder resulting in our bodies being more susceptible to catching a virus or an infection.  

Some things in our environment we can’t control but I’d like to talk about a couple of things we can control, like the foods we put into our bodies. If we make sure we are providing our family with a diet full of fresh fruit and vegetables, healthy grains, good quality proteins and fats and also good quality filtered water, we are helping our family stay healthy. Also, buying organic produce where you can and when this isn’t possible, washing your fresh fruit and vegetables in a plant-based chemical free fruit wash to remove chemicals on the surface of their skin is a great support.  (I can help you find the right option for you, but even just soaking your produce in a therapeutic grade lemon essential oil will do the trick!).

Your family home is one understated factor that affects your family’s ability to stay healthy. The more chemical exposure, the harder their bodies are working to stay healthy.

 

Since 1950, at least 70,000 new chemical compounds have been invented and dispersed into our environment. Only a fraction of these have been tested for human toxicity. Of the 87,000 chemicals only 10% have been tested for potential health effects. 

 

The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) found the levels of air pollution inside the home can be two to five times higher (and sometimes even 100 times higher) than outdoor levels. An actual EPA study concluded that the toxic chemicals in household cleaners are 3 times more likely to cause cancer than outdoor air. Considering we spend around 90% of our time indoors.

 

 In Australia, almost 2500 children are admitted to hospital every year due to poisonings, with all-purpose and hard-surface cleaners, detergents, bleach and toilet bowl products among the most common causes of poisoning among children. Kidsafe Australia list cleaning products as a common poisonous item found in the home.

On a daily basis, we are exposed to hundreds of chemical products from cleaning and skin care products to chemicals used to produce or preserve the foods we bring into our homes… they are hard to escape! Borax and boric acid, are common ingredient found in chemical detergents and dishwashing agents that we use on a regular basis, even though they have been shown to be linked with toxic effects on the human reproductive system.

This is overwhelming information but we can control our home environment to make it safe for growing bodies.  Sometimes when people are exposed to this information they want to straight away get rid of every chemical in the home and other people will take an approach of slowly changing room by room to safe products.   Working out the best option for you so you find it easy, sustainable and not overwhelming, is the way to go.

 

As I said above, I would share an easy hack you can make now. What do you use to wipe down your kitchen bench?  Ajax spray and wipe maybe? This is one area you can look at that is easy to change but will have maximum effect on improving your health.   

So, to help you get started I have detailed a very easy to make all-purpose cleaner you can use.

 

20 drops of tea tree oil* 

20 drops of Thieves essential oil blend*

½ cup of distilled white vinegar

1 ¼ cups of distilled water

 

*therapeutic grade oil

 

Drop essential oils into a glass spray bottle. Add vinegar and water, and gently swirl to mix.

 

Use this to wipe surfaces, floors, grout and use for general household cleaning.  

 

If want to remove and reduce all toxins in your home NOW I use and recommend Young Living's Nature Home Essential bundle.

Check out the starter bundles here