How a Clean Home Reduces Health Risks

Since germs lurk everywhere—on your skin, food, pets, and even in the air—essentially every surface in your home is a potential bacterial breeding ground. A home should be a safe place for you and your family, and keeping it a sanctuary is manageable by taking some simple starting steps. Here are five helpful hints to keeping your home clean by combating germs and as a result, reducing the health risks associated with these tiny troublemakers. rn1. Wash your hands. Clean people make for a cleaner home. Although an assumed routine in most lifestyles, hand washing is the easiest and most-effective weapon of mass germ destruction. People should wash up after preparing and eating food, using the bathroom, handling garbage, and coughing or sneezing. Since germs accumulate on your hands as you touch people and surfaces throughout the day, hand washing prevents sickness, kills germs, and promotes all-around health, especially for children. If soap and water isn’t available, reach for the alcohol-based sanitizing gels. Extra credit: Experts say a quality hand washing lasts for as long as it takes to sing “Happy Birthday.” 2. Be aware of the germ hotspots in your home. Besides the oft-noted bathroom, germs live in every room, lurking on items frequently touched, including: Refrigerator door handles, doorknobs, television remote controls, light switches, salt and pepper shakers, toothbrushes, kitchen sinks, cutting boards, and sponges. Make sure to clean the surfaces of these items regularly, or in the case of sponges and toothbrushes, replace them at least every three months. Extra credit: Mythbusters tested the theory that all toothbrushes breed fecal germs. The result: 100 % true. rn3. After you know where germs like to hide, operation ambush and destroy can commence. Start by disinfecting surfaces and washing your hands after you use kitchen items or handle raw food. Common household items that can double as germ killers include bleach, raw vinegar, and hydrogen peroxide. Heat kills many germs and bacteria, therefore, clean with steam any surface that can handle the temperature and water. Extra credit: Vacuum Cleaners utilize an ultraviolet UV-C light to kill germs. rn4. Pet dander, dust, and dust mites can circulate in the bad air in your home. Even if you clean your home regularly, air gets trapped indoors, and the dust and germs you stir up cleaning just keep circulating. Polluted indoor air causes breathing problems, especially for asthmatics. It’s not a hopeless endeavor, however. If a furnace heats your home, change the filters in at least twice a year. Invest in an air filter for every commonly frequented rooms. Smoke outdoors only. Extra Credit: The air inside your home is 10 times dirtier than the air outside. 5. Mold and other unregulated moisture pockets are the silent home killers. Black Mold can be deadly and will destroy an entire house if left alone in addition to causing serious health risks, such as trouble breathing, asthmatic complications, and allergic reactions. Mold can grow anywhere at room temperature, but especially on humid surfaces such as on tile and in damp basements. Control the mold by controlling moisture in your home and fix water problems and cleaning up existing mold. Toxic Black Mold on the other hand—leave that to the experts. Extra credit: Always wear a respirator, gloves, and goggles when cleaning household mold. So start living a healthier life by living in a cleaner home. For more tips on home cleaning please visit our Denver cleaning service website at www.DenversCleaningService.comrn