5 Tips to Improve Your Indoor Air Quality

The climate has become the number one topic in recent years and is shaping society, media and companies like no other topic before. But have you ever thought about the climate in your home? Did you know, for example, that the indoor climate is important not only for your well-being but also for your health?

That's reason enough to take a look in this article at some useful hints about indoor climate and improving air quality with smart home sensors.

First off: It is important to pay attention to the right temperature, air quality and humidity in your home! These very values are crucial for healthy and restful sleep. Your indoor climate affects your mucous membranes and thus affects your susceptibility to colds, but also to headaches, dry eyes and dizziness. In addition, the right indoor climate helps you stay awake and fit in your head and also reduces the risk of unpleasant surprises such as mold.

So what is important for the indoor climate?

Air Humidity

The humidity in your home is especially important. If the air humidity is too low, your mucous membranes can dry out and you can become more susceptible to colds. You are most likely to notice low humidity in your bedroom if you suffer from coughing, watery eyes, dry skin or sleeping problems at night.

But also pay particular attention to the humidity in your living areas. Typical signs of low humidity are headaches or reduced concentration.

However, your room humidity should not be too high either. If so, it can promote the formation of mold, which can in turn cause health problems. Therefore one can only make a judgement about the air humidity in relation to the room temperature.

Temperature

The "ideal" room temperature is, of course, individual. However, temperatures in the bedroom that are too high can cause you to wake up unrested in the morning and feel as if you haven't really slept at all. Temperatures that are too low will keep you awake at night and can also disturb your sleep.

Luftqualität

Headaches caused by stale air, dizziness and reduced concentration - if these symptoms are caused by the air quality, you can remedy them by airing out your premises vigorously. Exhalation from people, tobacco, as well as emissions from carpets, textiles and furniture can worsen your air quality.

However, while you can easily check the temperature and even the humidity in your rooms, it becomes more difficult with air quality. Here, for example, VOC sensors can help you by detecting the concentration of volatile organic compounds in the air.

If you want to know how Livy Protect can help you with indoor climate monitoring, click here.

But what to do if the air values are not optimal? Here are 5 tips for better air quality in your home:

1. Increase air humidity with plants

Make sure that the humidity in your living rooms does not fall below 40%. Houseplants such as the spider plant, Chinese evergreen, green lily or ivies and, if necessary, humidifiers will help you do this.

A very simple tip: Leave the bathroom door open after showering or bathing. Flat containers with water, which can you place on the heater, also contribute to increasing the humidity in your room.

2. Lower air humidity with ventilation

The ideal air humidity should not exceed 70% - especially if your room temperature is rather low. If your air humidity gets too high, regular, strong ventilation is the best way to help. If this is not enough, you can fill bowls with household salt (fine-grained or coarse-grained table salt that contains neither iodine nor fluoride) and spread it around the room. Also open the windows while showering or cooking.

3. Proper ventilation in the winter

In winter, the dry and warm air that comes from heating often lowers the air humidity. Therefore air out your home in the morning after getting up and in the evening before going to bed for about 10 minutes (or alternatively several times during the day for about 5 minutes). It is important that you really open the windows completely and not just tilt them.

4. Proper ventilation in the summer 

Since warm air in summer absorbs more moisture than cold air in winter, the humidity if often higher. To avoid the sultry summer air, it is best to open the window wide only very early in the morning and for 20 minutes in the late evening.

5. Determining air quality with smart sensors

Who would have thought? A smart home blog without smart tips would be unimaginable, of course. But let's be honest: How can you improve the air quality in a room if you don't know the exact values?

Smart sensors, such as those within Livy Protect, detect the concentration of "bad air", or rather volatile organic compounds. Such compounds are caused by tobacco smoke, plastics, furniture, cleaning and disinfecting agents, and much more. In this case, the only thing that can really help is to open the windows and air out the room for at least 20 to 30 minutes. Smart Home Apps will then show you when the value returns to normal.