3 Health Impacts Of Inadequate Home Heating
When the stifling heat of summer finally gives way to fall, the feeling can be one of sweet relief. Finally, you can walk down the street without feeling like you’ll perspire half your body weight in sweat. You can sit and watch a TV show without having to fan yourself. You can even contemplate using your kitchen once more because it’s no longer too hot to cook.
It’s a delightful, blissful relief without a doubt. As fall gives way to winter, however, the feelings of delight at the lower temperatures may become something less savory. Suddenly the heat that you so favored has been replaced by chills, waking up in a cold bedroom, and having to huddle under a blanket at night. You know you could turn on the heating, but… that’s expensive. You’ll just put an extra sweater on. That’ll take care of the problem.
Will it, though?
While all systems from hydronic heating to just running an electric heater can be expensive, it’s a cost you should be willing to pay - or the cost in terms of your health could be far more severe. After all, not heating your home can have pretty serious consequences on your health - the kind of problems that no amount of thick sweaters are going to be able to solve.
#1 - Lung Problems
Constantly breathing in cold air makes the vessels in our lungs constrict. There are even types of asthma which are primarily triggered not by an allergy source, but by cold air. Even for those of us who don’t have this condition, you’re putting your lungs under a huge amount of stress if they are constantly inhaling chilled air.
Not only does this make you more susceptible to colds and flu, but it will also exacerbate any underlying conditions. This is especially true for children.
#2 - Skin Problems
When the air is wet and heavy - as it tends to be in an unheated home during winter - then your skin can play the price. Not only will you generally find your skin is less comfortable and needs more moisturizing, but you can also see signs of an illness called cold urticaria. Cold urticaria is, essentially, an allergic reaction to cold temperatures.
#3 - House Problems That Affect Health
Finally, if you allow your house to be cold, it’s likely going to be more humid. Humid tends to mean one thing and one thing alone: black mold. There’s no way of overstating how devastating black mold can be on health - it’s literally fatal if you don’t deal with the symptoms it causes.
It will spread happily in a cold, wet environment, releasing spores into the air that you then inhale. You’re inhaling these - remember - on lungs that are already not much prepared for the task. The toxicity of black mold varies on the type of fungus, but it’s not hyperbole to say it could be life-threatening. The death of actress Brittany Murphy was linked to toxic black mold, so this is definitely not a situation to take lightly.
So wrap up, turn the heating on, and waiting for spring to come!
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