Welcome to Health Wellness
Good Health Always Begins at Home
Learn what you can do to help yourself and your family to have better health starting at home. This heath web-site offers health and safety tips about home health and things you can do at home to protect your health and lower your risk of the leading causes of disease.
Tips for a Green Home
A home can be built green, or green features can be added later. Green features can be used when we:
- site and design the home;
- build or renovate;
- select materials and appliances;
- clean and maintain the home; and
- use water and energy.
Homes can be planned and designed to take advantage of the natural benefits of sunlight. Taking advantage of sunlight can help reduce energy use and increase the home's lighting. Homes also can be built in areas that are not prone to disasters, such as flooding.
Homes can be designed, built, and renovated with natural or mechanical ventilation systems. These can filter and bring fresh air inside and vent stale air outside. These systems can also help prevent moisture problems that can cause mold or mildew. Mold can cause allergic reactions in sensitive people.
Some building materials release harmful gases that can cause cancer and respiratory illnesses such as asthma. Use building materials with zero or low emissions to improve indoor air quality. One example is insulation made from soybeans, recycled paper, or even old denim.
Many local and state governments, utility companies, and other entities across the country offer rebates, tax breaks, and other incentives for adding eco-friendly elements to homes.
Green Tips
- Conserve water - Use products with a Water Saver label. Adopt the following water-saving practices:
- Fix That Leak!
- Shower Power
- Turn It Off!
- Water Wisely
- Make It a Full Load
- Don't Flush Your Money Down the Drain!
- Reduce pesticide use: Use integrated pest management (IPM) to control pests. IPM eliminates the food, water, and shelter sources that pests need to survive. It is effective, costs less, and is less harmful to people, animals, and the environment.
- Use less energy: Use ENERGY STAR® appliances, WaterSense products, and fluorescent light bulbs. Turn off appliances when not in use. (U.S. Department of Energy Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy)
- Recycle: Reuse and recycle materials to conserve resources and manage materials and waste.
Good Health Begins at Home
People in the United States spend about half of every day inside their homes. Many actions we take at home can affect our health. For example, at home we may seek health information, take over-the-counter and prescription drugs, and consult with health care providers.
A home can support health and well-being. A healthy home is:
- shelter that supports health
- independence for an active life
- access to other places that can influence health and
- asocial setting that encourages healthy behaviors and emotional and physical health.
Shelter
The way homes are designed, built, and maintained can affect our safety as well as our mental and physical health. For example, electrical hazards can cause house fires. Poorly vented gas appliances and furnaces can cause carbon monoxide poisoning. Poor lighting on stairs can cause fall injuries. You can take actions to make your home safer, such as installing and maintaining smoke alarms.
Independence
Homes can be designed and built so people with activity limitations can live at home instead of moving to assisted living facilities or a nursing home. For example, wide stairs and doorways, no steps at the entrance of homes, and latch door handles help more people move freely in and around homes. Installation of grab bars in showers can help prevent falls.
Access to other places
The physical location of our home can also affect health. Homes near public transportation may allow people to get to jobs that have health insurance, stores that sell healthy foods, and health care providers who help keep them well. Neighborhoods with sidewalks may encourage physical activity that lowers obesity levels among residents.
Social setting & behaviors
The ways people act and relate to each other are also essential to health. Families can support good choices about diet or physical activity. Healthy parenting reduces the chance of child maltreatment. In addition, family members can provide emotional support to each other. This support can help improve self-esteem and the ability to cope with stressful situations.
Health and Safety Tips
- Improve air quality
- Prevent falls
- Prevent fire-related injuries
- Prevent poisoning
- Prevent lead poisoning
- Prevent drowning
- Improve nutrition and physical activity
- Prevent the spread of germs
- Prevent illness spread by water
- Prevent asthma attacks
Ten ways to make your home healthier
- Clear the air - Take the smoke-free pledge. Choose not to smoke in your home and do not permit others to do so. Small children are especially vulnerable to the health effects of secondhand smoke. Choose to smoke outside, if you must smoke. Moving to another room or opening a window is not enough to protect your children.
- Air quality - Listen to local forecasts for ozone, smog and particulate matter. When levels are high, limit your outdoor activities.
- Rid your house of radon - Test the level of radon gas in your home with a radon test kit. If the test result is 4pCi/L or higher, takes steps to reduce radon.
- Some household
products are toxic.
Use with caution! Look for alternatives to pesticides and household chemicals. If you must use them, always read the label and follow directions exactly. Always store them in high locked cabinets and in their original containers. - Check for carbon monoxide - Check that all potential sources of carbon monoxide, such as space heaters and wood stoves, are well-vented and in proper working order. Never idle the car or lawnmower in the garage, or use propane heaters in tents!
- Water, water everywhere - Know the quality of your drinking water. If you have a private drinking water well, test it periodically.
- Get the lead out - Avoid potential sources of lead. If your home was built before 1978, have your home tested for lead paint. When remodeling or doing home repairs, be careful that you do not create lead dust. Keep children visiting your home away from lead hazards.
- Keep mercury from rising - Limit your intake of specific types of fish with high levels of mercury. Have a mercury-free home-find alternatives to mercury thermometers or mercury used for cultural or spiritual practices.
- Too much sun is not much fun - Cover up, use SPF 15 or higher sun screen, and stay out of the midday sun to avoid damaging UV rays. Talk about the weather. Make a plan for temperature extremes-keep food, fluids and clothing stocked for extreme cold or heat, think of public places to go to escape the extreme temperatures, and identify who you can call for help if you need it.
- Wash your hands of it - Keep the dirt outside. Remove shoes at the door. Wash your hands to keep dirt that might be contaminated with lead, and pesticides off you and your kids.
Staying healthy indoors: toxics
Asbestos - Asbestos is a mineral found in some older construction materials. It was used in shingles for roofing and siding, pipe and boiler insulation. It was also used in floor tiles, ceiling panels (including acoustical tiles), coatings, gaskets and some vermiculite insulation, and in brake linings and disc-brake pads of older and some imported vehicles. Asbestos containing materials in good condition do not pose a health risk, so the safest, easiest and least expensive option may be to leave it alone. When construction materials break down, are damaged or disturbed, tiny fibers of the mineral can be released into the air. Inhaling asbestos fibers can cause serious lung damage, including lung cancer.
Action you can take:
If you decide to have asbestos removed, hire a state-certified asbestos abatement professional to remove any asbestos from your home. Do NOT do it yourself! Look in the phone book under “asbestos” for professionals in your area. Hire a professional mechanic to maintain or repair any vehicle parts that may contain asbestos.
Lead - Lead, once widely used in many different materials, is still found in many older New England homes. It was added to paint before being banned in 1978. Lead paint that is chipping, peeling or in high use areas (like window sills, doors, or stairways) can form dust. When this lead, contained in dust and paint chips, is breathed into the lungs or eaten, it poses a risk to children. Toys may also pose risks. 5 staying healthy indoors: toxics Some old toys contain lead or lead paint, and toys can pick up lead from contaminated soil or house dust. Lead was also used in older pipes, solder and plumbing fixtures that can corrode and release lead into drinking water. Exposure can result in lower intelligence in children and has been associated with behavioral and attention problems. It can lead to kidney, liver, brain and nerve damage. At very high levels, it can cause seizures, coma and even death. In addition, lead exposure can contribute to osteoporosis, can cause high blood pressure and heart disease, especially in men. Lead exposure may also lead to anemia.
Action you can take:
Mercury - Mercury is a potent neurotoxin that can cause
damage to the brain and central nervous system. The primary route of human exposure is eating fish that have acquired and accumulated mercury in their tissues. Some commercially available fish, especially large fish such as shark, swordfish, king mackerel and tilefish, tend to have higher levels of mercury. Canned light tuna has lower mercury levels than albacore, fresh/frozen tuna and canned white tuna. Get more information at: www.epa.gov/mercury/advisories.htm. Mercury can also enter the body by breathing vapors from broken mercury thermometers, broken fluorescent bulbs, or spilled liquid mercury. In addition, some people may unknowingly expose themselves to mercury (also called azogue or vidajan) through cultural and spiritual practices. These practices, which include sprinkling or burning mercury, release mercury vapors into the home. Exposure to mercury may result in irritability and mood swings, changes in vision, hearing or speech, and memory and mental problems. It can also cause serious kidney damage. Children exposed to mercury, either before they are born by the mother’s exposure or as very young children, may have developmental and learning delays and disorders.
Drinking water contaminants
- Clean drinking water is necessary for good health. High concentrations of bacteria, synthetic chemicals and natural contaminants in drinking water all can pose a threat to your health. Public water supplies are monitored by the government and the vast majority are safe and dependable. Every year, water suppliers are required to send a water quality report to the households they serve. In the rare case when there is a problem with the public water supply, the supplier must alert, either by mail or through the media, everyone who might be affected. If you have a private well, in most cases it is your responsibility to have it tested. You should consider testing it annually to ensure the quality of your drinking water.
Pesticides and toxic household products
Exposure to some household chemicals, such as pesticides, may cause harm to children, pets or the environment. Always carefully read and follow all instructions on product labels regarding use and storage.
Examples of household pesticides include:
Examples of household chemicals include:
By their nature, many pesticides may pose some risk to humans, animals, or the environment because they are designed to kill or otherwise adversely affect living organisms. At the same time, pesticides are often useful because of their ability to control disease- causing organisms, insects, weeds, or other pests. The pesticide label is your guide to using pesticides safely and effectively. It contains pertinent information that you should read and understand before you use a pesticide product. Poisoning from household chemicals may have a range of effects from mild distress like nausea or dizziness to more serious harm including injury to the lungs, or damage to the nervous, reproductive, endocrine and immune systems. Health effects depend on the toxicity of the product and the amount and length of exposure. EPA regulates pesticides in the United States under the pesticide law (the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act). Before EPA allows a pesticide to be marketed for use in the U.S., EPA carefully reviews scientific data on the chemical to understand its toxicity and any potential concerns for human health and the environment. EPA periodically re-evaluates older pesticide chemicals to ensure that they conform to current health and safety standards. EPA also sets health protective standards on the amount of a pesticide residue that may remain on food if pesticides are applied to a crop. All pesticide product labels carry a signal word of “danger,” “warning” or “caution” to indicate relative hazards to people (from higher concern to lower concern). EPA requires certain pesticides to be in child-resistant packaging. It is important for parents to take precautions to keep all pesticides and other household chemicals in secure places and safely out of reach of both children and pets.
