How To Find The Best Air Purifier For Your Home: A Simple Step To Better Lung Health
Discover our top pick for best air purifier
You already know that clean air improves lung health, but how do you know if you need an air purifier and how do you choose the the best air purifier for your home?
Indoor air is at least 2 to 5x more polluted than outdoor air. We spend a lot of time indoors. Even active outdoor enthusiasts breathe indoor bedroom air roughly 8 hours per night. If there’s one thing you can do to improve your lung health, improving the quality of the air you breathe inside your home is a simple solution that could make a big impact.
The obvious effect is on our lungs, influencing the severity of allergies, asthma and other respiratory illnesses. But what fascinates me most is that researchers have found that the effects of air pollution extend beyond the respiratory tract and can even influence the gut microbiome, weight, blood sugar regulation, and brain health. Wow! What a stunning example of the interconnectedness between the different systems in our bodies.
Common signs that may indicate a need for a high-quality air purifier:
Allergies
Asthma or shortness of breath
Brain fog or trouble concentrating
Chronic post-nasal drip
Coughing and sneezing
Dizziness or lightheadedness
Headaches
Nausea
Sinus congestion
Sleep apnea
Unexplained fatigue
Common sources of poor indoor air quality
According to the EPA, “While pollutant levels from individual sources may not pose a significant health risk by themselves, most homes have more than one source that contributes to indoor air pollution. There can be a serious risk from the cumulative effects of these sources.”
There are many potential sources of indoor air pollution in any home. Below is a list of common sources:
Allergens like pet dander, dust, dust mites and more
Airborne viruses and bacteria
Asbestos-containing insulation
Central heating and cooling systems (as they tend to accumulate particles in the ducts)
Chemicals from household cleaning products, personal care products and hobbies
Gases and VOC’s like formaldehyde found in furniture, building materials, gas stove exhaust and more
Hidden mold from water-damaged building materials like carpet or kitchen/bathroom cabinetry
Humidifiers
Outdoor sources such as radon, pesticides, wildfire smoke and other outdoor air pollution
Tobacco products
The medical grade HEPA filters I use and recommend
Regardless of what’s polluting your indoor air, when you’re breathing in things you shouldn’t there is no supplement on the market that can replace your body’s need for clean air.
Because the many sources of poor air quality are not 100% avoidable, I have at least one HEPA air filter on every floor of my house. When I first made this investment in healthier indoor air, I could immediately FEEL the difference in the quality of air I was breathing inside my home - my allergies and asthma were easier to manage.
Below, I’m going to geek out about airflow, HVAC systems, and more. So, if you prefer to just know what I recommend people use for purifying the air in their homes, here it is:
Click Here To See My Top Picks for Best Air Purifiers
What makes a certain air filter “The Best Air Purifier”
I have researched many different air purifier brands. I have owned and tested at least 7 different air purifiers from 5 different brands recommended by top doctors, environmental health experts, and building biologists.
Below is the list of qualities that I used to determine my top pick for “The Best Air Purifier”:
True Medical HEPA filtration: My top pick is a true medical HEPA (high-efficiency particulate air) filter which is the “gold standard” in air filtration because of the small size of particles that it captures (0.3 microns and larger).
Filtration for Even Smaller Particles: My top pick is designed to remove 99.97% of all particles larger than 0.3 microns and 95% of all particles larger than 0.1 microns, including viruses and bacteria when they are airborne.
Portability and Accessibility: Each unit has wheels which come in really handy when you want to move it from room to room. There are a few bigger (and more expensive) brands that may be able to filter down to a slightly smaller particle size, but if you can’t move it around the home to reach different areas as needed, then that’s going to limit the area where the filter can make an impact.
Effective for Odors and VOCs: My top pick contains 15 pounds of carbon/zeolite! When you compare that to most other units, that’s a lot of filtering capability, which is specifically useful for odors, VOC’s, fumes, exhaust and other gasses.
Chemical-Free: HEPA filtration is a mechanical process (versus chemical process) and therefore does not create and release potentially toxic chemicals in your environment. For this reason, I intentionally avoid hydroxyl or ionizing technology that may be used in other brands.
Low EMF: When measured, my top pick emitted less dirty electricity / EMF radiation than competitor units. This is important for people with EMF sensitivity, which can often be the case for those with chronic illnesses such as Chronic Lyme Disease and mold-related illness.
5-year Warranty: My top pick provides a 5-year warranty on their air filters, as well as a 5-year prorated filter guarantee. This makes the price of the filters very competitive when you factor in the more frequent cost of replacement filters of other brands.
Step-by step guide to improve your indoor air quality
One question we’ve been asked is: “Is the filter on my furnace sufficient to purify the air in my home?” Unfortunately, the short answer is typically no. Whether or not your home has an HVAC system, you’ll likely want to purify the air.
Here’s a step-by-step guide on how to optimize your indoor air quality:
Check the maximum recommended MERV filter rating in your furnace manual for information about your system's maximum capacity. MERV stands for Minimum Efficiency Reporting Value and gives a rating between 1 to 16 that reports a filter's ability to capture larger particles between 0.3 and 10 microns (µm). The higher the number the better the filter is at trapping particles. You can learn more about MERV filter ratings here. You'll likely see that your system tops out at a MERV-11 (or lower), nowhere near the filtration level needed to mitigate the most concerning pollutants like chemicals, airborne viruses, mold and mycotoxins. Even if your furnace can handle a MERV 16 filter (the highest MERV rating), a HEPA filter has higher air filtration performance.
Maximize your HVAC’s ability to clean the air by using that maximum recommended MERV filter rating and continue changing it out at the recommended intervals. Be careful to not exceed the filter rating your system is designed for because doing so can stress your furnace.
Use a HEPA air purifier that filters down to a particle size small enough to trap common indoor pollutants. The HEPA air purifiers that I recommend are designed to remove 99.97% of all particles larger than 0.3 microns and 95% of all particles larger than 0.1 microns including viruses and bacteria when they are airborne.
Use a HEPA air purifier that turns the entire air volume over in your space and doesn't just create a "clean air bubble" around the unit. This is yet another reason why I recommend the specific air purifiers that I do.
Use a chemical-free HEPA air purifier so that you don’t release potentially toxic chemicals into your environment.
Make sure you continue to vacuum floors and dust surfaces regularly in your home. While a HEPA air purifier can minimize pollutants in the air, there are also pollutants that have landed on surfaces like floors, bookshelves, and countertops.
Be Well Natural Medicine
Be Well Natural Medicine is a boutique natural medicine clinic for women serving the Twin Cities since 2009. To learn more about the doctors and services offered at Be Well here.
