Life, as they say, is complicated. Even for the most fortunate, it’s full of challenges and surprises and revelations. Never more than when it comes to our children.
Here’s something that may surprise you: Babies, breathing the same air in the same room as adults, have 5x the exposure to airborne pollutants. Why? Because they breathe 5x more often.
The consequences of this extra intake, during what is a particularly crucial moment of development, often extend far beyond childhood.
As just one example of emerging research, a 2022 University of Colorado study on the effects of air pollution on children’s gut bacteria found that “air pollution exposure, even during infancy, may alter the gut microbiome, with important implications for growth and development.” These implications include elevated risks of allergies, obesity and diabetes, and impacts on brain development.
But don’t feel bad if you haven’t heard or thought about this before. You’re not alone. See, of the five basic human needs — sunlight, shelter, food, air and water — air is often an afterthought. Yet it’s our single largest source of environmental exposure and the one thing we most readily can’t live without.
Sunlight: A long time
Shelter: Depends on the climate
Food: Weeks
Water: 3 days
Air: 3 minutes
In other words, we generally think least about the thing we need most.
Here’s something else you may not know: We breathe almost 2000 gallons of air a day—enough to fill a swimming pool. That equates to over 30 pounds of air, which, unless you’re a competitive eater, is quite a bit more than the combined water and food we consume each day.
That’s a lot of air getting very little respect.
So, Why the Blind Spot? 🙈
Why would something so critical to our health and survival, and something we do more than anything else, be so undervalued? Well, mostly because breathing is largely unconscious. In most cases, we do it without effort or thought, and only in rare instances is the difference between clean air and dirty air visible to the naked eye.
But not seeing or thinking about something doesn’t remove the threat. It only allows a problem to grow more insidious—5x more insidious when it comes to our newborns and poor air quality.
During pregnancy, great effort is usually taken to control what the fetus is exposed to. We change our diets and try to lessen or completely eliminate harmful habits like drinking and smoking. But then, after the baby is born, we generally think much less about their ambient environment, unconsciously relying on the hope that air is air.
One major contributing factor to indoor air pollution is that modern buildings, in the interest of saving energy and keeping things comfortable (a good thing), are tighter than ever (a bad thing), allowing pollutants like mold and chemicals to accumulate and thereby infiltrate our air, which we rebreathe over and over.
Given that, on average, we spend about 90% of our time indoors — even more when a newborn enters the picture — is it any wonder we’ve seen skyrocketing rates of asthma, allergies, autoimmune diseases and cancer in recent decades?
The Good News 🌞
But here’s the good news: unlike the outdoor environment, and other facets of life where we as individuals carry little sway, we have enormous potential for control in our indoor environment.
It all begins with awareness. Which is what our New Moms Series is all about.
Our mission is to empower people just like you with the tools and knowledge needed to make better decisions about the air you breathe.
Sure, we sell mold test kits, but this is a lot more than business. It’s personal. We have kids, too. And we all live in buildings and breathe air. So this is a universal concern.
There’s a lot to know, true, but you don’t have to do it all at once. A little bit goes a long way. So take it one step at a time. Our next email will focus on what to avoid in every home, but especially one that has or is soon to have a tiny new addition.
Up Next… Don’t Bring Bad Stuff Home
