How to breathe better at home?

According to the World Health Organization, in 2020, indoor air pollution was responsible for 3.2 million deaths, including more than 237,000 deaths of children under 5 years old. Not to mention the effects combined with outdoor air pollution: a combination responsible for more than 6 and a half million premature deaths each year. Indoor air pollution can lead to strokes, ischemic heart disease, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) or even lung or nasopharyngeal cancer. Why are our homes, our houses, our offices polluted? And how to fight against these poisons?

“Pollutants in homes are of all kinds, explains Professor Thomas Similowski. There are organic pollutants, which come from mold and fungi; there are chemical pollutants, dust… And every time we take a breath of air inside our home, we breathe in a lot of absolutely incredible things. When you list them, it’s a little scary.” To which is added the fact that “our interiors are insufficiently ventilated and ventilatedunderlines Nhän Pham-Thi. Air is not circulating. So, we have enormous concentrations which can be much stronger than external pollution.”

Among the pollutants in our homes, in our apartments, in our offices, there is tobacco, carpets and floor coverings, DIY products, scented candles, household products, combustion appliances, humidity , mold, dust mites, animal hair, electronic cigarettes… “We know the toxicities of these products taken one by one, but it is difficult to model the cocktail effect of all these elements on the human body, poursuit Nhan Pham-Thi. It is almost impossible to study the associated effect of these chemicals inside our body, because they will interact with each other, produce new particles, and have different effects on the brain, the respiratory tract, our organs. , our surfaces. It’s way too complex.”

Tips to combat indoor air pollution

• Ventilate for at least 15 to 20 minutes per day. “The air really has to circulate, otherwise we accumulate all these pollutants inside. Don’t block the vents, the mechanical ventilation really needs to work. It’s really very, very important for our health”insiste Nhan Pham-Thi.
• Avoid smoking indoors. “Cigarette smoke contains 3,000, 4,000 compounds: there is not one that is not toxic, explains Thomas Similowski. In France, if there were no smoking, no cigarettes, we would not have COPD, this disease which affects 3.5 million people and which destroys the bronchi and lungs.” He specifies that beyond primary smoking (it is you who smoke) and passive smoking (others inhale your smoke), toxic substances are also deposited everywhere, on carpets, tapestries, wallpaper, in the car, and contribute to indoor air pollution.
• Check your ventilation (VMC)clean it, replace it, or even “make holes in doors and windows to create a draft.”
• Limit cleaning products. “We don’t need anything, we’re not in the hospital, we don’t need to be sanitized.” always according to Nhän Pham-Thi.
• Obtain individual pollution sensors onlinebut be careful to choose officially validated models, recommends Isabella Annesi-Maesano.
• Avoid room perfumes, scented candles, incense, toxic paints, glues. When you unpack new plastic or chipboard furniture, leave it for a few days or weeks in a well-ventilated room.
• Some air purifiers are starting to be effective. They remain expensive, but studies show potentially beneficial effects. There are several types: favor those which filter, rather than those which operate by chemical reaction, because they can produce ozone.

Guests

• Nhan Pham-Thi, pediatrician and allergist
• Thomas Similowski, professor of pulmonology at the Sorbonne University faculty of medicine and head of the R3S department (Respiration, Resuscitation, Respiratory rehabilitation, Sleep) at the Pitié-Salpêtrière hospital. He is the author of: The superpowers of breathingAlbin Michel, 2024, co-written with Guillaume Jacquemont.
• Isabella Annesi Maesano, research director at Inserm and professor of environmental epidemiology.

• The column What’s new, doctor? by Boris Hansel
• The column of Thierry Lhermitte, godfather of the FRM