The air in your home isnt as clean as you think toxicologist reveals 3 major sources of pollution

Home is where the heart is — but it could also be where your health troubles start.Americans spend roughly 90% of their time indoors, according to the Environmental Protection Agency.But the air inside your home, office or school may not be as clean as you think it is.“Air quality indoors can be up to five times worse than air quality outside, which shocks a lot of people,” Dr.

Yvonne Burkart, a toxicologist, author and expert on reproductive and endocrine disorders, said in an episode of the podcast The Diary of a CEO.“The reason being that people are not adequately venting their homes.”Children, older adults and people with heart and respiratory disease are particularly vulnerable to air pollution and they also tend to spend more time indoors than the average person.Breathing unclean air is linked to a wide range of health risks.

Short-term exposure can cause ear, nose and throat irritation, headaches, dizziness and fatigue.More severe, long-term risks include asthma attacks, bronchitis, pneumonia, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), heart disease, lung cancer and nervous system damage.

“If you want to improve your health, you have to clean up your indoor air,” said Burkart.So where exactly is all that pollution coming from?One major source is cooking, she explained.While heating food may fill your home with delicious smells, it’s also releasing pollutants into the air.These include combustion gases, like nitrogen dioxide, carbon monoxide and formaldehyde.In fact, a study from Stanford University suggests that gas and propane stoves account for a staggering amount of exposure to nitrogen dioxide.

An estimated 38% of American households use a gas stove, even as several studies have documented their harmful effects.Purdue University researchers found that they produce up to 100 times more dangerous particles than a car exhaust pipe, increasing the risk of asthma and other respiratory illnesses.

They also release benzene, a dangero...