Clear the Air
We inhale nearly 10,000 quarts of air every day, which brings not only oxygen into our lungs but also mold, pollen, dust, and even formaldehyde. To filter out these airborne particles, use an air purifier.
Rachel Seligman
In honor of
Healthy Lung Month, we asked Martha V.
White, M.D., research director of the Institute
for Asthma & Allergy, how to find the
best model-and use it effectively.
- Choose one that has a high-efficiency particulate-arresting (HEPA) filter. To be certified as HEPA, a filter must remove 99.97 percent of particles that are 0.3 microns or larger. Two HEPA models that have performed well in independent tests are the Alen A350 (shown, $400; alencorp.com) and the IQAir HealthPro ($735; iqair.us).
- Look at the unit's "micron rating." The smaller the number, the more particles will be filtered.
- All purifiers are rated to handle a certain area size. If you use one designed for a small office in a large room, it won't work as well.
- Change filters as instructed. Activated carbon filters, for example, are effective, but if they're not replaced every four to six months, they start returning pollutants to the air, according to the book Naturally Clean (New Society Publishers, 2006).
