A healthy home is like our third skin — it protects and creates a building ground for a healthy body. I cannot tell you enough just how much I see healthy homes help with all kinds of problems that have become normalized in the past years. Health benefits of a healthy home come down to not only what we bring in, but what we remove as well. And the icing on the cake is the healthy habits you create AROUND keeping your space healthy.
A healthy home is more than just a space that you return to at the end of the day. Instead it truly can be an environment that protects your physical wellbeing, restores your systems to a natural state along with so many other health benefits. Its why I think EVERYONE deserves a healthy home in order to feel the health benefits themselves. But the problem is creating a healthy home environment and implementing healthy habits around your home base is something most of us are not taught.
There’s just not enough education around toxins in our spaces — actually quite the opposite. There’s a whole demographic of individuals who believe that toxins have no concerns about toxins and actually think it’s comical that some of us care at all about a low toxin environment. And while this can be SO frustrating when it comes from a family member or a friend, I think gentle education on what we’re doing to be healthier will eventually fall on receptive ears. Together, I think we can continue to help and change the future of our society and stand for what matters: our health and our family’s wellness.
WHAT A BURDENED BODY LOOKS LIKE
Before we can talk about the MAJOR health benefits a healthy house is to our body’s, it’s critical to understand what our bodies can look like when they’re burdened by the constant exposure to toxins in our homes.
Without healthy habits like improving indoor air quality on a daily basis or reducing toxic dust regularly, our spaces can become unhealthy VERY quickly. So much depends upon our daily habits in order to create a healthier space. When toxins are present in our homes and we do nothing to reduce them, our body can become burdened and overloaded.
A simple analogy is a cup of water. A cup can only hold SO much water, and each cup has a maximum volume that can be poured in. But what happens when the water just keeps getting poured into the cup, it overflows and creates a mess – in some cases, a disaster. Our bodies are the same way, they can only get rid of toxins so fast. Our detoxing systems like our kidneys and liver can only work so much before they can’t keep up with the amount of toxins we’ve been exposed to.
Another way to think of it is in terms of exercise and calories. If you burn more calories than you consume, you’ll likely lose weight on the scale. If you consume more calories than you end up burning for one day, you probably won’t notice anything. But if you continue this behavior on a constant and daily basis, eventually, you might put on some weight.
A burdened body that can’t keep up with getting rid of toxins before more enter our bloodstream, can begin to suffer from:
- Fatigued
- Brain Fog
- Insomnia
- Anxiety
- Metabolic Disorders
- Mood Disorders
- Headaches
- Cognitive Difficulties
- Behavior Disorders
- Increased Risk of Cancer
(STUDY)
HEALTHY HABITS AT HOME = MAJOR HEALTH BENEFITS TO YOUR BODY
As always, I’m here to share the good news: there are major health benefits you’ll get from a healthy home and healthy habits you implement in your home.
Our homes can become the spot where we can truly restore and our bodies can naturally detox all the toxins we come in contact with fully.
HEALTHIER LIVER
Liver disease is a MAJOR risk factor worldwide. The liver is responsible for removing SO may toxins from our bodies, including environmental toxins that we come into contact with. A study from 2021 shows that environmental toxins are a risk factor for liver disease that we may be able to reduce with a healthier home environment. (STUDY)
The environment that we spend the most time in is important to our body in a variety of ways, but essentially the easier we make it on our liver, the more efficiently it works, and less it becomes overworked, which can lead to disease.
The liver is such an important part of our body’s overall health and wellness because it reduces the toxins we come in contact with every day and protects our other systems from overload. But the harder the liver has to work, the less healthy it becomes over time. It’s important to take any step you can through healthy habits to reduce that stress on the liver and ultimately the whole body.
LESS STRESS
We all probably know the irritating effects of short term stress — it leaves you feeling less than ideal. But not all of us know the health issues that can come with chronic stress. A home that is unhealthy actually leads to a myriad of health effects triggered by stress. This is especially true of children.
A study published shows that the physical environment of the home and how healthy it is caused health effects in children such as:
- Immune system dysregulation
- Higher inflammation
- Increased risk of obesity
- Abilities to cope with stress in the future
Inflammation has been linked with depression, cardiovascular risk factors and ultimately adult inflammation that is chronic. (STUDY)
Another study showed that the stress that toxins put on our body can ultimately wreak havoc on our circadian clocks and our cardiovascular system. On the other hand when stress is reduced, our bodies can naturally detox even better, meaning the cycle of body detox gets stronger and stronger. (STUDY)
COMPLETE ENDOCRINE FUNCTION
The endocrine system is becoming a HUGE focus of our health and wellness, because it’s such a complex system that ultimately affects SO many other systems within our body. Our hormones control our sleep (more on that later), our fertility, our thyroid and metabolic function, and so much more. The endocrine system is fine tuned to YOUR body and your needs, but when it becomes disrupted through toxin exposure, it trickles down into ALL kinds of health effects.
One of the biggest and scariest effects of endocrine disruptors has been an increased risk of different types of cancers, including breast cancer. But on the opposite end, when the endocrine system is functioning properly, it means that immunity response is high, the metabolism functions at an optimal level, children don’t have an increased risk of ADHD or developmental delays and the reproductive system is functioning properly. (INFORMATION)
BETTER SLEEP
Great sleep is actually necessary for our brain to flush out the toxins that we are exposed to during the day (STUDY), but with an overwhelming amount of exposure, our brains can also have trouble settling into sleep and staying asleep. So this health benefit and healthy habit are a two-parter.
For starters, the more toxins we come in contact with, the more disruption is caused to our hormones, and yes, the ones that regulate our sleep can become affected too. When our body’s ability to fall asleep and stay asleep for a healthy length of time becomes affected, our body actually doesn’t reduce toxins as quickly as it needs to each night. This in turn can lead to toxin build up in the body, and particularly, the brain, where neurotoxins can build up. (STUDY).
So the more sleep we get, the better our body can reduce toxins. But in order to get that GOOD sleep we’re talking about, we need to reduce toxin exposures that disrupt the endocrine system and mold within our spaces. Mold toxicity is often an overlooked common cause of sleep issues, but it’s a big one.
By eliminating toxins you come in contact with, you’ll reap the benefits of a healthy and restorative night sleep.
FEWER ILLNESSES
The fact is that our immune system is an intricate part of our health and wellness. It plays a role in the way that our body responds to just about everything it comes in contact with. From bacteria to viruses to toxins in our food — our bodies have to handle and deal with each and everything. The more our bodies are focused on protecting itself from toxins, the less it’s able to fight off all the viruses and bacteria that we come into contact with.
We have to give our bodies the tools it needs to be able to stay healthy instead of suffering ALL the symptoms of each cold and flu virus we meet. This benefit is what I like to think of as a trickle-down advantage. If a toxin free home has the health benefit of improving the quality of our sleep, then with improved sleep, comes fewer illnesses because we’re giving our body the rest it needs. (STUDY)
What are you planning on doing to improve your space this year!? Leave your plan below in the comments and let’s keep the momentum going!
