How The Laundry Room And Kitchen Affect Your Asthma

The laundry room contains many potential asthma triggers: fabric softeners, scented laundry detergents, and dust and lint that don't quite make it out through the dryer vent. Like the rest of your home, keep the laundry room meticulously clean and dust-free. Always shut the laundry room door when washing or drying clothes and, if there is a door or window between the laundry room and the garage or outside, keep it open to allow dust and fumes to escape. Until you figure out exactly what triggers your asthma, I recommend using unscented detergents and fabric softeners.

The kitchen is a hot asthma trouble spot. In the kitchen, asthmatics have to contend with cooking smells and products of combustion. Although cooking with gas is relatively clean, natural gas combustion still delivers an oxidative load to the lungs. If you cook with gas, be sure the flame is blue not yellow—a yellow flame signals inefficient burning and increased pollution. If you're planning to buy a gas stove, insist on "pilotless ignition" so you don't have a pilot light burning continuously.

 

Ventilation is critical in the kitchen. For both electric and gas stoves, make sure you have a properly working exhaust fan and hood that vents smoke and cooking fumes and sends them outside. If you like to cook and spend a lot of time in the kitchen, consider installing a high-efficiency, multispeed exhaust system over the stove. In addition to using an exhaust fan, keep your kitchen windows open and doors closed when cooking. If you have the luxury of designing a new home or redesigning your kitchen, install kitchen doors to prevent cooking fumes from spilling into the rest of your home. Cooking outdoors is the ultimate solution, but remember to keep your home's windows closed so fumes don't drift in.

 

By paying careful attention to your asthma symptoms and how they relate to cooking smells, you can quickly learn which odors are safe and which are not. Of course, eating at a nice restaurant is a great way to avoid cooking smells; however, this can get pricey. Most asthmatics do fine in a well-ventilated kitchen.

 

Besides being a haven for odors, the kitchen is also a favorite hangout for cockroaches. People living in large cities generally have the most roach problems. Many city folk, no matter how roach-proof their own kitchen, cannot control "the cockroach breeder king" who happens to live next door. What follows is some helpful advice on how to keep that brood from invading your home.

 

New York City and Chicago didn't get to lead the nation in asthma because of bad air alone: they have more cockroaches than you can count. It's no secret that roach feces and body parts are major contributors to asthma in many inner-city communities. A 1997 report from the National Cooperative Inner-City Asthma Study found that the degree of cockroach exposure was related to the risk of hospitalization for asthma in children. Cockroaches and their droppings are classic asthma triggers. You can avoid the ubiquitous roach by keeping your kitchen spotless and roach-proofing your home. This means no open food products in your cabinets or refrigerator. Place anything that might tempt the inquisitive roach—from an open box of cereal to fresh cheese to spices—in tightly sealed plastic or glass containers.

 

You can also control the roach population by eating all your meals in the kitchen or dining room, thereby preventing roach breeding in other parts of the house. Take the trash out nightly and never leave dirty dishes in the sink. Every night, make sure the sink is absolutely spotless and the dishwasher door is closed and locked. Clean appliances that may harbor food crumbs, such as the oven, microwave, toaster, stovetop, and blender, after each use.

 

This aggressive form of source control is the most effective way to keep roaches out of your home. Depending on where you live and who your neighbors are, you may not be able to completely eliminate roaches, but these simple measures will help make your home an inhospitable place for roaches.