The Epidemic of Misery – Passive House can Help alleviate this misery

Indoor air pollution is now recognised as having the potential to create serious long term health risks and sadly children suffer most from an unhealthy indoor environment (Research the Buyer’s Library)

This is acknowledged by most health authorities around the world. Arguably there are two main reasons for the accelerated degradation: Firstly, the push to create more efficient airtight homes to save on heat/cool costs; secondly, the myriad of chemicals now used in building materials and fit out that off gas (release the chemicals) into the indoor atmosphere gradually on a daily basis.

If you seem to wake in a sluggish, lethargic and unmotivated manner, have restless nights or wake with a heavy head (or varying degrees of headache), it’s a good bet your indoor environment is being polluted with off-gassing. Children on the other hand can’t tell you what’s unsettling them but you’ll sure know about it!

Whether you have read the explosive articles on the ‘Dangers of Living within 3km of a Freeway’ and simply want to protect your family’s health (see Buyer’s Library for the shock research facts); or have family members that suffer from respiratory ailments like Asthma, Hay fever, Allergic Rhinitis, Inflamed Sinuses, Eczema and other allergies caused by localised environmental triggers, or graver illnesses: the absolute frustration of ‘sufferers’ is very real. So is the search for relief.

Over 9 million Australians are estimated to suffer from Hay fever. Over 2 million Australians are affected by Asthma, also known as ‘lung attacks’ which may cause permanent damage to sufferers’ long-term health. Once you have these allergy-based illnesses, they generally get gradually worse unless the triggers are minimised or eliminated. Research out July 2012 showed 620,000 asthma sufferers in Sydney and 487,00 in Melbourne.

Asthma is Australia’s most widespread long-term and persistent health problem and it’s getting worse. Asthma is an important health problem in Australia. We have one of the highest rates of asthma in the world: between 14% and 16% of children and between 10% and 12% of adults have asthma: translating approximately to 1 in 7 primary school-aged children, 1 in 8 teenagers and 1 in 9 adults are sufferers. In addition, there are other allergic reactions to the local environment that cause problems and extreme discomfort.

Research proves a strong link between asthma and allergy – more than 80% of people with asthma have evidence of allergies. Often, asthma and allergies occur together. When they do, they can make life miserable.

Particulate pollution from freeway traffic has been proven as a significant trigger for asthma and other allergy-based illnesses. Carbon monoxide (CO) is a proven killer, but we do little about it. Contrast it with Carbon dioxide (CO2) which is harmless and not a pollutant. After all it’s what we breathe out (yet we now have a major tax on it)!

The coming of spring should be an exciting time to look forward to. Yet for millions of Australians it heralds months of misery: streaming eyes and noses, blocked sinuses, inhalers, short tempers and so on. One cannot begin to understand the misery these ‘sufferers’ go through unless you have personally experienced it.

The directors at PURE have, and now offer a very unique solution with their Healthy Home Sanctuaries®.