Cooler temperatures often mean spending more time indoors. This is why ensuring that the air in your home is as clean as possible is so essential to your health this season. If gone unchecked, indoor air can be two to five times more polluted than outdoor air. Jill Heins, Nationwide Senior Director of Indoor Air Quality at the American Lung Association, knows firsthand the importance of clean air at home. Her father, husband and adult daughter all suffer from asthma or COPD so ensuring their home is a place where they can breathe easily is important. She shared with us the steps she has taken in her own home to ensure clean, healthy air for her family.
Test your home for radon.
Radon is a naturally occurring gas that can have a big impact on your home's indoor air quality. Exposure to radon is the second leading cause of lung cancer in the U.S., and since it is odorless and colorless, you may not know if your home has elevated levels. The only way to detect a buildup of radon in your home is to test the air with an at-home testing kit. If you discover your home has elevated radon levels, you can fix the problem by having a radon mitigation system installed by a certified radon professional.
Make small changes over time.
Jill is the first to admit that cleaning the air in her home has been a 15+ year journey. But she began by first identifying, then addressing her family member's asthma triggers. "My husband has several triggers including dust mites, cats, cockroaches, pollens and particulate matter from smoke (things like cigarettes and fires)," she said. "This was the start of our journey to reduce asthma triggers in our home."
The first trigger they addressed was the dust mite allergen. Reducing humidity and reducing places where dust mites can live is the best way to control this allergen. So, they did this by encasing all mattresses, box springs and pillows in allergen-reducing covers to prevent dust mites from settling into the fabrics. They started washing their bedding more frequently and in hot water (at least 120 degrees F). They also purchased an upright HEPA vacuum cleaner and vacuumed the carpets weekly.
Later, as their budget allowed, they removed the carpeting in our home altogether and replaced it with hardwood floors. The upholstered furniture was also retired in time and replaced with leather/faux leather furniture.
Limit fragrances.
To improve the indoor air quality and reduce asthma triggers indoors, start by removing or limiting the use of chemicals in the air. Fragrances are a common problem because they contain a mix of unregulated chemicals that pollute indoor air. Many people may experience headaches, dizziness, eye, nose and throat irritation, coughing, wheezing or shortness of breath when exposed to fragrances. Unfortunately, many everyday products contain fragrances, so you need to be cautious about what you buy.
"We don’t use room fresheners, plug ins, aerosols, strong cleaning products and I personally don't use hairspray, scented bath products or perfume," Jill said. "We don’t burn candles, except on birthday cakes."
Don't burn anything indoors.
Burning anything indoors traps harmful emissions inside your home. So, reducing or eliminating things like candles, incense and wood in fireplaces, will greatly reduce the particulate matter, one of the greatest hidden threats to our health. If you enjoy the ambiance these objects create, opt for electric fireplaces or battery-operated candles instead.
Additionally, cigarette smoke is harmful to everyone, especially those with chronic lung disease. So, smoking should never be done indoors.
Monitor pet dander.
The best way to manage a sensitivity to pet dander is to minimize exposure and avoid contact. For Jill's husband, who is severely allergic to cats, this meant never owning a cat. However, they did want to have a pet, so they decided on a dog. To control her dander, they bathed her regularly and she was not allowed on beds or furniture.
Air out your home regularly.
Increasing ventilation in your home is another simple step to improving indoor air quality. By opening the windows for just 10 minutes a few times a day, you can air out your house and dilute any pollutants in the home. Open your windows to air out your home, increase ventilation and dilute any pollutants in the home. "It is important to check your air quality index and monitor outdoor air quality before doing so, however, as natural disasters like wildfires, can cause unhealthy outdoor air that you want to keep out of your home.
Update your HVAC filter.
HVAC filters trap pollutants from the air as it passes through them before circulating the air throughout your home, so properly maintaining your HVAC can greatly impact your air quality. "We always keep our central HVAC fan on and use a high-quality MERV-13 air filter in our furnace that we check and change regularly," Jill said. "You can tell it's dirty when it is no longer white, and that is when it is time to replace it."
Use an air cleaner.
Portable air cleaners, or air purifiers, remove particulate matter and other airborne pollutants from indoor air. This has been shown to modestly improve health for everyone but greatly improve the health of individuals with chronic lung disease. While you may try to keep the source of the indoor air pollutant out of your house, a HEPA air cleaner can be used as added protection.
Jill's family started with a small, room-sized air cleaner just for the bedroom. More recently, they purchased a more powerful air cleaner that can service the entire house. "We have placed it right by our stairwell where the air circulates well. There is an indicator on it to tell me when it is sensing an increase in particulate matter or gas contaminates."
Consider ways to combat excessive heat.
Extreme temperatures are a common trigger for people with asthma or COPD. Hot, humid air can trap pollutants that can irritate the airways. Finding ways to keep your home cool can help prevent things like mold or dust mites from thriving in your home. Luckily, there are easy ways to accomplish this.
For instance, when Jill and her family moved into their house over 30 years ago, they had no idea that planting hard wood trees on their lot would matter for their air quality. "The oak trees now provide significant shade to the south and west sides of our home, keeping the roof and home cooler all summer long." They also installed reflective window coverings on our west patio doors that have increased our privacy and the temperature of the rooms on the west side of our home.
Use an indoor air monitor.
Once you begin to clean up the air in your home, it can be rewarding to see how well you are doing and monitor pollutants, so your air stays at healthy levels. This is just one of the reasons Jill installed an air quality monitor. She is able to see that the monitor remains at healthy levels consistently, except under specific conditions. And if she notices the reading levels spike, she can take action. "For example, when I am using my gas stove, the carbon dioxide and nitrogen dioxide levels rise quickly. To address this, we simply run the exhaust fan and open a window by three inches to increase ventilation (except during high rage weed pollen season)."
Blog last updated: October 16, 2026
