Do Air Purifiers Help with Allergies?

Anyone who suffers from allergies will attest to a willingness to try anything to get relief from the sneezing, sniffling, and sheer misery of allergies-and most do.

From medications to staying inside; people with allergies do what they can to stay on top of symptoms, but what about the triggers that are right in your home and can't actually be seen? This is how air purifiers help allergies: by taking care of the allergens inside the home that are there even if you can't see them.

It's Not Just About Cleaning

Staying on top of dust and pet hair by cleaning goes a long way, but it doesn't eliminate the allergens in the air. As a matter of fact; cleaning can sometimes send allergens and irritants into the air. For starters, pet hair doesn't trigger allergies, it's the pet dander you need to worry about and it can end up in the air, in your clothes, and in carpets, curtains, and furniture.

Then there are the cleaning products we use. Most cleaning products contain fragrance and chemicals that can trigger allergies, and brooms and dusters can actually blow dust particles and other allergens around so that it circulates in the air.

There are also the airborne pollutants that you might not be thinking about, such as smoke not only from cigarettes, but wood burners as well, and gases, and exhaust from heaters and other appliances in your home. Allergens like pollen also make their way into your home from outside. Now, this doesn't mean that you should stop cleaning, of course! What you can do is use an air purifier to keep the air in your home as clean and healthy as possible.

How Air Purifiers Work

Air purifiers minimize the air pollutants in your home. They circulate the air; pulling it in and passing it through filters so that it is "clean" before sending it back out. The more times the air is passed through the filter, the more particles get caught and the cleaner the air in your home.

These filters are capable of capturing allergens that you can't even see. HEPA filters in particular can trap particles as small as 0.3 microns. To give you an idea of just how small that is; the human eye can't see anything smaller than 10 microns. When combined with other filters, such as activated carbon filters and UV filters, gases and even viruses and bacteria can be trapped and eliminated from the air you breathe.

Air purifiers can eliminate all kinds of common allergy triggers from the air in your home, including:

Dust
Dust mite faeces
Mould spores
Pet dander
Smoke
Pollen
Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs), commonly found in paints, upholstery, wood panelling and floors, carpets, varnishes, and more
Gases and exhaust
Chemicals