Passive features such as indoor plants can elevate indoor health and comfort without adding high costs.
Think about your first reaction to stepping into the fresh air of the mountains, the desert, or the beach. Do you raise your head, take a deep breath through your nose, and hold it for a few seconds before slowly exhaling from your mouth? This involuntary response to clean air instantly lowers your heart rate, reduces your blood pressure, and calms your nerves. We’ve all felt it. Is it possible to harness the benefits of clean outdoor air? It’s not just a possibility; the technology to purify and increase air quality exists today. Nevertheless, as a population, we choose to invest elsewhere, spending big money on computers, tutoring, and office environments that enable learning and growth. Yet, what many people don’t realize is that the air they breathe and the thermal levels in their homes, schools, and offices may be undermining these efforts.
But what if two simple changes could enhance strategic thinking, boost student test scores, and even help people heal faster?
All of this can be achieved by simply improving indoor air quality and controlling thermal comfort. It seems that air quality and comfort are often afterthoughts, not seen as basic cornerstones of wellness, because they’re out of sight, out of mind. However, the side effects of unhealthful air have a profound impact on a company’s bottom line. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration estimates that in the U.S., poor air quality results in $150 billion of illness-related costs per year. Of that, $93 billion represents lost productivity from headaches, fatigue, and irritation associated with sick building syndrome. It’s time to take a hard look at the air.
Indoor air quality
According to the Environmental Protection Agency, airborne pollutants can be two to five times higher indoors than outdoors. After cleaning the indoor air, employers have seen workplace productivity increase by up to 11 percent. Even more impressive is a 2015 double-blind study from the Harvard School of Public Health showing that people working in well-ventilated offices with low levels of pollutants have double the cognitive function of those in offices with average levels of exactly the same pollutants.
An example of enhanced cognitive ability through air filtration was well documented in a 2015 study in Porter Ranch, California. A gas-leak alarm caused every school within five miles to install air filters in all classrooms, offices, and common areas. Before the gas leak, the schools had conducted academic testing, which provided a baseline for the study. After the air filter installation and subsequent academic testing, student test scores showed significant improvement. The areas beyond the five-mile radius saw no change in student test scores, while the students in the air-filtered schools continued to maintain their higher scores.