You may not believe it, but the air quality in our living spaces is sometimes worse than outside. Environmental doctor Manfred Pilgramm explains why this is and what can help.
BRIGITTE: If the air on a busy street is better than indoors: what's wrong?
Dr. Manfred Pilgram: This is mainly due to cigarette smoke, one of the main problems, as air analyzes show. I therefore like to refer to smoking in the apartment as bodily harm, especially when children live in the house. As a smoker you inhale and exhale 300 different pollutants – including formaldehyde. Other factors that pollute the air we breathe are mold spores that can arise from moisture. Vapors from the adhesives or wood preservatives used often create a more harmful environment than one would experience outdoors.
How can you tell whether the living environment makes you sick?
There are five typical symptoms that can indicate indoor pollution: Burning eyes, itchy skin, scratchy throat, dry cough and headache. These are of course all diffuse complaints that can also occur with a cold or in the context of an allergy. It is suspicious if the symptoms subside significantly or disappear completely after a long absence from the living space, for example on vacation.
What do I do if I suspect that my home is causing the symptoms?
First of all, ask an expert to examine the apartment. Such an initial ascent usually costs between 50 and 80 euros and can often refute suspicions. If you want to be absolutely sure, you have to have samples taken, for example a piece of wallpaper or flooring, and have them analyzed in the laboratory. But be careful, an all-round examination of the apartment can quickly cost thousands of euros, you should think twice about that.
Can't pollutants also be detected in the body?
We recommend the following order: first environmental monitoring, then human monitoring, i.e. the medical examination. Because as soon as questionable materials are found in the living area, you can diagnose more specifically. In the case of formaldehyde exposure, for example, formic acid can be detected as a breakdown product in the urine of those affected. Sometimes you also take blood, hair or saliva samples, it depends on what you suspect.
What happens if the values are actually abnormal?
If abnormalities were discovered in the apartment and also during the medical examination, the task is to eliminate the cause. Sometimes it's because of a single piece of wood preservative-treated furniture or a woolen bedside rug that is leaking toxic moth repellent – it's easy to remove, of course. Sometimes, however, the entire floor covering has to be removed, for example when adhesives trigger the complaints. And if there is asbestos in the ceiling, a major renovation is required.
Who will pay the costs?
In the case of rental apartments, ideally the owner. But you should be able to provide evidence of this. There are very clear guidelines that you have to adhere to. For example, the affected room must have been locked for eight hours before a measurement, otherwise the values may be incorrect. If clear measured values are available, the health insurance companies usually cover the costs of the diagnostics. Renovation and refurbishment costs are owned by the owner. However, I warn you: Many people are cross when it comes to paying. Long legal disputes can arise for tenants. In some cases, moving is actually a better and cheaper solution.
What advice do you have if neither the expert nor the doctor can find anything, but the symptoms are still there?
Then one should consider a psychological component. Experience has shown that around 15 percent of those affected with the five main symptoms mentioned above actually have causes in the living environment and the building biology. In almost 85 percent, on the other hand, the psyche seems to play an important role. Presumably, unresolved couple or family conflicts can trigger a corresponding discomfort with symptoms, which is then sometimes wrongly blamed on the living environment.
Are there warning signs of harmful substances when I move into a new apartment?
When synthetic floors bulge and show the consequences of strong sunlight. This also applies to seals on windows. Chipped plaster can indicate moisture. And a strong chemical or musty, musty smell is always a warning sign.
Keyword window seals: Are we living today, well shielded from the outside world, possibly less healthily than previous generations?
Definitely! It used to be fresher in the old building and pulled through. Today there is hardly any air exchange due to the heavily insulated apartments. It all started with the oil crisis in the 1970s: living spaces were increasingly sealed to save heating costs. People didn't want to ventilate too much so that they wouldn't waste heat. This is how the research field of residential medicine came into being.
And what does that mean for us – less heating, more ventilation?
Exactly. Generous burst ventilation several times a day is the easiest and cheapest method for a relatively healthy indoor climate. My tip: twice a day cross-ventilate for five to eight minutes, i.e. open windows, open doors and make a real draft. But: Don't sleep by the open window or keep the window tilted continuously. On the one hand, this does not have the same effect and on the other hand, drafts can make you sick again.
If you are planning a major renovation or building a house: Are there any materials that are harmless?
The materials are actually not the problem, but how they were treated. Mostly it is varnish, glue or stain that cause symptoms. You should find out beforehand which materials are OK in terms of building biology. At the university we have developed a checklist with 75 questions that offers a good initial orientation (www.checkliste-gesundes-wohnen.de).
Indoor plants are considered to be ideal air filters. Can rubber trees and the like improve the living environment?
Plants certainly create a good mood, but two or three little plants cannot produce a measurable improvement in the indoor air. To do this you would have to live in a jungle – and then it would again be too damp, which would result in mold. By the way: Anyone who discovers moldy surfaces in the apartment must always remove the infested materials generously. Cleaning away is not enough.
Prof. Dr. Manfred Pilgram is an environmental doctor and an ear, nose and throat specialist. He heads the residential medicine department at the Technical University of Ostwestfalen-Lippe.
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