While some people are allergic to food or pets, when we say “allergies” it’s most often referring to the snuffling, itching, and sneezing triggered by exposure to plant pollen. The springtime might bring vivid flowers, green leaves, and growing shoots, but that comes along with pollen that makes many of us miserable for months on end.
Whether your home decor taste veers toward minimalist chic or maximalist color explosion, candles can be the perfect accent to enhance the personality of any room. But once you find a candle you love, you face the all-important question: to burn or not to burn?
Humans aren’t the only mammals that suffer from allergies—our feline friends can be plagued by many of the same allergy triggers that affect us. When you have an allergic reaction, your immune system interprets a foreign substance as a threat and goes into attack mode.
It’s not just your imagination, seasonal allergies are getting worse each year. They are getting worse outdoors as a result of climate change and increased carbon dioxide, which make for more pollen at unpredictable times. They are getting worse indoors because sealing off spaces to minimize energy loss has the side-effect of pollen and other irritants building up in the air with nowhere to go but up your nose.
Love at first sight is rare, depending on who you ask, but what about love at first sniff? Most of us have been influenced into thinking a prospective mate is more appealing by their scent, both artificial and natural. Mating is one of evolution’s vital mechanisms, so any intrinsic propensities we have for figuring out who is the best match certainly has a strong evolutionary basis.
Research shows that music can affect our brain chemistry and cognitive processes. The right sounds can help us relax, pump us up, or get in the mood for, well, really anything. Similarly, the wrong sounds can cause us stress and make it more difficult to focus.
Air quality is a factor in any game, but just how much can be hard to tell. Pollution can cause a wide variety of problems, including degrading athletic performance. Some doctors even recommend that people who live in cities avoid exercise during commute hours in the morning and evening.
You made it through the winter, and now it’s time to open the windows and let in the sun. Sure, it may shine a little extra light on the laundry, dust, and other chores forgotten during the holiday craziness, but that’s what spring cleaning is for. But with all the cleaning products, ladder climbing, and heavy lifting, things can get hazardous pretty quickly if you’re not careful.
Some of life’s best memories are made in the kitchen. Delicious food has a way of bringing people together, and a warm, inviting kitchen is the heart of any gathering. The trouble is when mouthwatering dinner aromas overstay their welcome, turning your sink, fridge, or trash can into a hazmat-suit-worthy biohazard.
There’s something about short, dark days and unforgiving winter weather that can make life start to feel like one long, gloomy blur. If you find yourself with a constant desire to cancel plans and stay in bed around this time of year, you’re not alone. Around 1 in 20 adults in the U.S. experience a form of winter depression known as seasonal affective disorder (SAD).
Smart home devices are all about making your life easier and more convenient. Whether you’re interested in saving money on electricity, making your home safer, or improving your indoor air quality, there’s a smart appliance out there that can help. The hard part is knowing where to start.
The indoor office environment has a reputation for making us sick due to mold, cleaning chemicals, infectious coworkers, and quite a few other factors. One benefit offered by working from a home office is a lot more control over indoor air quality, from open windows to electronics.