Skin dust reduces indoor air pollution

Keeping a house clean is a full time (torturous) job.

Italics added to reflect author’s opinion.

The question foremost on the mind of someone wielding a feather duster is,

“Where does all the dust come from?”

Maybe you blame the puffing billies in your life :

Billy, you oversized hair ball cum rottweiler,
Aunty Florrie and her cigarette pack,
the pickup truck and the traffic
the power company and “industry”

Actually, a lot of it is coming from YOU !

Shake it off and shake it up

You dirty thing – you. Just like the dog, you’re shedding all the time, not hair, skin flakes. In fact, over a 2-4 week period, you slough off the entire outer layer of your skin.

So you are drizzling a trail of skin flakes every second of the day. The flakes comprise fragments of dead skin cells, layered with skin oils which include cholesterol and “squalene”.

So the dust on the shelf is really human remains.

The human air pollution “problem”

At first glance, this sounds like a health hazard.

Think of the air in a confined space, packed with humans all shedding in the region of 300 000 cells an hour.

The air in a jumbo jet. Cough ! Splutter !

Human remains not a health risk per se

Actually it is not as bad as it sounds. Turns out the oils, especially squalene, acts a bit like a giant sponge.

The chemical that is being soaked up is ozone.

Ozone is good in the upper atmosphere, but not so good in the house atmosphere. It can irritate the eyes, nose and throat and worsen asthma symptoms.

Air passengers skin is cleaning the air

Squalene plays a big role in oxidation chemistry within indoor environments.

Tests run in simulated aircraft cabins , suggest passengers mop up more than 50 % of the ozone circulating in the air. Maybe we should send the airline a bill for services rendered.

The impact is not quite as dramatic down on the ground, but Danish scientists calculated human dust is reducing ozone levels by 2 – 15 % in homes and day care centres.

Mopping up dust

You still need to mop up the dust for aesthetic reasons, but maybe now you know about its tiny contribution to your well being, it won’t be quite as big a chore.

And go on, create more human dust and shake it up baby !

Interested in learning more about how your house influencess body chemistry ?

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BBC

Small things can make a big difference to your health

Dust might not be as big a health hazard as you think