How To Avoid Problems Caused By Mites?
Dust mites are one of the most common causes of allergies suffered by an increasing number of people. They live mainly in humid environments and tend to proliferate more easily in autumn.
In this article we’ll give you some basic tips that, if put into practice regularly, will help you to prevent the proliferation of these microorganisms.
People who are allergic to mites are already familiar with some of these tips, but perhaps other people will be surprised and the information can help them improve.
Dehumidify the environment to avoid mites
As mentioned before, mites live in humid environments, so the first measure is to assess whether our house may contain any point with excessive humidity (due to the climate, the place where it is located, etc.).
If this is the case, it is possible to use natural or electric dehumidifiers, which we will place at strategic points in the house in order to alleviate the problem.
Ventilate the rooms daily
Mites develop more easily in humid and warm environments, such as sheets, comforters, sofas, curtains, stuffed animals, mattresses or mats, pillows, etc.
Some of these items are obviously essential, however, we need to assess whether they are all really useful for us to use them at all times.
Therefore, it is recommended to ventilate the rooms daily, even letting the sun enter and shine directly on the spots where there may be mites.
Clean with rosemary vinegar
Preparing rosemary vinegar is easy. Just steep a few fresh sprigs of rosemary in vinegar for a week. After that, it’s ready to be used as a natural homemade cleanser and disinfectant.
To clean, we’ll dampen a cloth in vinegar and use it on furniture and the floor.
Use of diffusers with essential oils
Aromatic diffusers not only allow us to fill rooms with delicious odors, but also to fight mites in a natural way. For this purpose, it is recommended to use the following aromas:
- Lemon
- Cinnamon
- Lemon grass
- Pepper mint
- tea tree
- Rosemary
- Lavender
If you don’t have a diffuser, add a few drops of your chosen oil to a spray of water and spray in rooms throughout the day.
When buying essential oils, make sure they are of good quality, extracted from the plant and not artificial aromatic essences without any properties.
Cleanse the air with plants
An economical and natural solution for purifying the air in rooms is to grow certain plants in these rooms. But beware, any plant will not do, after all, some end up using the oxygen from the environment.
Therefore, it is preferable to use plants capable of regenerating air, such as the following:
- Areca-bamboo: a plant capable of cleaning the air during the day. Its leaves must be cleaned frequently, according to their contamination. It is a plant that does not require great care, as it adapts to places with low light and low humidity.
- Sword-of-Saint-Jorge (Santa-Barbara’s Sword or Sansevieria trifasciata): This plant transforms carbon dioxide (CO2) into oxygen at night, making it ideal for the rooms of the house.
- Boa (Epipremnum aureum): this is an ideal plant to use indoors, and is very resistant. It cannot receive sunlight directly.
- In addition, we can opt for other plants, such as ivy or fig tree.
weekly cleaning
Fabrics and bedding should be washed, preferably, every week, as they can facilitate the proliferation of mites.
The ideal is to wash this type of fabric with hot water, adding a small jet of rosemary vinegar to the used fabric softener. Also, it is ideal to dry clothes in a dryer or laid out in the sun.
Regular cleaning of sofas, armchairs and rugs should not be forgotten, but it is not necessary to do it every week.
Anti-mite products
It is currently possible to find good acaricides on the market, that is, specific products prepared with materials that prevent the proliferation of mites.
They are usually more expensive, but for people who have severe allergies caused by mites, it is convenient to purchase at least the most essential ones.
Another tip is to use anti-mite covers on pillows and mattresses.
We should also consider that there are many products on the market to fight mites, even if some of them do not have the promised effectiveness, but we can assess whether it is convenient for us to try such products, such as anti-fungal paints, electrostatic filters, etc.
