Before we start, we’re going to take it back to school and require a little math. Don’t worry, it’s pretty simple but an informative piece of this puzzle.
Fill out the averages for each week.
Hours at work: ____
Hours commuting to and from work: _____
Hours eating either in your home or at a restaurant: _____
Hours sleeping: _____
Hours watching TV or digital devices indoors: _____
Other indoor hours (reading, household chores, etc.): _____
Add all these numbers to get your weekly total of indoor hours: _____
Now take that number and multiply by 52 to get your yearly quantity:_____
Yearly total/8760 x 100=________ percent you’re spending indoor yearly
The average American spends 86.9% of their life indoors. How do you stack up?
To breakdown the above, the average American lives to 79 years old. 69 years is spent INDOORS, and just 6 hours is spent in the outdoors.
Why is this important? Indoor Air Quality of course! The EPA states that indoor air quality is often 2-5 times worse than the outdoors. The EPA ranks indoor air pollutants as a TOP FIVE environmental HEALTH RISK.
There’s a lot you can do about it. Simply enjoying more time in the great outdoors from extreme hiking to a simple walk with your dogs and kids allows you to negate the negative effects of poor IAQ. Another is to make sure you are creating a balanced ventilation system within your home. S&P USA offers options at every price points and levels of efficiency.
Learn how you can improve your IAQ with these simple solutions from S&P USA here.