Dust Facts That Will Make You Want to Vacuum Today

How often do you spend vacuum cleaner Houses? Some people only do this when it seems legal for the fluff to pay part of the rent. The problem is that it’s not just the lint that gets sucked in. The dust of our houses It is accompanied by particles such as bacteria, viruses, mite feces or pollen, which cannot be seen with the naked eye, but which can cause allergies or even make us sick. Therefore, it is important to maintain a cleaning regimen that prevents too much buildup.

Technology company Dysonbest known for its vacuum cleaners, recently conducted a study involving 33,997 people from 39 countries another. They all had to answer a series of questions about their cleaning procedures and their knowledge of household dust. And the truth is that there is a lot of ignorance on this issue.

For example, 41% of Spanish participants admitted that they only vacuum when dust is visible. Moreover, 60% (from now on all data is taken from Spain) were not aware that pollen can be found in dust, and 26% were not aware of the consequences tick feces. In short, we lack awareness on this issue. Perhaps if we had one, we would vacuum the house much more often.

What is dust?

By definition, dust is a collection of particulate matter that floats in the air and settles on surfaces. This is something quite broad, limited only by its linguistic definition. If we get more technical, in order to be considered dust, the particles must be smaller 500 micrometers.

There are many types of dust, but when vacuuming we are usually only interested in domesticated. It can have a very diverse composition, which largely depends on the habits of the people living in the house. There is a myth that it consists mainly of dead skin. And it is true that hair is also included in its composition, but these are far from the most common ingredients.

The powder also contains pollen particles, remains of insects and mites, their feces, sand and generally remaining dirt. In cities it often happens that it contains a lot of soot. And in each part of the house there can be different compositions. For example, in the kitchen, powder often contains flour. If we usually use it for cooking, of course.

Most of these ingredients are harmless, but there are some that can act as allergens. That is, if we inhale them, or even if they come into contact with our eyes or skin, our immune system can detect them as foreign agents that need to be attacked and begin a defensive reaction that gives us typical allergy symptoms. This, like any allergy, does not affect everyone the same way.

But dust can also contain bacteria, viruses and fungicapable of causing symptoms in all of us, even if we are not allergic.

Tiny but dangerous inhabitants

An interesting fact from Dyson’s research is that only 24% Spaniards knew that dust particles could have viruses attached to them, although 37% said they were worried about getting viruses. viruses at home. During the COVID-19 pandemic, there has been a lot of talk about the presence of viruses on household surfaces, but perhaps not enough attention has been paid to the fact that dust is an ideal vehicle for them. This is why vacuuming is also very important.

But viruses aren’t the only invisible dust passengers we have to worry about. In 2021, a group of scientists from several American research centers published a study that analyzed the microbiota of samples sputum, saliva and house dust. That is, the concentration of different types of microorganisms in each of them was calculated. They found in everyone both viruses and fungi and bacteriabut in the case of household dust high concentration of fungi. This is something to watch out for as they are also very prone to causing allergies.

As for bacteria, their concentrations are usually not high enough to cause illness in healthy people. But in immunocompromised patients or susceptible patients for any other reason, this may be the cause. In fact, pathogenic bacteria, also known as Staphylococcus aureusso this must be taken into account.

Dust from your pets

We have already seen that the composition of dust largely depends on each home. One of the most important factors is whether you have pets at home.

The dust can include both your hair and dandruff on your skin. However, They may also have other particles attached to their hair., like pollen, which becomes another ingredient. According to Dyson’s research, it goes undetected 78% Spaniards. In addition, 46% of respondents admitted that they only brush their dogs and cats once a month. And 15% did it even less often.

It is very important brush them often, because a vacuum cleaner will be of little use if we don’t also remove potential sources of dust, such as pet hair. In 2018, a study was published showing that the microbial composition of house dust changed dramatically when a dog was brought into the home. I started doing this at first, but first of all, the changes were noticeable after a year.

Therefore, it is important to include teeth brushing in cleaning procedures. There are even vacuum cleaners that already come with accessories for more thorough cleaning.

The best way to vacuum

Cleaning experts disagree on the recommended frequency of vacuuming. But you need to do this at least once a week. And under no circumstances.

We must remember that in addition to the lint that rent is paid for, we want to remove invisible dust particles. It is therefore important to have a pattern that ensures that we cover as much surface as possible. Usually they advise clean in imaginary stripesfirst forward and then backward. Once the stripe is ready, we’ll make it right next to it, even slightly overlapping the previous one. Finally, if we have time, we can ensure a complete cleaning by doing the same process but perpendicularly.

We must also pay special attention to surfaces other than the ground, such as mattresses. A large number of mites are concentrated in them. But also from other microorganisms, such as the aforementioned bacteria. We change the sheets regularly, but we cannot replace the mattress. Therefore, it is important to vacuum it to keep it as clean as possible.

This cannot be done in any form. Dyson experts explain that thanks to their materials, it takes a lot of effort To clean a mattress, you need a powerful vacuum cleaner.

And both your mattress and the rest of your home need good filters.

Vacuum cleaner filters

If what we vacuum isn’t filtered properly, it can end up back into the air and the vacuuming won’t do much good. The best filters for this type of device are HEPA filters, although there is a lot of confusion surrounding them.

This is not a type or brand of filter, but rather filter efficiency standard. In fact, this standard was developed International Atomic Energy Commission to optimize the filtration of radioactive particles. Over time, it became clear that it could be used in much more everyday settings, so it began to be used in the manufacture of filters for vacuum cleaners.

To meet the HEPA standard, these filters must remove 99.97% particles up to 0.3 micrometers in size. Now it is important that the vacuum cleaner is sealed well. Some have suitable filters, but they don’t close well, so they aren’t useful enough either. Companies like Dyson conduct laboratory tests to ensure that this filtration is optimal and that the standard can be applied to the entire device.

In short, we know much less about dust than we thought. Now that you know more, I repeat the question at the beginning. How often do you plan to vacuum your home?