Wellness Wednesdays: Why You Need an Air Purifier

The air quality today is really bad. I had to put the air purifier on high mode since it was triggering my asthma. I'm not sure what's causing the air quality to be bad lately. DOST-Philvocs reported that Taal Volcano emitted 4,422 tons of sulfur dioxide (Source: DOST-Philvocs Twitter). Add that plus vehicle and factory emissions, then that's maybe why the quality of air has been bad. 

Sadly though, we don't really have a government agency here in the Philippines that provides real-time data on air quality. In Singapore they track it everyday and it's posted by nea.gov.sg on their website and Twitter account. Air pollution is bad especially for those with respiratory ailments like asthma. I only started having asthma when I moved to Singapore. It became worse as years passed. 

The pollutants from bad air causes respiratory ailments and other diseases. The "WHO data show that almost all of the global population (99%) breathe air that exceeds WHO guideline limits and contains high levels of pollutants, with low- and middle-income countries suffering from the highest exposures." (Source: WHO). 

What I normally monitor is the status of PM2.5 in the air. It's fine particulate matter that can go into your lungs (more info here). Breathing this can make your illness worse or cause lung cancer and/or heart disease. That's why it was a double whammy for me, I already had a heart condition and my lungs were scarred from pneumonia even before I moved to Singapore. 

To protect myself and my boys we have air purifiers in all our rooms. It really helped me when I lived in Singapore and we brought home all of it. I've tried and tested a number of air purifiers in the past ten years and I made a review of which one is most useful and practical for me. So don't wait before things get worse. The air wasn't this bad before, but I guess with our volcanoes angry plus more vehicles out there it's just going to really get worse. 

#BeKind #StaySafe 

The Perils of Being Home

I know I've been eating too much the past two weeks, so I tried to cut down beginning yesterday. I haven't even weighed myself since I got home since our weighing scale is in a LBC box on a ship on it's way here. I feel a bit heavier and that's not good for my body. It's really hard to stop eating when all your favorite food is just within reach!

We haven't been able to cook because my stove conked out. It's taking awhile for the repair center to come back and replace the hot plates. I decided to get a single burner stove and it got delivered last night. This will help us prepare healthier dishes. I'm glad Miggy has taken a liking to cooking, so he can assist. 

The cost of living is really much cheaper here, which means it's taken a lot of willpower to resist shopping. I was really happy though that I was able to get good deals for some items we need during 11.11. It's not just Lazada or Shopee doing crazy offers, but also legacy stores like Abenson, Our Home, SM Appliance Center. I was able to buy three shower heaters for the price of two! Wow! It just takes a bit more research and digging through offers to get good deals. 

I'm not sure if it's pollen, dust or pollution, but the air quality the past few days has been very bad. I've been having asthma attacks everyday, ugh. I just had one while writing this post and thought I was going to keel over. Good thing I was able to calm myself and take deep breaths. I'm not really used to having severe attacks. They're generally mild and I can usually stop it in its tracks. I probably need to keep the windows and doors closed for now. 

I love being home and we're still adjusting to our new life. A bit of discipline is needed to make sure we don't run dry too soon, haha. I'm looking forward to spending Christmas with my boys and my Mom. Ahh, it means I have to sacrifice the calories for the next few weeks so I can indulge for Christmas. It's going to be hard though! 

It's a new week! What new experiences would it bring?

#Home19 #NewG225 #Xmas33 #StayHome #BeKind