A little preparation can help reduce the dust and allergens that keep you coughing and sneezing through the day and night. There are simple precautions that can be taken to keep the dust down while spring cleaning, such as wearing a mask and using a damp cloth or dust mop. Feather dusters tend to just send the dust flying while newer dusters will attract and hold the dust.

But prevention is the best way to protect against dust in the house. Since a significant portion of our time is spent sleeping, it makes sense to make your bedroom as allergen-free as possible. Remove as many surfaces that collect dust from your bedroom as possible. We bring allergens into the house in our hair and on our clothes. Wash your hair every night to remove pollen, thus preventing the transfer of pollens to your pillow.

As for the pillows themselves, change your pillow cases regularly. The problem with dust is partly the dust itself, which is mostly made up of skin flakes, dead skin cells from our bodies. The other common allergen in the house are the dust mites that eat the skin flakes and dust mite feces. These mites are found everywhere but they like to live in pillows and mattresses. To protect against them, you can buy allergy barrier pillow and mattress covers. The other thing you can do is put your pillow into your dryer every week or so and put it on high for five to ten minutes to kill the dust mites. Make sure your pillow is of non-flammable material.

Although allergy barrier covers are pretty effective as is putting your pillow in the dryer, you should still buy new inexpensive pillows about every couple of months.

Finally, for spring cleaning in the most effective way, use a HEPA filter on your vacuum cleaner. These filters can be purchased for most vacuum cleaner models and are worth the slightly higher price. This will trap smaller dust particles. Normally, a vacuum cleaner can actually end up dispersing dust particles into the air rather than trapping them.

Learn more about this author, Rob Bryant.
Click here to send author comments or questions.

---

Add your voice

Know something about How to deal with dust allergies and other spring cleaning respiratory problems?
We want to hear your view. Write now!