As soon as the chilly weather hits in Canada, you know that there will be an impending common cold. Even when you do something as mundane as your holiday shopping, you are more exposed to bacteria from other people, or maybe your children have caught other kids’ germs at school. Either way, you’ll want to prevent a potential cold, and there are some ways in which you can do so beyond just overloading your body with Vitamin C, washing your hands, and reducing stress.

Reduce Indoor Air Pollution

To avoid having your holiday spoiled with a potential cold or flu, you need to ensure that your air at home is clean. You can take the first steps, which includes avoiding smoking indoors. Second-hand smoke is hazardous for you and your family’s health as it has over 4000 chemicals, some of which are known to cause cancer. Smoke also affects each organ in the body, and if a person is exposed to second-hand smoke for a long time, it can lead to breathing problems, heart disease, stroke, and lung cancer. Your home’s air quality is paramount in reducing potential health problems, so you’ll want to keep it as clean as possible.

Another strategy to improve your home’s air quality is by removing your shoes at the door and minimizing the use of an air freshener that contains chemicals. You also will want to keep your house as dust-free as possible by vacuuming often and cleaning off surfaces.

Another excellent way to reduce indoor air pollution is by checking your exhaust fans in your bathrooms or kitchen and making sure that they are functioning. If air pollution in your home persists, you could put you or your family at risk for respiratory conditions like asthma or Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease.

Use an Air Filter with a High MERV Rating

If you think that opening a window will do the trick for ventilating your home, there are some downsides to this strategy. For instance, some people may have allergies, and if you’re in the midst of a Canadian winter, it is often too chilly to keep windows open.

Air filters are an excellent tool for keeping the air clean in your home, but you’ll want to find some of the best furnace filters in Canada — which of course will have a high MERV rating. An ideal MERV rating for your air filter is somewhere between MERV 8 to 13. You may be wondering why you need an air filter with a high MERV rating – if a filter has a higher MERV rating, then it is able to trap more particles and function optimally. To prevent colds and the flu, a filter with a MERV 13 rating should do the trick.

Now that you have a strategy for reducing indoor air pollution and creating a healthy living environment, you can avoid getting sick over the holidays. The holidays are meant to be enjoyed with your loved ones, so you’ll want to do everything you can to prevent a common cold. By using the previously suggested methods to improve your quality, you are well on your way to staying healthy this winter.