Having runny nose every morning? Sneezing non stop? Itchy, red and watery eyes? What about getting more breathless or wheezing or coughing for those with asthma?
Are you sick of trying out all sorts of inhalers and medications to relieve the symptoms? Maybe even needing frequent short courses of steroid tablets. You are not alone. Welcome to the club of dust allergy. It's common. 20 million adults in the US have this. That's 1 in every 5 people.
What's in dust?
Pet dander, pieces of dead cockroaches, mold spores, pieces of dead skin. And dust mites feed on these, their favorite being dead skin. Think your house is clean? Think again. Inhaling microscopic dust can cause allergies.
Dust mites
These tiny creatures can be nasty. Ranging in size from a hundredth to a thousandth of an inch, they're too small to see without magnification. As many as 19,000 dust mites can be found in a ball of dust the weight of a 1 gram paper clip, although the typical dust ball contains only 100 to 500 mites.
As mentioned, they feed on dead skin shedded abundant on your pillows, beddings and upholstery, perhaps on your children's soft toys too. Because it's warm and moist. And we shed about a fifth of an ounce of skin a day. It makes up about 80% of the dust you see in an indoor sunbeam.
This is a very relevant study just to show you how scary and common dust mites are in Klang Valley.
Dust mites allergy can mainly cause allergic rhinitis, allergic conjunctivitis and worsen asthmatic control.
Since it causes so much problems, how can we get rid of them?
Clean, clean and clean!
1. Use airtight, plastic dust-mite covers on pillows, mattresses and box springs.
2. Use pillows filled with polyester fibers instead of kapok or feathers.
3. Wash bedding in very hot water (over 55 C) once a week
4. Get rid of dust collectors, stuffed animals and soft toys- if they don't spark joy :p Kon Marie your house for the sake of health!
5. Replace drapes with roll-up window
shades.
6. Use an air conditioner or dehumidifier to lower humidity below 55C.
7. Use vacuum with HEPA (high-efficiency particulate air) filter.
Read more about dust and dust mites on webMD.
Raycop RS300 is a Korean vacuum designed to eliminate dust mites. A long anticipated cleaner for parents whose children have poorly controlled asthma. Our family has a strong history of allergies, eczema and asthma. And to be honest I'm allergic to dust too. With the addition of baby Yi, I'm even more determined to rid our house of dust mites.
How does it remove dust?
Instead of strong suction which is noisy and creates turbulence (makes dust fly everywhere!), Raycop features gentle suction, coupled by light pulsation to lift and remove dust. The UV lamp sterilises and kills bacteria. HEPA filter, on the other hand, traps all these nasties in the cleaner so it doesn't get released into the surroundings.
Read more about the technology here.
How to operate the vacuum?
It's recommended to vacuum our beddings everyday. There are two ways to vacuum it- full or partial purification. I have been doing full purification once a week and baby partial one daily. YouTube links below.
After a full purification, I run my fingers across the bedding and I could easily notice the difference.
I particularly like how the dust box is washable, eliminating the possibility of secondary air pollution while cleaning it up. And don't worry about exposing yourself and your family with UV light because it's only switched on when in contact with beddings.
What about our conventional way of cleaning the mattresses? This article beautifully summarised the limitations of using air purifier, sun exposure, tapping and chemical cleaning.
Would I recommend it?
Who doesn't love a fresh bed to sleep in every night? Especially when I have a relatively lightweight vacuum that can do the job for all the beds in less than half an hour. The Raycop design is so sleek and thoughtful that one doesn't even need to wear masks while cleaning up. It also doesn't stick to the bedding like conventional vacuum cleaners. But it gets tricky when you want to vacuum tight corners.
The amount of dust collected from our King bed with fresh linens.
The amount of dust collected from our King bed with fresh linens.
The price tag though is a bit steep at RM2k each machine. Comparing with some other products in the market, it's among the high end range. The quality is definitely good with certification from various authorities such as the British Allergy Foundation and Institute of Tokyo Environmental Allergy. For example, since there's no strict definition of HEPA filter, many vacuum cleaners may not have good quality ones or may not have all the dust directing to the filter, render it useless.
In conclusion, I would say this product is very useful for those who have dust mite allergies, sensitive airways and uncontrolled asthma.
Interested? Contact as below.
Raycop Malaysia
No.6-7, Main Tower, Sunsuria Tower, Persiaran Mahagoni, Kota Damansara PJU 5, 47810 Petaling Jaya, Selangor, Persiaran Mahogani, 47810 Petaling Jaya, Selangor
1 comment:
I really need some mattress cleaning for my mattress as I feel it is very dusty. Thanks for the recommendation of this vacuum and I hope it works!
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