By SOLA OGUNDIPE
HOME sweet home. But that sweet home could be a source of ill health and possibly death if care is not taken. Home is where the heart is, but home  is also where 65 percent of colds and more than half of food-borne illnesses are contracted.

Activities around the house every day have a big impact on long- and short-term health.  Here are just a few common household activities that may make you fall sick.

Using a Sponge

The dirtiest room in the home is the kitchen and  of course the single dirtiest item in the kitchen is the sponge.

Apart from being used to wash plates, the sponge is often used for cleaning countertops and tables after meals. In addition to sopping up liquids and other messes, kitchen sponges commonly carry E. coli and fecal bacteria, as well as many other microbes.

Ironically, the more you attempt to clean  with a sponge, the more germs you’re spreading around as it becomes a reservoir of other organisms that cross-contaminate anything it touches in the kitchen.

Health tip: Dip sponges into a solution of bleach and water before wiping down surfaces. Once used let the sponge air-dry. Dryness kills off organisms.

Another  is to microwave it for one to two minutes each week. Or you can put a little hot water in a dish and put the sponge in it to kill the bacteria.”

Sleeping with pillows and a mattress

• Accumulation of bodily secretions and germs makes a mattress and pillow unsafe to use after five years.

The average person sheds about 1.5 million skin cells per hour and perspires one quart every day even while doing nothing, Skin cells accumulate in our pillows and mattresses and dust mites grow and settle.

If that’s not enough worry for you, know that a mattress doubles in weight every 10 years because of the accumulation of human hair, bodily secretions, animal hair and dander, fungal mold and spores, bacteria, chemicals, dust, lint, fibers, dust mites, insect parts, and a variety of particulates, including dust mite feces.

After five years, 10 percent of the weight of a pillow is dust mites. This is what you’re inhaling while you sleep. So what you’re sleeping on can exacerbate your allergies.

Health tip: Cover your mattress and pillows with impervious outer covers. Allergy-proof coverings seal the mattress and pillow, preventing anything from getting in or out, which protects you. Also wash your sheets weekly in hot water.

Grilling meat

Barbecuing meat creates the cancer-causing compounds polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) and heterocyclic amines (HCAs). When fat drips from the meat onto the hot grill, catches fire, and produces smoke, PAHs form. HCAs form when meat is cooked at a high temperature, which can occur during an indoor cooking process as well.

Health tip: Limiting outdoor cooking, using tin foil, or microwaving the meat first is a sensible precaution. Wrapping meat in foil with holes poked in it allows fat to drip off, but limits the amount of fat that hits the flames and comes back onto the meat, Thun tells WebMD. Some of the excess fat can also be eliminated by first microwaving meat and choosing cuts of meat that are leaner.

Opening your windows

How could the simple act of opening your windows be a health hazard? Well, it would make sense if one considered the level of air pollution and poor air quality in the cities , it would not be a surprise to discover that the bulk of the population is breathing unhealthy air.

But the  pollution inside the  home could even be worse, no thanks to concentration of the commonest household pollutants.

Health tip:Shut the windows and invest in an air conditioner. All air-conditioning systems have a filter that protects the  mechanical equipment and keeps them clean of debris.

A study in The New England Journal of Medicine showed that cleaner air might add as much as five months to a person’s life. Air purification systems are important, particularly in a bedroom where bacteria are teeming.

Sitting in Front of the TV

Sitting in front of the television has become a national pastime and one of our least healthy behaviours, particularly it is often done while snacking on food high in calories.

When you’re sitting there in a trance, you can really pack on some calories, More persons are  qualifying to be declared obese or overweight.

Excess body weight puts us at greater risk for heart disease, cancer, arthritis, and a host of other diseases, posing a greater health risk than the toxic cleansers under our sinks.

Health tip: Turn off the TV, put away the bag of plantain chips, and go for a walk.