When You Start Using An Air Purifier, This Is What Happens To You

Air purifiers are designed to cleanse the air in your home and rid it of any impurities. They work by capturing, sanitizing, and removing indoor pollutants and other harmful airborne particles (via Healthline). Many air purifiers are made with filters that suck in and trap these particles as the air runs through them, while others can sanitize them without filtering them at all. While air purifiers cannot remove every single unwanted particle in your home, they're fairly effective at filtering and removing smoke, mold, indoor toxins, and allergens like pet dander, pollen, and dust mites.

Despite their effectiveness, however, air purifiers are best used in conjunction with other cleaning techniques, like vacuuming rugs and carpeting once a week, bathing your pets, washing your bed linens, switching to nontoxic cleaning products, and changing the HVAC filters every 30 to 90 days. Not smoking inside your house or apartment can also prevent harmful particles from circulating in your home.

Since air purifiers can adequately filter out most pollutants, allergens, and toxins in your home, using them can help reduce the effects that these particles have on your health and improve certain respiratory conditions, like asthma and allergies (via Cleveland Clinic). "By filtering out fine particles, purifiers help clean the air you breathe and lessen the potential negative effects of pollution," pulmonologist Dr. Rachel Taliercio told Cleveland Clinic. "Purifiers have been shown to alter the blood chemistry in a way that may benefit heart health, too."

While further research is required, multiple studies have shown that air purification is associated with improvements in heart rate, blood pressure, and asthma. Although anyone can reap the benefits of an air purifier, they are most useful for people belonging to sensitive groups, like young children, older adults, and people with underlying conditions that affect the heart or lungs. People who live in areas with poor air quality or high air pollution can also benefit from using an air purifier.