Staying Healthy Over the Holidays

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The holiday season is in full swing, and while we love this festive and fun time of year, we also know that colds and allergies can get worse during the winter months.  Since no one wants to miss out on quality time with family and friends because of a stuffy nose, there are ways that you can keep smart about staying healthy during the winter months.

Having visitors for the holidays can be a merry treat, but friends and family bring more than just their luggage when they come to your home – they carry in germs and bacteria as well.  Keep yourself from getting sick by washing your hands frequently and making sure that anyone with a cough or stuffy nose covers their mouth.

If you celebrate Christmas with a real pine tree, be wary of mold that may sneak in on the needles or bark, and make sure to dispose of any fallen needles right away.  If you prefer an artificial tree to keep the pollen and mold at bay, remember to clean the tree frequently, as the needles provide a lot of surface area for dust to settle and collect.

Rain and snow are great when you’re inside sipping on hot cocoa, but they also create a moist environment where mold loves to thrive.  Keep humidity levels below 50%, and make sure to plug up any leaky windows or places where moisture can seep in.  You may also want to add an air purifier, such as our MinusA2 with the Germ Defense Customized Filter, that can tackle any dust, mold, or germs that make it into the air.  With an air purifier in the home you can worry less about airborne allergens and germs, and focus on the important things – the people you love!

Bloggers Love Rabbit Air

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We believe our MinusA2 air purifiers are the best in the business, but don’t just take our word for it!  Check out some bloggers who agree with us…

Mommy Ramblings is written by Carolyn – a woman who truly knows the ins-and-outs of motherhood. A mother of five, Carolyn shares fun and touching stories about her family, offers great advice to others, and shares beautiful photographs from her home studio. Check out Mommy Rambling’s review of our Artists Series MinusA2 air purifier with the beautiful Cherry Blossom design by clicking this link.

Susan, from the blog Susan’s Disney Family, also had the chance to try out our MinusA2.  Susan and her family are big Disney fans, of course, but she also blogs about her life as a mother, her family’s travels, and about her favorite products and giveaways. We were happy to hear that Susan’s husband’s allergy symptoms began to decrease after using our air purifier.  Read her review right here!

Marissa from The Review Stew is another blogging mamma who had the opportunity to try out one of our MinusA2s.  As a mother of three who is also a fitness enthusiast, Marissa writes her blog to help other families learn about products that fit into a healthy and natural lifestyle. In her quest to help reduce her family’s allergies, Marissa has tried many air purifiers, but considers our MinusA2 to be her favorite.  Check out her review to see what else she has to say about Rabbit Air.

We want to thank Carolyn, Susan, and Marissa for their thoughtful and flattering reviews.  We can’t wait to see who will review Rabbit Air next!

Secondhand Smoke Facts and Statistics Infographic

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The Negative Health Effects of Secondhand Smoking

A “passive” smoker is someone who inhales the secondhand tobacco smoke generated by others. Secondhand smoke is a mixture of the residual smoke that comes from burning tobacco and the smoke exhaled by a smoker. Exposure to secondhand smoke is thought to be more harmful than smoking a cigarette directly for the same amount of time. The below infographic details statistics about the negative health effects of secondhand smoke.

You are welcome to use this infographic about secondhand smoke statistics on your own website, please link back to this page or www.rabbitair.com as the source.

All of Rabbit Air’s air purifiers are excellent for smoke removal, secondhand smoke, and the odor from smoke. Cigar Aficionado rated Rabbit Air a top air purifier for smokers,  you can read the article on our site. Choosing the best smoke air purifier for your home is a matter of many factors including room size, filtration needs, unit cost, filter replacement cost, etc. Visit our website to learn more about the air purifier models we offer.

Secondhand and Environmental Tobacco Smoke Facts

Mainstream Smoke is the smoke in the air that is exhaled by a smoker.
Sidesteam Smoke is the smoke in the air from a lighted cigarette, pipe or cigar.
Secondhand Smoke (SHS) is a mixture of the 2 above forms of smoke that come from burning tobacco. This is also known as environmental tobacco smoke (ETS).

SHS worsens asthma and asthma-related problems in up to 1,000,000 asthmatic children.

The immediate effects of SHS may include: headache, dizziness, eye irritation, cough, sore throat, nausea

Long term effects may include: stroke, asthma, dementia, cognitive impairment, lung cancer, breast cancer, cardiovascular problems

About 3,400 nonsmoking adults die of lung cancer each year as a result of breathing secondhand smoke.

SHS effects on children may include: allergies, olfactory diseases (nasal), circulatory problems, asthma, respiratory problems, behavioral problems, Crohn’s disease, sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS)

An estimated 35,000-62,000 deaths occur annually from heart disease in people who are not current smokers, but who are exposed to environmental tobacco smoke.

11% of children 6 years and under are exposed to ETS in their homes on a regular basis (4 or more days per week)

SHS contains thousands of toxic chemicals including: ammonia, butane, chromium, lead, carbon monoxide, cyanide, polonium, formaldehyde

Fall Allergies

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The turning of the season is always a delight, and after spending the summer months at the mercy of the hot sun, the crisp, cool days of autumn may be a relief. Yet the change in the season also means that a new cycle of plants are starting to release their pollen, causing many people to get stuffy noses, itchy eyes, and other allergic reactions. Ragweed is the main culprit for fall allergies, though other plants that bloom at this time of year can contribute to allergic reactions.  Mold also starts to become more of a problem during the fall as rainy weather and piles of fallen leaves can create the perfect damp and dark environment that it needs to thrive.

While these allergens are in high concentration during this time of year, there are many things you can do to reduce your exposure to them. Dispose of that pile of freshly raked leaves promptly, and control your temptation to jump in, no matter how fun it might be. Wearing a face mask while you rake or do other yard work may also help to filter out any pollen or mold floating in the air. Keeping track of pollen counts is always a good idea no matter the season, and you can also help to reduce ragweed pollen around your home by carefully checking your garden and removing weeds wherever you find them. When you’re finally relaxing inside with a hot cup of cider, make sure that you are breathing clean air by making the indoor environment inhospitable for mold growth. Keep humidity levels below 50%, and use an air purifier like our MinusA2 with the Germ Defense Customized Filter to trap any airborne mold inside your home.

MinusA2 Peanuts Edition is Here!

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No Halloween would be complete without at least one viewing of “It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown!” so October was the perfect time to announce our exciting new MinusA2 Peanuts Edition featuring Charlie Brown, Snoopy, and their friends.  For over fifty years, Charlie Brown and the Peanuts gang have been entertaining families all across America.  Created by Charles Schultz in 1950, Peanuts started out as a daily comic strip in only nine newspapers but thanks to critical acclaim and characters that were deeply lovable and relatable, Peanuts grew into an iconic story that has delighted children and adults ever since.  Charlie Brown and his friends have gone on to have their stories told in movies, television, theater, and even the spectacularly fun Snoopy on Ice!  We are so happy to have these wonderful characters join the Rabbit Air family.

 

With our first Peanuts panel, called Airborne, you can laugh along as Charlie Brown, Lucy, Linus, Sally, and Marcie toss Snoopy up into the air just like one of Lucy’s footballs.  Flying high above his friends, you can bet Snoopy wishes he had wings, just like his buddy Woodstock!

 

Next, we have our VIP – Very Important Puppy – front panel featuring Snoopy lying on his little red doghouse as his best pal Woodstock flies above.  Over the years, Snoopy’s doghouse has allowed the imaginative little beagle to soar the skies as a World War II Flying Ace, or given him a comfy place to sit and work on his great American novel.

 

 

We hope that you’ll enjoy our new Peanuts Edition MinusA2 as much as we do!

Breathe Pure for the Cure!

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October is National Breast Cancer Awareness Month, and Rabbit Air wants you to Breathe Pure for the Cure!  All during this month we will be offering our MinusA2 BCRF Special Edition air purifier featuring our beautiful hollyhock design.  For every one of these air purifiers sold Rabbit Air will donate funding for 30 minutes of research carried out by the Breast Cancer Research Foundation.  Since 2007 Rabbit Air has been a proud partner of the BCRF and in that time we have donated more than $75,000 to this important organization. We are dedicated to lending our support in spreading awareness of this terrible disease and working to help provide researchers with the funds they need to find a cure.

National Breast Cancer Awareness Month was established in 1985 in the United States and has since spread around the globe blossoming into an international effort to raise awareness, fund research, and encourage all people to get appropriate screenings to increase early detection.  The Breast Cancer Research Foundation was created eight years later, and was instrumental in the promotion of the pink ribbon design that has become the iconic symbol of the fight against breast cancer.  The BCRF currently supports the work of nearly two hundred researchers, and has been selected by the American Institute of Philanthropy as one of its Top-Rated Charities.  BCRF funded researchers have made a number of important advancements in both treatment and screening technologies.  As awareness grows and more people contribute to this important cause we hope to see even more exciting developments in the future.

What are Negative Ions?

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One of the wonderful things about hiking through the forest or lounging at the beach is breathing in the clean, fresh air of nature. The air in these places not only smells great, but breathing it can make us feel energized and excited. What gives the air in natural places such good mojo? Negative ions! Also called anions, these are molecules that have become negatively charged due to strong natural forces such as sunlight, wind, or churning water. There is evidence that breathing air abundant with negative ions has a positive effect on our mood and our health. Doctors and scientists, who are studying the effects of negative ions, say that they can promote alertness and positive feelings in some people, and may help to increase oxygen to the brain. Research is ongoing to learn how to harness the use of negative ions to positively affect health.

While negative ions are plentiful in natural places, they are far less common indoors. Many air purifiers, such as our MinusA2, now come equipped with a negative ion generator in order to infuse our indoor air with these negatively charged molecules. In addition to the possible health benefits, negative ion generators pair well with air purifiers because they can help to increase filtering efficiency. Negative ions are attracted to particles in the air, weighing them down and causing them to sink. You may have experienced this cleaning power yourself after a rainstorm – the negative ions generated by the storm help to clean particle pollution out of the air. When used in the home, negative ions are attracted to the particles of indoor air pollution, weighing them down and making it easier for them to be captured by your air purifier’s filters.

Rabbit Air Sponsors UC Berkeley Cal Women’s Club Lacrosse!

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This year, Rabbit Air became the proud sponsor of the UC Berkeley Cal Women’s Club Lacrosse team!  Though the team was only founded in 2008, these amazing athletes have already made a big splash on the national stage, smashing the competition in the Western Women’s Lacrosse League where they finished with an 18-1 record and as the 2010 WWLL Division II Champions and WDIA Division II National Champions. In the 2011 season, the Bears moved up to Division I to compete against the best club teams on the west coast for women’s lacrosse, finishing in 7th place in the WWLL Championship!

Recently the team attended Caltopia and Calapalooza, two major events on the Cal Berkeley campus, and brought along one of our MinusA2 University Edition air purifiers. This special edition MinusA2 features front panels representing two of California’s top schools, UCLA and UC Berkeley, allowing you to show off your school spirit while breathing clean, fresh air. Check out the girls raising awareness about their team while displaying their Cal pride with our MinusA2!

 

 

We at Rabbit Air congratulate the team for all their hard work, dedication and success. Go Bears! We’ll be rooting for you!

Five Fun Facts About Air

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Wikipedia1) Flowers can brighten up any home décor, but did you know that they can also help to add oxygen to the air and filter out pollutants?  While using plants alone won’t totally purifiy the air, you can give your air purifier a boost by placing certain potted plants around the home.  Some flower powerhouses include elegant peace lilies, which can help reduce harmful VOCs, such as formaldehyde, or colorful gerbera daisies that can help to filter out benzene.

2) Take a deep breath! Our lungs can hold between four and six liters of air on average, though we use only a small portion of this space with each breath. Each minute, the average adult breathes in and out around seven liters of air. That’s enough to fill an Olympic sized swimming pool every 227 days!

3) Did you know that most of our oxygen doesn’t come from the forest, but from the sea? Ocean algae produce the majority of the oxygen in the atmosphere. These plants may be tiny, but due to their huge numbers they are able to pump out tons of clean air for us to breathe.

4) Not even astronauts are safe from having smoggy skies obscure their view!  Astronauts report that thick smog over cities or highly polluted areas can be seen from the international space station, and that the amount of air pollution visible to them from orbit has been increasing.

5) China has some of the smoggiest skies in the world, and in an effort to detect harmful pollutants in their air, they have come up with a surprising solution – a team of people trained to detect harmful gases using their sense of smell!  These special sniffers can tell the difference between a surprisingly large number of gases, and can help city officials become aware of potentially dangerous situations.

Summer Air Quality

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We all know that the hot summer sun can be bad for our skin, but did you know that the air quality during the summer months can pose a health risk as well?  UV rays from the sun are stronger in the summer, causing more ozone to accumulate in the atmosphere and particularly in big cities, heat can cause outdoor air quality to worsen. The calm skies of summer can cause pollutants that have been released into the air to stagnate and hover in the skies, becoming thick layers of smog. This increase in pollution can be potentially harmful to those with asthma, allergies, or other respiratory conditions, often contributing to symptoms or causing reactions.

Keep safe throughout the summer by checking air quality forecasts and planning your outings during the day when pollutants aren’t as concentrated in the air. If you usually exercise or perform strenuous activities outdoors, try something new and workout to a fun video or podcast at home. If you do decide to soak up the sun, try to steer clear of locations that are near freeways or other high-pollutant producing areas like big cities. If you relax indoors to beat the heat, use an air purifier to keep indoor air fresh and clean. Whatever you decide to do this summer, do it with clean air in mind inside your home and out.