Does Indoor Air Quality Affect Your Child's Ability To Learn?

It’s the back-to-school season! And parents are doing everything they can to ensure their children are set up for success.

Every backpack holds the best writing tools, the healthiest snacks and the most educational resources. So students have everything they need to learn, grow and excel in the coming school year!

But setting your child up for success is about more than what’s in their backpacks as they walk to the bus stop.

The health of their learning environment also plays a huge role!

Poor indoor air quality can cause many health issues - including allergy symptoms, asthma, coughing, headaches etc.

And each of these hinders your child’s learning environment.

Improving indoor air quality can actually help improve a student's:

• Concentration,
• Productivity and
• Performance!

As kids prepare to return to school this fall, let’s prepare their learning spaces for a healthy academic year ahead!

Why Is Indoor Air Quality at School Important To Consider?

Did you know that according to Ontario Regulations (#298), children ages 7-13 spend roughly 940 hours in school each year?

There are 188 school days and 5 compulsory hours of instruction within each of these days.

And while that’s not the entirety of your child’s life, it is at least 10% of it (annually).

With that amount of time spent in a classroom, it’s obvious why we need to start focusing more on the health of our children's learning environments.

In fact, we saw just how impactful school indoor air quality became during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Ontario schools actually closed down to prevent children from direct virus exposure.

And before reopening, many schools first set out to improve their indoor air quality. Their goal was to create healthy spaces for children to learn during the ongoing pandemic.

As schools open again this fall, many are rushing to improve indoor air quality. In hopes that they can improve not only the health of their indoor air quality but the impact that healthy air has on students’ learning abilities.

How Does Poor Air Quality Affect Your Child’s Focus, Productivity and Academic Performance?

Not only is indoor air quality detrimental to our children’s health, but it’s also crucial in supporting their academic success!

What are some of the factors that can affect a child’s focus, productivity and performance at school?

Rising CO2 Levels

The dangerous chemical compound, CO2 (carbon dioxide), can harm humans physically and mentally.

And with overcrowded, overheated and poorly ventilated classrooms, high concentrations of CO2 are more likely to arise.

High levels of carbon dioxide can cause:

• Headaches
• Restlessness
• Drowsiness
• A lack of concentration

The Solution:

1. Install a ventilation system.
2. Control CO2 sources.

High Temperature

Temperature also plays an impactful role in your child’s ability to learn.

Recent research has proven that high temperatures affect our ability to process information. And this fact is relevant in both work and schooling environments.

If your surroundings are hot and stuffy, cognitive abilities can deteriorate - making it difficult for you to focus, engage and relate.

As you can imagine, this can affect a child’s,

• Attendance,
• Focus and
• Learning capacity.

The Solution:

1. Install/Repair your furnace and air conditioning system.

Lack of Humidity Control

Humidity tells our bodies that temperatures are higher than they actually are. This misconception causes the moisture on our skin to remain - resulting in our bodies breaking out in sweat.

Some of the physical effects of uncontrolled humidity include:

• Overheating (i.e. heat stroke or exhaustion)
• Increased asthma and allergy symptoms
• Skin and eye irritation
• Dehydration
• Muscle cramping
• Vulnerability to infection

And while your body struggles to combat these physical effects, your mind works double time to focus on external factors (i.e. your classes).

This results in low energy, lethargy and a lack of concentration and engagement.

The Solution:

1. Install a dehumidifier.
2. Control humidity sources.

Poor Ventilation

Poor ventilation prevents fresh air from replacing stale air! This results in higher pollution, humidity, temperature and quality. Which can then increase stress and lethargy - causing you to feel sluggish, anxious and fowl.

That’s why proper airflow and circulation are vital for healthy indoor air quality. 

With constant fresh air, your brain can feel calmer, sharper and happier - creating the ideal inner learning environment!

We discussed the importance of ventilation in one of our recent blog posts. But to sum it up, ventilation can help:

• Improve your physical health
• Improve your mental health
• Manage humidity levels
• And lower indoor air pollution

The Solution:

1. Use ceiling fans.
2. Install a ventilation system.

Poor HVAC Maintenance

If you’ve been a customer of Campeau Heating for quite some time, then you already know how we feel about proper HVAC maintenance. It’s one of the easiest and most effective ways to boost indoor air quality.

And while we typically mention this to homeowners, it’s equally as vital for public locations: like schools and workplaces.

An HVAC maintenance visit ensures your systems are running at peak performance and efficiency. While also ensuring proper airflow and circulation.

HVAC systems are tough. But with enough dirt and grime, they can quickly become ineffective and dangerous for your health.

Regular, professional HVAC maintenance can help prevent and reduce potential respiratory issues! Thus improving your child’s learning experience.

During an HVAC maintenance appointment, your service technician will,

• Clean all necessary components of your HVAC system.
• Replace dirty air filters.
• Identify and repair leaks, corrosion and other damages.
• Lubricate all moving parts.
• Tighten all electrical connections
• Test all controls.
• And more!

The Solution:

1. Schedule an HVAC maintenance appointment.

Improve Your Child’s Learning Experience With An Indoor Air Quality Boost

Set your child up for success this fall!

You can help ensure their learning environment is healthy and impactful with improved indoor air quality.

Contact your Campeau Heating IAQ expert at (705) 650-2441 or message us online for more information!