People working at home or in offices have started to use air purifiers to help improve the quality of the air they breathe. For home use, particularly, a desktop air purifier can freshen a stale room and add a great deal of comfort to the room. What’s more, they’re often small, so they don’t take up much space, even in modest work-from-home setups. With that said, this article discusses what desktop air purifiers are and why you may want to consider getting one for your home office or desk at the workplace.
What Is a Desktop Air Purifier?
An air purifier is a device that sanitizes the air that you breathe. Indoor air may include particles such as allergens, pollutants, and toxins over time. Therefore, an air purifier sanitizes these particles and potentially removes them from the air. In turn, such a device may help reduce the risk of developing lung-related problems due to the harmful particles in the air. Whether a purifier sanitizes particles, filters them out, or does both depends on the device and its features. That said, the way all of them operate is different from a humidifier—which adds particles to the air.
A desktop air purifier is like a smaller version of a typical purifier. You can place it on your work desk and use it while you’re working on your computer. The great thing about these devices is that they’re small, so they take minimal space on your desk. Moreover, some of them operate as monitor or laptop stand as well. Thus, you’ll still have significant space on your desk for other accessories. In addition to that, it can ensure that your screen is at the correct height to help prevent neck pain or bad posture.
What Particles Air Purifiers Help Remove
Air purifiers are effective at helping remove and sanitize aggravating particles in your home or office. This is because these particles can sit on hard surfaces, such as walls, and soft surfaces, such as bedding, furniture, and carpeting. So, here are some particles a desktop air purifier may help remove or neutralize.
Mold
Inhaling indoor mold particles can be dangerous for people with lung conditions, such as asthma. A desktop air purifier like the C1 that has a high-efficiency particulate air (HEPA) filter is exceptionally effective at removing mold from the air. Therefore, in addition to removing the particles, this air humidifier will help restore a stable and healthy level of humidity to reduce the build-up of mold in the long term.
Allergens
Desktop air purifiers are excellent at reducing allergens in the air in your home office. For those who don’t know, allergens are substances that may develop harmful immune responses in people in the form of asthma or allergies. Some common examples of airborne allergens include pollen, dust mites, and pet dander. Again, a purifier with a HEPA filter will help trap and neutralize these allergens so that you reduce the risk of developing allergies.
If you share an office space with a smoker, an air purifier may help reduce the effects of passive smoking. That said, purifiers are not able to remove all of the smoke smell, so you may still breathe some of it. It’s best to ask smoking colleagues to use a designated smoking space away from the office—this should be the case for home offices as well.
Research shows that air purifiers aren’t very effective at removing nicotine from the air. So, it’s best not to put your health or the health of those around you due to passive smoking. Moreover, an air purifier may not be able to remove some smoke staining on walls. You should also note that an air purifier may help remove smoke from landscape fires.
Indoor Toxins
Your home office may also have indoor toxins that originate from personal care products, cleaning products, and so on. Leaving these toxins in your home for extended periods may be bad for your health. So, that’s where a desktop air purifier can help. It removes and neutralizes these particles to make the air fresher and safer for you to breathe. Considering purifiers cannot remove all of these toxins, it’s best to reduce the number of cleaning products and ventilate your rooms well.
The Benefits of a Desktop Air Purifier
We’ve already touched a bit about the benefits of a desktop air purifier above by listing the particles it can remove or sanitize. However, we’ll go over some additional benefits they can provide to better explain why you may want to consider getting one for your home office or workplace.
May Include an Aromatherapy Box for Fresh Scents
Some air purifiers like the C1 include an aromatherapy box. Therefore, it has a fragrance feature that introduces a fresh scent in the room. It can also help you enjoy the benefits of aromatherapy. Aromatherapy is a type of holistic healing treatment. It uses extracts from natural plants to promote well-being and health. Thus, it may help enhance emotional and physical health.
In addition to that, an air purifier can also help eliminate bad odors within your workspace. For example, mold and mildew can leave a bad smell if they are not treated, and a purifier can help treat that. Also, the devices’ fragrance feature could help reduce the discomfort some strong smells, such as a freshly-painted room, may cause.
May Help Improve Sleep
One of the great effects of reducing allergens in your room is that it may indirectly help improve your sleep. These allergens, such as fungi, bacteria, or dust mites, can trigger hay fever or allergies. In that case, you may develop symptoms, such as runny nose, nasal congestion, coughing, sneezing, a sore throat, or watery eyes.
These symptoms may affect your ability to sleep soundly. Thus, a desktop air purifier can help with that because it removes allergens, which can reduce your chances of triggering allergies in the first place.
May Increase Productivity
When your sleep is negatively affected, you’ll feel drowsy throughout your day. In turn, you may struggle to focus on your work during the day. The fact that air purifiers can help improve sleep by reducing the chances of allergies means that you can potentially improve your productivity as a result.
Some Air Purifiers Can Be Used as a Stand
In addition to better air to breathe, you can also improve your productivity when you use a desktop air purifier specifically. For example, the model by FlexiSpot is also designed to be used as a stand for a monitor or a laptop. It includes sturdy legs that can handle the weight of a monitor and its stand or a laptop. When used as a stand, it enables you to view your screen from a height that’s safe for your body. For better ergonomics, it’s always recommended that the center of your screen is at your eye level when you’re seated upright.
Sitting in that position ensures that you put minimal strain on your neck because you don’t have to look up or down for your screen. In addition to that, it means that you don’t need to hunch over your laptop. Hunching over your laptop can compromise your posture, which can result in back pain.
Therefore, a desktop air purifier that can be used as a stand is a great feature for improving your productivity and staying healthy.
It’s important to note that you’ll need an external mouse and keyboard to be able to use this stand for your laptop. Also, its storage area and easy charging ports offer better productivity as they allow you to use other accessories without getting off your desk to access them.
May Help Manage Humidity Levels
The purifier by FlexiSpot also includes a sensor for air humidity levels. Therefore, this sensor can help the device manage the humidity levels in your home office. Ideally, it will help keep the humidity relatively low to reduce the build-up of mold and mildew.
May Help Improve Overall Health
The great thing about desktop air purifiers is that they may help improve your overall health by reducing the risk of allergies, bacteria-related health issues, and keeping your respiratory system in good condition. Thus, a purifier with a HEPA filter is always the best choice among others because of its unparalleled filtration.
Last Few Words
While it’s a great idea to get a desktop air purifier for your home office, there’s no reason why employers can’t get them for each of their employees as well. This way, the entire workplace will have fresher and healthier air. If you’re looking for a fantastic air purifier or other great options for ergonomic home office furniture and accessories, then visit FlexiSpot today. You can also find some excellent discounts on these amazing products.
