As people world over are crusading against air pollution outdoors, only a small percentage is yet aware of how serious air pollution indoors is an issue. As amazing as it may seem but pollution levels inside your home are actually higher than what they are outside. And it is not high marginally. They can be anything between 2 and 10 times higher than the outdoor levels. The problem is further compounded by the fact that we spend about 90% of our entire day indoors - either at home or at our workplace, or somewhere else. So we are breathing in polluted throughout the day. And our respiratory tract seldom is being treated the way it should be.

As awareness increases many are investing on air purifiers for their homes. But very few buyers actually know what kind of purifier will solve their problem. In fact, very few are aware as to the kind of problem they have.

Suppose your problem is just allergies, then you can afford to have a basic purifier for milder forms of allergies but have to invest on an advanced purifier if the allergic reactions are serious. People with light allergies can be comfortable with an economic air purifier, but those with serious problems might find the same purifier completely ineffective. The choice of the purifier also depends on the nature of the allergy one has and how sensitive the individual is to the allergens.

However, a person suffering from multiple chemical sensitivities or asthma will require a much more sophisticated air purifier. For a person suffering from asthma, he is directly affected by any gas or odors in the air. So only those purifiers which are able to cleanse the air of gases and odors will be effective for the individual.

People with multiple chemical sensitivities react to almost anything and special care should be taken to choose the air purifier for such individuals. They can react to even the glue on the HEPA filter. Or may be the out gassing from plastic parts. For such conditions extra powerful gas filters need to be used. It is a different thing to control odors from food which can be tackled with basic gas filters. But if someone reacts to cigarette or cigar smoke, then he will need a very powerful gas filter.

You can further increase the effectiveness of the air purifier by ventilating your room properly. With exchange of air between the inside and outside of your house, much of the pollutants in the air inside get transferred outside and also more fresh oxygen makes its way inside. This also helps the air purifier by significantly reducing its load. It can now concentrate on the much finer particulates present.

So before you choose a purifier, make sure you are certain about your needs.