It may not seem logical, but the cozy indoors is often worse for your allergies and asthma than the raw outdoors. Your home--with its fabric-covered furniture and pillows, its carpeting, tightly sealed windows, and warm, damp spaces--is like a field strewn with allergy land mines. Research shows that indoor air pollution can be up to 10 times greater than outdoor pollution and its effects much more intense, since we generally spend more than 90 percent of our time indoors.

People are rarely sensitive to the things that make up the house itself--that is, the paint, wood, steel, plastic, and such. Instead, it's the microscopic things growing and accumulating in the house that cause allergies and asthma attacks. These unwanted occupants come in several forms, but the most prevalent in-home allergens are dust and its components (primarily dust mite and cockroach droppings), molds, fungi, and pet dander. Among the places where they accumulate most are bedding, carpets, damp areas, and air filters. Allergies and asthma can wreak havoc on your life, keeping you from doing the activities you enjoy. Our Coping With Allergies Anywhere Guide will make it easier for you to live life fully. First, you'll do a top-to-bottom inventory of your house to determine where allergens may be congregating. Then you'll tackle a room-by-room cleanup to get rid of the allergens that are there as well as to make the rooms less hospitable to allergens in the future.