As we become more conscious of our environment and surroundings, we are also becoming aware of the big issue of air pollution. But did you know that the air inside a building can be just as polluted as the air outside? Well, it can, and this is where an air purifier comes in, to clean the air within a certain area or room.
Gyms can have impure air just as a residence does, the air can be polluted with allergens such as dust and mold spores, pollen, and dander. Air purifiers are useful at removing odors too, and the gym environment can be full of smells we would rather not encounter, and they can quickly become stale.
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Gym equipment is usually spread across an extended area, so for a gym, you’ll want to be looking at an air purifier that is suitable for a large room.
Fitness is good for your health
This is an indisputable fact. There have been innumerable studies done on the benefit of exercise to both physical and mental health. Exercise helps to keep our bodies in shape, and that increases the strength of the immune system, and exercise releases serotonin which aids our mental health and helps us feel more positive. So, exercise is a necessity.
The air within the gym can be filled with pollutants and odors There’s often a high turnover of gym users who will track in microscopic particles of dust, pollens, and others from the outside. They may also bring in smells, like that of the quick cigarette they had outside, or just general smells from their day.
Gym goers will usually increase their heart rate in some way, whether that be from a twenty minute run on the treadmill, or the three sets of pull-ups, heart rates go and up, and as a consequence so does respiration rate. An increased breathing rate means that that person will be taking in more room air than normal, and could be inhaling more pollutants, so it’s important to keep the air clean.
A quick explanation of air purifiers
An air purifier does exactly what it says in the name, it purifies or cleans the air within an enclosed environment. It works by using a fan contained within the unit to bring ‘dirty’ air in from the room and running through several filters encased within the air purifier. These filters work in different ways to remove the things from the air that we would rather not have there, such as dust, pollen, smells, and some units also work at removing bacteria and viruses too.
Once the air has traveled through the filters, it is recirculated into the room as a cleaner, fresher air. An air purifier does not add or take away moisture from the air, so it will not dry the air like air conditioning does, but it also does not change the temperature of the air.
Choosing the right air purifier for your fitness business
As you will see when you start researching air purifiers, there are many different ones available in different sizes and with different modes of action.
Carbon filter purifiers are primarily used to remove unwanted smells from the air and to keep the air fresh. Carbon is very effective at this.
Air purifiers with HEPA filters are ideal at removing allergens and other pollutants from the air and are very helpful for allergy sufferers. You will often find charcoal filters and HEPA filters used together to give all-round fresher air.
Carbon filter air purifiers and HEPA filters are the most common types of purifiers, but there are also ultraviolet filters that can remove some bacteria and viruses from the space, and ionic purifiers that release positively charged ions which attract the negatively charged pollutants in the air and remove them.
Choosing the right sized air purifier for your gym
Air purifiers are available in many different sizes, from small residential ones to larger commercial units. The size of the room needs to be ascertained before you make your purchase. Once you know the square footage or square meterage of your gym, you can start looking at units that will suit that area.
Do not buy an air purifier that is too small, it will end up being a waste of money as it will not have the ability to be able to clean the volume of air that is within the gym. It is possible to buy a purifier that is too large too, but this is slightly more preferable than a unit that is too small.
Placing your air purifier for optimum effect
The air purifier should be placed within the room you need it to work in. If your gym has several smaller rooms, you should buy a smaller purifier for each room, rather than rely on one large unit for the entire building, it simply won’t work,
Place the unit away from gym furniture, but it should also not be flat against a wall as it will be unable to pull in and release the air effectively.
If you are teaching an exercise class outside there is no point in using an air purifier outside, the amount of air is simply too large for an air purifier to cope with and will make no difference to the quality of the air outside of a contained room.
Air purifiers can make your gym a much more pleasant place for your clients to be. There’s nothing worse than walking into a room that is filled with that stale workout smell, if your gym smells fresher, people will want to stay for longer.
Remember to keep the unit clean, and clean or replace the filters as often as the instructions recommend, and you will have a unit that will last you for many years, keeping the air as clean and as fresh as possible for your clients. They will be impressed by your commitment to making the gym a pleasant place to be, and you may even get more business as they recommend your gym above others.
