What is the Home Microbiome & How does it Affect Your Health?

We’ve all heard about the gut microbiome—the bustling community of good bacteria living in your belly. But did you know your home has a microbiome too? There’s a whole world of invisible microbes sharing the space around you, and just like your gut bacteria, they can play a big role in your overall health and well-being. So, how can you make sure your home microbiome is nice and balanced? Let us explain.

What is the Home Microbiome?

Think of your home as a giant petri dish. The home microbiome is all the microorganisms–think bacteria and fungi–that naturally exist in your living environment. But they don’t just appear out of thin air (well, sometimes they do). They hitch a ride into your space from a few different sources:

• Nature: Leaving your windows open or even just bringing in some outdoor goodness (aka, soil) on your shoes can help seed your home with healthy bacteria.

• You (and the people you live with): Your skin, breath, clothes, and even hair all carry bacteria.

• Your furry friends: Dogs, cats, rabbits–they’re all (adorable) microbe-carrying machines. In fact, studies show homes with pets tend to have more diverse microbial ecosystems.

• Houseplants: Plants do much more than make your home look good–they bring in beneficial microbes and improve air quality, helping good bacteria thrive.

The main thing to keep in mind is that not all of these microbes are bad. Some are neutral, and others are even helpful. What you’re after with your home microbiome is a balanced, happy mix, and we’ve got some tips on how to achieve it.

Gut Microbiome vs Home Microbiome: What are the Differences?

Your gut microbiome lives inside you and helps regulate all sorts of vital body functions–your digestion, immunity, mood, and the list goes on (hence why probiotics have become such a hot topic among wellness aficionados). Your home microbiome, on the other hand, lives outside you. It quietly shapes the air you breathe, the surfaces you touch, and the atmosphere all around you.

This doesn’t mean your gut microbiome and home microbiome aren’t connected. Every time you touch your kitchen counter, sprawl out on the couch, or open the door to your bathroom, you’re interacting with your home microbiome–and those exact interactions influence your body’s microbiome too. In other words, if your home microbiome is out of whack, it could very well throw your gut out of balance too.

Why Your Home Microbiome Matters 

Your home should be your sanctuary, but the reality is that an imbalanced home microbiome increases your risk of allergies, asthma, and skin irritation, and it may even disrupt your immune system. 

And the even harsher truth? Many of us have been stripping our homes of all microbes with harsh chemicals–the kind you can easily find in the supermarket, promising to kill 99.9% of bacteria without asking who’s who.

What Makes a Healthy Home Microbiome?

In one word? Diversity. A healthy home microbiome is made up of a range of bacteria and microorganisms, particularly the ones you’d find in nature. We mentioned before that these can come from pets and plants, but using probiotic cleaning products can also introduce beneficial microbes and outcompete harmful pathogens. More on this in a bit.

What Can Harm Your Home Microbiome?

Here are some usual suspects that can mess with your home’s microbial balance:

• Harsh chemical cleaners (looking at you, bleach brigade)

• Over-sanitising every surface

• Lack of ventilation

• Excess moisture 

• Synthetic materials and plastic overload

Cleaning and the Microbial Connection

Conventional (read: chemical-laden) cleaning products and over-sanitising can harm your home microbiome, which might have you wondering… “How can I keep my home clean without killing all the good bacteria around?”

Enter probiotic cleaning. Made with nothing but eco-friendly ingredients and powered by 60 billion probiotics, our Universal Probiotic Cleaner is designed to work with your home’s natural balance, not against it.  

It introduces billions of good bacteria into your home, which outcompete the bad ones and prevent them from multiplying. Thanks to the gentle, yet powerful formula, it helps you achieve a clean that is:

• Balanced, fostering a healthy microbiome on all your surfaces 

• Deeper, working microscopically to clean what you see – and what you don’t

• Longer, continuously cleaning for up to 3 days

• Fresher, not only controlling odours but eliminating them at the source

Achieve a balanced home microbiome with Orbies

Your home deserves more than a one-size-fits-all, chemical-heavy scrub-down. With Orbies, you can keep your home sparkling clean and, at the same time, support your health, your microbiome, and the planet—one probiotic spritz at a time.

References:
https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC7058978/