Wendie Trubow, MD, MBA, IFMCPPresident at Five Journeys, Functional Medicine & Wellness Provider, Best Selling Author, Passionate Champion for Health

The Hidden Risks of Modern Homes @EkoBuiltPassiveHomes

21 Jul 2026 · 1 min

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1:16

In a conversational interview, two speakers discuss how most people overlook the health impact of their homes. They list invisible or hard‑to‑measure risks common in modern housing: elevated carbon‑dioxide levels, improper humidity (both too low and too high, with an optimal range of roughly 35‑60 %), increased mold growth especially in newer constructions, chronic noise, constant drafts, cold surfaces, and overall leaky building envelopes. The dialogue frames these factors as low‑grade biological stressors, arguing from a “House is Medicine” perspective that a home either accelerates or decelerates biological aging, with no neutral state.

Chapters

most people don't have in their brain that their home plays a role. So, what are some of the biggest risks that people take when they go into a typical modern home that they can't see, or smell, or easily measure?
Well, there's a number of items, including high carbon dioxide levels, humidity, low humidity, high humidity. Humidity has big health impacts and really needs to stay between the 35 or 40 to 60% range. Mold is becoming really prevalent, especially amongst a lot of newer homes. Noise is part of the conversation as well, and constant drafts, cold surfaces, ultimately homes that are very leaky. And what we try to communicate from a House is Medicine perspective all goes back to the, you know, this is the one missing link we feel in general health. And important to know that there's no neutral when it comes to a home. A home is either accelerating aging or it's, or it's slowing it down. And most homes unintentionally operate like low-grade biological stress machines, believe it or not.