Hepa machine to help with filtering air

HEPA Filters + Exercise

My Latest Fitness Obsession: Breathing Better with Brondell’s Revive

Oxygen is insanely powerful, absolutely essential, and all too often overlooked. From the moment it enters our bodies, filling our lungs and satiating our need for air, it’s going to work for us in more ways than we even realize. Oxygen not only drives our aerobic metabolism, powering our cellular complex and essentially keeping us alive throughout the course of our workouts but it’s also responsible for refilling myoglobin stores in our muscles, helping to convert those protein shakes and energy bars into glucose to refill our bodies’ glycogen supplies, regenerating ATP levels, and breaking down lactic acid in the kidneys and liver. From aerobic performance to muscle recovery and just, you know, casually keeping us alive, the air we breathe is perhaps the most essential component of life as we know it, and if you’re living an active lifestyle, your need for pure, high-quality air is more important than you might realize, but there’s a good chance you aren’t getting the most bang for your breath with the air in your home…


In today’s climate of unchecked industry, sprawling infrastructure, planes, trains, and automobiles zooming in every direction, there are more and more concerns about air quality and pollution. Especially if you live in a bigger city, there are fears about airborne toxins like ozone, nitrogen dioxide, carbon monoxide, particulate matter, dust, smoke, even natural allergens like ragweed and pollen.

These pollutants can easily attach themselves to the air we breathe and end up in our lungs, bloodstreams, wreaking havoc in the form of neurotoxic agents and respiratory hazards. For athletes, this can result in decreased red blood cell count, diminished Vo2 max, reduced hemoglobin stores as well as a significant increase in mean lactate levels – all of this negatively affecting our performance and, in some instances, our overall health schematic.

Thankfully, there is something relatively easy and inexpensive you can do to ensure the air you’re breathing in your own home is as pure as possible. Recently, it’s been my goal to improve the air quality in my home. I started shopping around for air filtration units not too long ago with a few criteria – the most important being that I wanted an air purifier with a true HEPA core so that it would be capable of removing all the scary unwanted elements I mentioned above. With a certified true HEPA filter, you can be sure your air is being purified to its full potential, as these filters are certified to remove 99.97% of air pollutants including dust, smoke, pollen, and volatile organic compounds that are above 0.3 microns in size. To put that in perspective, the width of a human hair is 75 microns. Pretty crazy, right? The other requirements I had for my air filter were activated carbon filtration to dissolves odors and reduce off-gassing in my home, and I wanted something with an automatic air quality indicator so that I didn’t have to worry about what setting I need to adjust my purifier to. I’m a busy girl so I like all things I can just set and forget…

I’m happy to report that after a few days of scouring online reviews and scrolling through my Amazon feed, I found the absolute perfect air purification unit in the Brondell O2+ Revive True HEPA Air Purifier and Humidifier. This air filtration system met all of my criteria and then some. Not only is the Revive true HEPA-certified but it’s actually built with a dual-suction intake system which allows it to use not just one true HEPA filter but two true HEPA filters at one time, doubling the air intake and drastically increasing filtration capacity and clean air output to make it perfect for treating the air for any sized room. The unit also comes complete with a high-quality granulated carbon filter to effectively remove invisible substances like formaldehyde and VOCs, which can contribute to “Sick House Syndrome.” The air quality indicator on this machine is really nifty as well. Left on automatic mode, it switches between three air quality settings for good, fair, and poor air quality levels, so that if I’m cooking or accidentally burn something, it’ll automatically rev the filtration up to a higher level to help clear my air fast without me having to worry about adjusting the unit.

All three points in my criteria – check, check and check! But that’s just the beginning… This unit also utilizes a unique moisture-wicking technology called evaporative humidification to add a very well-balanced and evenly distributed humidifier if you need a little extra comfort in your air around the wintertime. Evaporative humidification is different from traditional humidifiers in that it doesn’t just spray out a misty jet of wet air that can concentrate to leave damp pockets in and around your home. It passes clean air through a specialized moisture-wicking filter to evenly distribute quenched, comfortable air during those months where our heaters are blowing and the air can get really dry. I can imagine this would do wonders for your skin. It also features a humidity indicator so you can adjust the level based on your own environment. This feature can be left off by simply not filling the reservoir with water during those times where it may be unnecessary.

The Revive features three operating modes including “Automatic” to adjust to air quality, “Eco” to save on energy, and “Allergen” when you need that extra boost for those really hazy summer and fall months. This air purifier also includes an automatic timer so that you can set it for sleep and a filter change indicator so that you know when it’s time to change the filters.

Brondell, a healthy home company out of San Francisco, is amazing at taking traditional products like water filtration, bidet seats, or air purifiers and making them exceptional with unique features and distinct designs. Revive is a great example of this innovative spirit. The unit looks super sleek with an intuitive touch control panel and a beautiful air quality indicator. I’m proud to have it on display as it makes for a great conversation piece with company. It looks more like some kind of high-tech home entertainment component than something that filters air. I get compliments all the time, haha!

Most importantly though, with its dual-intake true HEPA filtration, I can be sure this unit is purifying my air and ridding my home of airborne pollutants and allergens so that I’m practicing the best possible breathing and truly living a cleaner, healthier life for optimal aerobic performance and maximum recovery. I cannot stress enough how even the smallest things we sometimes take for granted like our air and water are so essential to achieving a healthier quality of life for improved results and enhanced happiness.

If you want to improve your breathing, optimize your oxygen intake and really take your performance to the next level, I definitely recommend you look into a true HEPA air purifier today.

Here is the one I use (and recommend): Brondell’s Revive True HEPA Air Purifier and Humidifier. 

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