Athlete & air purifier make a perfect team

Kariem Hussein is an active Swiss professional athlete who specialises in hurdling. Besides winning various Swiss championship titles, he won the gold medal in the 400 metres hurdles at the 2014 European Championships followed by a bronze in the same event in 2016 and was placed 8th in the final at the 2017 World Championships. He is also a qualified doctor. In his capacity as a top athlete, he is currently in training for the 2021 Tokyo Olympics. As a professional athlete, intensive training, a healthy lifestyle and good recovery are essential. Kariem Hussein talks about how he got to know air purifier Roger from Stadler Form and came to value him as a housemate.

In order for me to be able to achieve my best performance on the day, I need to prepare properly. That means not only putting in the training required but also making sure that I recover properly. Because you can only push your body to the limits of its performance if it is allowed to recover sufficiently. Rest periods and getting enough sleep are just as important as intensive training sessions in the gym or on the track. I also treat my muscles to ice baths immediately after training and regular massages for optimum recovery between training sessions.

How I discovered Roger

Through my partnership with Stadler Form, I became aware of a subject that I had paid very little attention to before: indoor air quality. The air indoors is often heavily polluted with dust, pollen, bacteria, viruses or even unpleasant smells – even where we are on the beautiful Bodensee. Those pollutants can also have an impact on your body. To aid my recovery and healthy sleep by providing clean indoor air, Stadler Form sent me one of their air purifiers called Roger. I thought «Hey cool, at last a product with a name instead of a number!». Roger has a Dual Filter: a combination of a HEPA filter and an activated carbon filter. The way the air purifier works is by taking in indoor air which is drawn through the filter, filtered and purified and then the clean air is released back into the room.

I came home from training one day at the beginning of April to find a cardboard box outside my front door. No sooner was Roger unpacked than he was ready for use: open the box, take Roger out, unpack the filters, insert the filters, remove the protective films, plug Roger in, switch him on – finished. When I was looking through the user manual, I came across some exciting functions. The one that really caught my eye was the WiFi function. I can use an app to switch Roger on and off while I am out and about, check the condition of the air and set Roger accordingly – it’s perfect to be able to switch him on while I’m out and then return home to clean air. Or I select continuous Auto mode and then he can make sure that the air is always clean himself. He has a very stylish design so he fits in perfectly in my living room and doesn’t stand out at all.

Putting Roger to the test in everyday life

I was somewhat sceptical to begin with, I must admit. In all my years as a professional athlete, I never felt as if the indoor air was affecting me or my body. I only became aware of air quality through friends who suffered badly with hay fever. However, I was very keen to find out about it for myself as any way of optimising the recovery phase could have a positive impact on my performance. So I set Roger up and put him in Auto mode. He started working hard right away – my indoor air was obviously more polluted than I had expected. After being on the highest setting for a short time, the little LED changed from red to orange: Roger got quieter and a few minutes later, I could hardly hear the air purifier at all. Then the LED changed to blue, indicating that the air was clean. So I left him running continuously in Auto mode for a couple of days and let Roger get on with it for a while.

When I returned home in the evening at the end of a long day and opened the windows, Roger would sometimes make himself heard. That was a bit strange at first: a housemate who is usually quiet making himself heard. After a week, I was convinced that there was more to the issue of polluted indoor air. When I was working from home or reading, I felt more comfortable and was able to concentrate for longer. It’s hard to describe but relaxing and being was somehow more pleasant – better.

After that, I wanted to test whether the air purifier could have a positive impact on my sleep too. Roger is not heavy and has a carry handle so you can move him around quickly and easily. When he was in the bedroom, I would switch Roger off when I went out. When I was on my way home from training or appointments, I would set him to full power via the app. The air would be filtered until I went to bed. You don’t actively notice the purified air but it definitely has an effect on your sleep: when you get up in the morning, you feel lighter and more refreshed.

The benefits of air purifier Roger

Wherever I put Roger, he improves my recovery. And the better my recovery, the more intensively I can train and utilise my full potential on the day. What I particularly like about Roger is that I don’t have to bother about the air purifier at all. He is performance-oriented and follows the settings I choose, either directly on the device or when I am out and about via the app – which is brilliant in my opinion. He flashes when he needs new filters, otherwise he works with real determination.

Roger filters coronaviruses*

Shortly before I finished writing this experience report, I found out the great news from the Stadler Form team that Roger and his two brothers had just passed a virus test carried out by an independent laboratory in England. The test proved that Roger can remove 99.3% of SARS-CoV-2 viruses from the air within just 60 minutes! Yet another reason to let Roger purify my indoor air on a daily basis: in order to reduce the risk of me becoming infected at home.

To sum up: Roger is and will remain my helpful housemate. He works away in the background, making a vital contribution towards my recovery phase. I can only recommend all athletes to look into the subject of indoor air and recovery. And an air purifier like Roger from Stadler Form can benefit non-athletes too and improve their well-being – especially during a pandemic.

Thank you very much to Kariem Hussein for this interesting experience report on air purifier Roger!

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^{*Addition inserted by Stadler Form}

^{Test results show that air purifier Roger from Stadler Form can remove 99.3% of living SARS-CoV-2 viruses** which cause COVID-19 from the air within 1 hour. An air purifier like Roger can help reduce the risk of viral infections and thus provide his family and anyone else in the house with the best possible protection against becoming infected with the coronavirus.}

^{**The reduction of the viruses was proven in the independent laboratory of Airmid in the UK. The air purifiers were tested for a period of 60 minutes in a test chamber with a volume of 28.5 m3. The MS2 virus used in the test is an RNA virus like the SARS-CoV-2 virus. Because of its aerosol properties similar to those of human viruses, its viability and its resistance to disinfection, the MS2 virus is often used in air purifier tests as a substitute for viruses with similar dimensions. With a diameter of approximately 25 nm, the MS2 virus is more than 4 times smaller than the SARS-CoV-2 virus which has a diameter of 120 nm. As proof was provided of the reduction of the smaller MS2 viruses, it can be concluded that the larger SARS-CoV-2 viruses would also be reduced at least to the same extent.}