Disorientation at home caused by poor ventilation

For 18 months now I’ve been getting this “oxygen hunger”, coupled with disorientation when at home. It’d just suddenly hit me for a while.

It seems like poor ventilation caused this.

Causing poor ventilation

1. I caused poor ventilation after watching a video where it’s shown that you can turn a screw on the side of the window to make it seal better against the window frame. It’s sometimes called “window winter mode”. This made it easier to keep heat in the home, but also cuts off fresh air supply. I turned it all the way to max sealing on every window.

2. Some of the windows had trickle vents at the top. The trickle vents were closed as well, using a special lever built into the vent for this purpose. The balcony door also had its trickle vent blocked off by a mosquito net door that was installed much later than the door itself.

Symptoms of poor ventilation

1. There had been some mildew problems in the bathroom
2. If you put your hand against the vent in the bathroom, it’s bad if you feel air coming inside. I live in an apartment building that implements the “gravitational ventilation” scheme, and in it the air should move out of the vents.
3. The disorientation symptom that I began with.

Fixing things

1. I turned the side screw on all windows and balcony doors to 50%. So not “winter-mode” and not “summer-mode”.
2. I unlocked the trickle vents, so that they can regulate airflow on their own. I also put a plastic cylinder inbetween the mosquito net door and the glass balcony door, so the mosquito net door is slightly open, allowing air into the trickle vent.
3. Sometimes I turn the window handles 50% of the way, so that they are in “gap mode”, where they let in more air through the seals.

Summary

It’s been 3 days with the changes mentioned above and I didn’t get the sudden disorientation symptom the past 3 days.