Air pollution has become a serious issue in the world, with 9 out of the top 10 most polluted cities in the world being in India.
Did you know, that air pollution in most of our Indian metro cities from October to June is on a daily basis typically between 8-20 times the upper allowed limit for safe air, as defined by World Health Organisation? More and more chronic disease is being linked to air pollution exposure. And the problem is not likely to go away.
I am not going to give you scientific data or scary statistics in this short writing, almost daily even our regular newspapers is full of those. I just want to give a short summary, and also look at some solutions. So read on!
We cannot control outdoor pollution, but indoor pollution we actually CAN control. Just like we cannot control the quality of water provided to us in our tap, we CAN control the quality of water we drink by using a water treatment system, and most of us do that.
Comparing air pollution to cigarette smoking equivalent is more vivid and meaningful to a layman, than citing the numbers of yearly deaths. A scientific study made year 2013 in Beijing, China concluded with a comparison on air pollution on a particularly bad day in Beijing (pm 2.5 above 350 which is not unusual peak pollution in our Indian metros) to smoking 1.5 cigarettes every hour (=25+ cigarettes equivalent per day). It may be noted that the air pollution in Mumbai, bangalore, delhi and most Indian metros would have a yearly average of above 80-100 pm 2.5 every day.
(see link: http://berkeleyearth.org/air-pollution-and-cigarette-equivalence/ )
What this means is the negative impact on such pollution levels is that we, our children, and our parents are exposed to air pollution and its negative impact conservatively equal smoking average 8-9 cigarettes per day. Compare this with the European average pollution levels of 1 cigarette equivalent per day. Bear in mind that Beijing or Mexico city no longer are the top polluted cities in the world. Nine out of ten most polluted cities in the world are now in India.
In a 2013 article Proceedings of National Academies of Sciences found that very small nano particles from air pollutants now are found in abundance in the brain, those having entered the brain through the nose and reaches the brain through the olfactory nerve (the nerve that carries the sensation of smell to your brain).
More and more evidence shows that the real damage of air pollution is at the heart and brain level. Not just lungs, as many people incorrectly perceive.
Read more on how toxic airpollution penetrates the brain in this excellent article: https://time.com/4480016/air-pollution-health-effects/
Here is another fact: indoor pollution is a far greater problem than outdoor pollution. Reason for this is not only that air recirculate in AC environment, but there are constant emissions indoors from wallpaints, furniture, mattresses, pillows, curtains, plastic articles, etc that emits toxic fumes and gases, plus of course also the air contaminants coming from the outdoor air. An average adult spends nearly all time sleeping (indoors in AC), office, and in their car. Probably most of us spend 20 or more hours per day indoors, unless you are a construction worker, a farmer, or a postman delivering news papers.
Did you know that increased risk of stroke and heart disease are the biggest fatalities due to air pollution. The link below downloads a PDF file from the WHO website showing a clear correlation…
What can we individually do about this? On a macro level nothing. It will take years or decades for politicians and environmentalists to reverse air pollution and until such time it’s likely to get even worse. So, as far as out door pollution is concerned, there is nothing we can do to escape it.
However, ONE thing we can do to escape the horrific effects of air pollution, is to CONTROL the indoor pollution of at least our bedrooms where we spend probably 1/3 of our lives, through usage of an advanced indoor air purifier.
However, its important to choose the right one as the cheaper models available often has nearly no actual impact. I recommend a unit that can clean very fine particles far smaller than the standard PM2.5, there are very few models available that actually can do this, though most of them claim 99% removal of so and so, those claims are usually not verifiable.
My family is for the last several years using indoor air purifiers in our bedroom, office and even our car, and as a result have pristine clean air exposure at least 12-18 hours per day. With PM2.5 levels below 5 (this is way below the WHO safe limit of 10) as opposed to pm2.5 levels above 80-100 not using it.
Air pollution is a SERIOUS problem. And its NOT going away. Most people are aware of this but not sure what to do about it.
We all know the importance of using a quality water filter for our daily drinking water. Why not also consider cleaning the indoor air we are constantly breathing?
As one of my friends who is in expert in this field once stated: either get a filter, or become a filter!!!.
The only good news about air pollution, is that at least indoors it’s in your hands to control it.
