Tag: Prevention

3 REASONS WHY it would have paid for you to get a mask a 6 months ago

Wearing masks might be the new normal today, but did you know that you should have had one months ago? Believe it or not, masks are a must-have for most people, especially since we deal with pollution and other harmful substances that can affect our lungs every day. It might not seem like it, but prolonged exposure to these things and unhealthy habits can have severe effects later on in our lives.

For you to understand the importance of masks, here are three reasons why you need one:

  1. Cleaner Lungs

The common answer for using masks is so that you can protect your lungs and breathe in clean and filtered air. You can avoid a stuffy nose caused by allergens such as pollen or dust. You can also prevent dry coughs by minimizing the risks of getting a cold during the changing of seasons. Another important factor is that filtered air can also shield you from various substances and conditions that will cause lung damage. These can include the following:

  • Smoking – Cigarette smoke produces toxic substances that can cause lung damage because it triggers inflammation and destroys air passages and air sacs, as stated by the Lung Health Institute.
  • Household Substances – From VOCs, radon to asbestos and mold, there are several materials that can be found in homes that can lead to lung damage.
  • Pollution – It can be indoor or outdoor pollution and consistently breathing in these air pollutants can cause lung inflammation, and in worst cases, lung damage.

  1. Comfortability

Who doesn’t want to be comfortable anywhere and at any place? By wearing masks with a high quality filter, you’ll have safety assurance since you would be able to protect your lungs from any toxic and harmful substances or viruses. These days, various masks are used to safeguard people from the spread of the coronavirus and other airborne diseases. Not to mention also that during traffic pollution, you can minimize the risks by wearing masks. For those who drive motorbikes, you are more prone to air pollutants caused by traffic congestion. Thus, it is always better to regularly wear your mask as you travel.

  1. Long-Term Illness Prevention

Air pollution is something that can be hard to escape. Regardless of where you live, it is all around us. According to WHO , “microscopic pollutants in the air can slip past our body’s defenses, penetrating deep into our respiratory and circulatory system, damaging our lungs, heart and brain.” This is why at least 2.5 million people worldwide die each year from the long-term health effects caused by exposure to air pollution, as stated by National Geographic. Because of deadly lung diseases, heart disease, cancer, and other respiratory diseases, air pollution shouldn’t be taken lightly. For these reasons, you can see how crucial it is to wear a mask. This will help reduce exposure to all these pollutants and prevent any prolonged effects.

If you consider all these three reasons, masks are definitely something you need for a lifetime. As much as possible, avoid inhaling substances that can cause damage to your health. As they say, it is better to be safe than sorry. 

How I Improved My Breathing In One Week (Outdoors Pt. 2)

Outdoor Air Pollution

Prevention

Check before you go out. Outdoors, avoid high density zones of air pollution. You can look up PM2.5 readings in certain areas using websites like aqicn.org or airvisual. To protect yourself against outdoor air pollution, it is most important to filter the air you breathe. Especially people with weaker immune systems need to be wary of what type of air they’re breathing.

Around 55% of our global population lives in urban areas. This means that we are often surrounded by less green, more construction, and more accelerating vehicles. Most of the time pollution is generated by numerous sources in various areas. Industrial factories, construction zones, and polluting vehicles all generate poor air quality. Fire zones are more likely to have poor air. Cranbrook Fire Zone shifting between medium and high danger levels ...The zone usually depends on dryness, but that qualifies where the fires may start. Once a fire has started, the pollution depends on the wind speed and direction. Look at 1 example of how coal plants spread their pollution.

A shape drawn around the exact location of burning can be drawn to inform people if the particles they breathe in that zone are unusually high.

A fire zone’s danger for our lungs is dependent on what is burning, and how the burning affects the surrounding area.

Dense areas (which cause traffic jams and idling)

can also be terrible areas for air pollution.

    1. Intersections
    2. Cross roads

      The panels show concentrations for NO2 (a), NOx (b) and PM10 (c).
      The panels show concentrations for NO2 (a), NOx (b) and PM10 (c).
    3. Near large roads

If you live near any of the above you might have noticed that opening your windows doesn’t get you much fresh air. Instead you see your levels rising because of the idling or accelerating vehicles. Having a purifier, keeping it on, and keeping windows closed during rush hours will be your best

  1. Construction zones
  2. Industrial zones where factories and other pollution generators are located

Different types of materials burning can be worse for you:

  1. Plastic
  2. Wood or Flora and Fauna, also can be a source of heat
  3. Waste (a mix of everything we throw away)
  4. Chemicals like Plastic and Rubber
    1. PETE or PET
    2. HDPE
    3. BOA
    4. Phthalates
    5. Persistent organic pollutants
    6. Oil
    7. Toxic metals
  5. MISC (polycarbonate, polylactide, acrylic, acrylonitrile butadiene, styrene, fiberglass, and nylon)

Types of Pollution

  • Gasses
  • Carbon Dioxide
  • Combustion
  • Vapor

Color of Pollutants

White smoke = wet, moisture
Gray smoke = wood or light plastics
Brown smoke = wood
Black smoke = heavy fuels (petroleum based: plastics, rubber, chemicals)
Blue smoke = oil from old vehicles

Wind Movement

Horizontal or Vertical movement of wind carrying pollution.

  1. Atmospheric pressure. As heat is created on the earth’s surface during the day, the air expands and rises.
  2. Transport winds moves smoke quickly away from the source. Dispersion levels can differ depending on wind
  3. Low dispersion usually occurs at night when wind is stagnant. This is because the mixing height of air as hot air rises reduces in temperature.
  4. Measures to prevent burning during hours that have direct effects on large numbers of people can cause drastic pollution levels.
  5. We predict wind direction and the height of the atmosphere using weather balloons which report back temperature, pressure and GPS coordinates
  6. Places have high concentrations of particles when they are near traffic lights: where vehicles accelerate the most: traffic lights or busy and dense intersection.

Wearing a Mask

In many polluted places, it is suggested to wear a high quality pollution mask. Masks can be uncomfortable to wear at first, but the benefits of filtering the air you breathe far outweigh the negative effects of PM2.5 particles and gasses entering your lungs. If you’ve ever been on a motorcycle in heavy traffic, you already know what kind of exhaust and dust you can inhale. If you’re used to being in a closed vehicle like a car, a small car purifier might be the option for you. We suggest getting a mask with high quality filters and the ability to reuse the mask instead of disposing the whole mask. This is to reduce waste. Most of our masks have replaceable filters that can be removed and replaced when the filtration material has filled up.

Studies show that Indoor air pollution causes more deaths than outdoor air pollution. We spend most of our time indoors, and many people (especially in developing countries) still cook using open flame coal. However, being careful with the air we breathe and filtering the air that enters our lungs is the main way to prevent air pollution from causing respiratory problems.

Conclusion

Of course, prevention is the key to pollution. Education is the most important thing of all. In many places people simply don’t know the science that explains harming our bodies and atmosphere. The fact that we have come so far, burning almost everything to dispose of it worldwide, is alarming. We need to remember that with every action we take we can either improve our environment or drastically change it for the worse. If you would like to learn how to teach people how to reduce their environment applicable in different cultures, please take a look at this article on what poor people cannot afford to realize.

See how we can protect ourselves indoors.