InquilineKea Posted October 29, 2015 Report Share Posted October 29, 2015 To what extent do you go out of your way to avoid air pollution? Have you considered wearing P95 masks wherever you go? (esp. if riding on public transit, being near highways, or beng near construction sites?) Has anyone also considered getting a pollution sensor, like the TZOA (http://www.tzoa.com/#homepage )? It does seem that air pollution may have pretty nasty neurological effects - see https://www.quora.com/What-are-some-particularly-nasty-neurological-effects-of-air-pollution Though I wonder what degree of avoidance is prudent. I feel that the effects of pollution aren't high if you live in the Western world, but on the other hand, they may become important for maximizing one's chances at living to 110+ (in conjunction with other therapies, of course) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zeta Posted October 30, 2015 Report Share Posted October 30, 2015 I read the MIT study that came out a few months ago about significantly worse health outcomes associated with living within 200 meters of a highway. Scared the crap out of me, since there's Alzheimer's in my family (dementia was one of the biggest health risks linked to exposure to small particle pollution), and I live about 150 m from a major freeway. I have indeed considered getting a mask, and, more importantly, getting a home filter, but I haven't had time to do the needed research on either of those. (Have you? Have any recommendations?) I feel that the effects of pollution aren't high if you live in the Western world [...]. Well, what the MIT study (I think it was MIT - just googled and couldn't find it -- but others have come up with similar results) indicated was that the effects would be very high indeed for those near a freeway - and even worse than we thought with all those VW diesel engines out there. Zeta Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
InquilineKea Posted October 30, 2015 Author Report Share Posted October 30, 2015 I have disposable P95 particulate filter masks, but I would look weird wearing them all the time in public. The question is determining when is appropriate to wear them and when it isn't. Home filters could be an important investment, esp. given that air pollution levels in the home could be higher. http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/air-quality-in-bed-is-a-nightmare/could be important too Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Saul Posted November 1, 2015 Report Share Posted November 1, 2015 Hmmm .... Consider the problem of the growing levels of people (especially children) with allergies and asthma, in (relatively) unpolluted Western countries, such as the US. This was much less common when I was a child. It's been suggested that our overly clean houses may be partly to blame: Children going up in environments exposed to certain amounts (not excessive amounts) of some pollutants may be saved from developing allergies to them later. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zeta Posted November 2, 2015 Report Share Posted November 2, 2015 Saul, you're right about the risks of over-cleanliness for children, but for adults, I'd be worried about these pollutants/"germs". InquilineKea, the indoor pollutants I'm actually even more worried about are from the freeway nearby. Close your windows tightly: doesn't matter -- some studies show small particle levels are higher indoors than outdoors, on average, in buildings within around 200 m of a freeway. That's really disturbing. I'm on the leeward (~80% of the time) side of a very major freeway that's only around 150 m away. Thanks for getting me thinking about this again. Time to get a good indoor filter! A few hundred dollars is well worth it! Zeta Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sirtuin Posted November 2, 2015 Report Share Posted November 2, 2015 I'm often exposed to pretty poor air / water quality, living in an urban desert. I'm hoping this is some sort of hormetic stress, as it's not too easily avoidable. It'd be cool to grab an "Enivro-tracker", although I'm not sure if it's worth $140 to strap some bulky object on my shirt to quantify what I can already smell. It looks like it simply counts particles in the air, without too much analysis on what's in the air. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
InquilineKea Posted November 2, 2015 Author Report Share Posted November 2, 2015 It'd be cool to grab an "Enivro-tracker", although I'm not sure if it's worth $140 to strap some bulky object on my shirt to quantify what I can already smell. It looks like it simply counts particles in the air, without too much analysis on what's in the air. It would be cool to do analysis on what's in the air, but even most published research just counts particles in the air (though it might divide them into separate sizes). Not by chemical composition though (*that* is going to take *a lot* more research). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zeta Posted November 4, 2015 Report Share Posted November 4, 2015 Alex, or anyone: have you done research into which masks would be best for filtering out small particle pollution? Let's assume one doesn't mind looking a bit like a weirdo. I'd be using this for bike rides around the city, not while walking (when I'm not breathing as heavily, and typically wouldn't be as close to automobiles). Thanks. Zeta. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dean Pomerleau Posted November 5, 2015 Report Share Posted November 5, 2015 I live on a golf course in a very clean suburb of Pittsburgh, now a very clean city after all the steel factories shut down in the 1970s and 80s. So I don't worry too much about air quality except radon in my home (for which I have a remediation system). But for those who aren't so lucky, here is a product to consider. It measures fine particulate matter (PM2.5) in your home, and costs $200. I don't have one myself, but it was designed by former colleagues of mine at Carnegie Mellon University. It looks pretty cool, and has a smartphone app to go along with it: http://store.specksensor.com/products/speck --Dean Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zeta Posted November 6, 2015 Report Share Posted November 6, 2015 Dean, thanks for the tip. You're mindful of the chemicals sprayed on (almost all) golf courses, yes? Google around, if you haven't already, to get an idea of the risks. (Depends, of course, on many factors -- you may even live on a "green" golf course.) Zeta Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dean Pomerleau Posted November 6, 2015 Report Share Posted November 6, 2015 You're mindful of the chemicals sprayed on (almost all) golf courses, yes? Google around, if you haven't already, to get an idea of the risks. (Depends, of course, on many factors -- you may even live on a "green" golf course.) Zeta Yes, I'm aware of the negative environmental and health impact of golf courses. Fortunately I live in a wooded area between the 3rd hole and the 4th tee, so the spraying they do on the fairways isn't close to my house. --Dean Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zeta Posted November 20, 2015 Report Share Posted November 20, 2015 Dean, A belated thanks for the tip about the Speck. I'm becoming a health-tracking junky so I'm tempted to get it, but the price is a touch too high for it to feel warranted right now, not because knowing levels of indoor pollution wouldn't be worth $200, but because it's a very reasonable assumption that levels in my home are high, since the studies are clear: within 200 m or so of a major freeway, particulate matter is high - indoors and outdoors. So I'm going to put the $200 (or more, I suspect) towards a good indoor filter. Zeta Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dean Pomerleau Posted December 8, 2015 Report Share Posted December 8, 2015 [Note: This is a cross post from the Does the Obesity Epidemic have a Mysterious Cause thread, since it seems at least as relevant to the topic here as there. -Dean] In the midst of the worst bout of smog on record in Bejing, comes this article on what could be another "mysterious" source of obesity - air pollution. It discusses out some the evidence supporting a link between air pollution and obesity & type II diabetes. To quote from the article: [Researchers] examined the medical records of 62,000 people in Ontario, Canada over a 14-year period. He found that the risk of developing diabetes rose by about 11% for every 10 micrograms of fine particles in a cubic metre of air – a troubling statistic, considering that the pollution in some Asian cities can reach at least 500 micrograms per cubic metre of air. ... Controlling for other factors (such as wealth and diet), the children born in the most polluted areas were 2.3 times more likely to be considered obese, compared to those living in cleaner neighbourhoods. The researchers suggest that air pollution may cause and inflammatory response beginning the lungs, but spreading to become systemic, which in turn impairs insulin sensitivity and causes fat to accumulate in fat cells: Not only does that [inflammation] interfere with the tissue’s ability to respond to insulin; the subsequent inflammation may also interfere with the hormones and the brain processing that govern our appetite, says Michael Jerrett at the University of California, Berkeley. All of which knocks the body’s energy balance off-kilter, leading to a constellation of metabolic disorders, including diabetes and obesity, and cardiovascular problems such as hypertension. I'm fortunate to live in a quite rural area, but for those who are exposed to high levels of particulate matter in the air, it might be worth doing something about it - wearing a mask, getting an air filter, or moving! See this thread on avoiding air pollution for discussion. --Dean Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AlPater Posted December 8, 2015 Report Share Posted December 8, 2015 Dean, you say your area has okay air quality, but it might be useful to compare. The first below site also allows you to search for places. My home and home away from home seem okay. Alberni Elementary School is two blocks from the home where I spent most of the last thirteen years. http://aqicn.org/map/world/#@g/74.9821/-106.6832/2z http://aqicn.org/city/usa/pennsylvania/allegheny/lawrenceville/ http://aqicn.org/city/canada/saskatchewan/saskatoon/ http://aqicn.org/city/british-comlumbia/port-alberni-elementary/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dean Pomerleau Posted December 8, 2015 Report Share Posted December 8, 2015 Thanks Al, Unfortunately there don't appear to be any air quality monitoring stations on the map you pointed to within 15 miles of my house. --Dean Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.