Bad air is one of the biggest threats to your health. Here’s how to protect yourself

There is something invisible It could put us in an early grave. And I’m not talking about conscious AI, but something more widespread and real. While AI pessimists anticipate the existential risk that AI poses to humanity, air pollution – specifically, ultrafine particles, PM 2.5 – has been an effective killer for decades. Many people don’t realize that there is a wealth of scientific evidence linking cardiovascular disease, diabetes, and brain damage to the growing list of grim health consequences of bad air.

According to the World Health Organization, air pollution caused 4.2 million premature deaths worldwide in 2019. As Trump’s EPA continues to roll back standards and deregulate industries that cause air pollution, the burden of maintaining a safe breathing environment increasingly falls on individuals. Fortunately, there are some steps you can take.

Turn back the clock

PM2.5, which is produced by forest fires, automobile exhaust, power plants and industries such as mining, enters the body through the nose and mouth through the simple process of breathing. Once PM 2.5 enters the body, it can enter the bloodstream and brain. The impact of air pollution on public health and life expectancy is nothing new. In 1970, 22 years after the deadly Donora smog accident killed 20 people and sickened more than 6,000 in western Pennsylvania, the Clean Air Act became federal law.

Earlier this year, the Trump administration rescinded the Biden administration’s new standards on air pollutants from taconite iron ore processing, exempting private sectors from compliance, saying: “Maintaining and enhancing domestic taconite processing capabilities…ensure [the] Resilience of US industrial supply chains.

Taconite iron ore processing produces a large amount of PM 2.5. The Trump White House also rescinded recent emissions standards for coal- and oil-fired electric steam, along with several other industries. As America’s commitment to reducing air pollution declines, there are devices and actions you can take to keep the air you breathe healthier, both indoors and outdoors.

It can cause heart disease

Courtesy of Kwai

When people think about high blood pressure, air pollution may not be what they imagine. Often times, stress, smoking, poor diet, or genetics may come to mind, but air pollution, PM 2.5, can cause and/or contribute to high blood pressure. “In general, air pollution can affect cardiovascular risk factors, blood sugar/diabetes, and blood pressure/hypertension,” says Jonathan Newman, MD, a cardiologist at New York University and an expert on the relationship between the environment and cardiovascular disease.

Invisible PM2.5 reaches the deepest part of the lungs, enters the tiny air sacs in the lung, where it passes through the barrier to enter the bloodstream. There, they can accumulate in the form of plaques on the walls of the arteries, which is known as atherosclerosis cardiovascular disease. According to Newman, “This generally occurs through direct effects of inflammation, neurohormonal effects, and direct particle effects.” PM2.5 reaction causes an imbalance with free radicals and antioxidants that puts stress on the body, causing inflammation and oxidative stress that leads to cell damage.

In other words, PM2.5 particles can wreak havoc at the molecular level. The World Health Organization recommends that average annual concentrations should not exceed 10 micrograms per cubic meter, with daily levels less than 20 micrograms per cubic meter. It’s hard to live by these guidelines. A study found that “more than 90 percent of the world’s population lives at PM 2.5 levels above WHO standards.” The cheapest and easiest protection is to use a well-made N95 face mask. I carry an N95 mask with me at all times, as I cannot predict whether a good air day will turn into a bad air night. The practice of carrying a mask ready to use is one way to control the air you breathe.

Photo: Lisa Wood Shapiro

3M

N95 particulate respirator

Diabetes can develop

Newman was one of the participants in a study last year that found that “exposure to air pollution is implicated in the onset and progression of diabetes. Increased exposure to fine particulate matter (PM 2.5) air pollution is associated with increases in blood glucose and all forms of diabetes.” The results are not new. In studies dating back to 1967, researchers found a link between high levels of PM 2.5 in ambient air (outdoor air) and increased deaths from diabetes. While there are other factors that contribute to diabetes, such as obesity and genetics, there is a link between inflammation caused by PM2.5 and diabetes.

It can hinder brain development

While respiratory disease has long been studied as a negative consequence of air pollution, recent studies show that it also affects the nervous system and brain development, linking PM 2.5 to stroke, changes in cognitive function, dementia, and psychiatric disorders. In particular, these micro- and ultrafine particles have a significant impact, as they can be absorbed into the bloodstream to reach the central nervous system.

How does this happen? One possible and terrifying way is through the olfactory nerve, the shortest nerve in your body, which enables us to smell. It travels from your brain to the upper inner part of your nose. To understand how something as small as PM 2.5 can cause inflammation, a 2022 study asserted that “PM 2.5 can pass through the blood and gas barrier of the lung, the ‘gut microbiota’ axis, and the brain to cause systemic oxidative stress and inflammation, or directly enter brain tissue.” via Olfactory nerve.” PM 2.5 accumulates and leads to oxidative stress (free radicals and antioxidants have an imbalance), where it can “cause systemic inflammation and brain tissue damage.”