How does indoor air affect health?
How does city air affect health?
The ones that need oxygen the most are:
In our difficult time of stress, heavy loads, and constantly deteriorating environmental conditions, the quality of the air we breathe is of particular importance. The quality of air and its effect on our health directly depends on the amount of oxygen in it. But it is constantly changing.
We will tell you about the state of the air in big cities, about the harmful substances that pollute it, about the effect of air on health and the human body on our website www.rasteniya-lecarstvennie.ru.
About 30% of urban residents have health problems, and one of the main reasons for this is air with low oxygen content. To determine the level of oxygen saturation in the blood, you need to measure it using a special device - a pulse oximeter.
People with lung disease simply need to have such a device in order to determine in time that they need medical help.
How does indoor air affect health?
As we have already said, the oxygen content in the air we breathe is constantly changing. For example, on the sea coast its amount averages 21.9%. The volume of oxygen in a large city is already 20.8%. And even less indoors, since the already insufficient amount of oxygen is reduced due to the breathing of people in the room.
Inside residential and public buildings, even very small sources of pollution create high concentrations of it, since the volume of air there is small.
Modern man spends most of his time indoors. Therefore, even a small amount of toxic substances (for example, polluted air from the street, finishing polymer materials, incomplete combustion of household gas) can affect its health and performance.
In addition, an atmosphere with toxic substances affects a person, combined with other factors: air temperature, humidity, background radioactivity, etc. If hygienic and sanitary requirements are not met (ventilation, wet cleaning, ionization, air conditioning), the internal environment of rooms where people are located can become hazardous to health.
Also, the chemical composition of the indoor air atmosphere significantly depends on the quality of the surrounding atmospheric air. Dust, exhaust gases, toxic substances located outside penetrate into the room.
To protect yourself from this, you should use an air conditioning, ionization, and purification system to purify the atmosphere of enclosed spaces. Carry out wet cleaning more often, do not use cheap materials that are hazardous to health when finishing.
How does city air affect health?
Human health is greatly affected by the large amount of harmful substances in urban air. It contains a large amount of carbon monoxide (CO) - up to 80%, which “provides” us with motor vehicles. This harmful substance is very insidious, odorless, colorless and very poisonous.
Carbon monoxide, entering the lungs, binds to hemoglobin in the blood, interferes with the supply of oxygen to tissues and organs, causing oxygen starvation, and weakens thought processes. Sometimes it can cause loss of consciousness, and with strong concentration, it can cause death.
In addition to carbon monoxide, city air contains approximately 15 other substances hazardous to health. Among them are acetaldehyde, benzene, cadmium, and nickel. The urban atmosphere also contains selenium, zinc, copper, lead, and styrene. High concentrations of formaldehyde, acrolein, xylene, and toluene. Their danger is such that the human body only accumulates these harmful substances, which is why their concentration increases. After some time, they already become dangerous to humans.
These harmful chemicals are often responsible for hypertension, coronary heart disease, and kidney failure. There is also a high concentration of harmful substances around industrial enterprises, plants, and factories. Studies have proven that half of the exacerbation of chronic diseases of people living near enterprises is caused by bad, dirty air.
The situation is much better in rural areas, “dormitory urban areas”, where there are no nearby enterprises or power plants, and there is also a low concentration of vehicles.
Residents of large cities are saved by powerful air conditioners that clean the air masses of dust, dirt, and soot. But you should know that when passing through the filter, the cooling-heating system also cleanses the air of useful ions. Therefore, as an addition to the air conditioner, you should have an ionizer.
The ones that need oxygen the most are:
* Children, they need twice as much as adults.
* Pregnant women - they spend oxygen on themselves and on the unborn child.
* Elderly people and people with poor health. They need oxygen to improve their well-being and prevent exacerbation of diseases.
* Athletes need oxygen to enhance physical activity and accelerate muscle recovery after sports activities.
* For schoolchildren, students, everyone who is engaged in mental work to increase concentration and reduce fatigue.
The influence of air on the human body is obvious. Favorable air conditions are the most important factor in maintaining human health and performance. Therefore, try to ensure the best indoor air purification. Also, try to leave the city as soon as possible. Go to the forest, to a pond, walk in parks and squares.
Breathe the clean, healing air you need to maintain your health. Be healthy!
Svetlana, www.rasteniya-lecarstvennie.ru
To assess the impact of environmental pollution on human health, it is necessary to consider in detail the main aspects of this problem.
Even ancient scientists and thinkers, for example, Hippocrates and Avicenna, emphasized the influence of the environment on the development of diseases. They argued that the state of the human body is influenced by food, air, water, and emotional state. According to research, more than 80% of diseases are caused by these reasons. Unfortunately, this knowledge has not led to respect for the environment.
Too late we realized that environmental pollution and human health are interconnected. Now we have begun to take environmental problems seriously when they have become rampant and the impact of the environment has become negative.
A person confidently transforms the environment, creating comfortable conditions for himself. Transport, industry, and agriculture are developing. In the process of economic activity, tons of waste are released into the airspace and water. They pollute the human environment, creating discomfort and a threat to the health of humans and other organisms.
Thus a paradox arises. Human actions aimed at improving living conditions simultaneously worsen them. We pollute the air, water and soil, transforming the environment. And the influence of the environment becomes more threatening every year, negatively affecting the human body. This phenomenon is called the “ecological boomerang”.
Let's consider how environmental pollution affects human health, how it affects the biochemical processes of our body.
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Major air pollutants
A person cannot help but breathe. He does this continuously. The influence of the environment and its components on a person manifests itself every minute when he passes ambient air through his lungs. When we are born, we take our first breath, and before we die, we take our last breath. When breathing stops, life stops. We inhale the air around us, assimilating the oxygen and some other substances contained in it.
The composition of this air is very different from what existed 100 years ago. This is due to the rapid development of factories and factories. Tons of substances are emitted into the air that are either foreign to the atmosphere or violate the percentage ratio of the components of the air mass.
2/3 of pollution comes from vehicle emissions. Combustion products of leaded gasoline, which contain lead and other heavy metals.
According to statistics, on average, one passenger car emits about one kilogram of various toxic and carcinogenic substances into the atmosphere per day.
The danger comes from emissions from thermal power plants, metallurgical and chemical plants.
The consequences of pollution on the human body are difficult to ignore. Diseases caused by environmental pollution are a serious problem and need to be addressed urgently.
They cause an increase in cancer and lead to allergic reactions. The immune system is severely affected. It has been observed that in cities with a polluted atmosphere, during influenza epidemics, there is a threefold increase in the incidence rate. At the same time, in more environmentally friendly areas, during an epidemic, people get the flu only 20% more often.
Sensitivity to air pollution depends on a person's age. The “risk group” includes children from 3 to 6 years old and elderly people over 60 years old. The polluted atmosphere has a stronger impact on them than on other age categories.
Harmful emissions enter the environment every day and almost constantly from various enterprises
Drastic measures must be taken to stop this pollution. It is worth thinking about alternative, cleaner energy sources. It is necessary to more actively use solar energy, as well as wind energy, ebbs and flows. With the strictest observance of safety measures, the use of nuclear energy has a positive effect.
You should also strictly monitor the amount of emissions when operating vehicles. Or switch to bicycles. After all, this is an excellent simulator and does not produce emissions.
The automotive industry should develop electric vehicles. In metallurgy, emphasis should also be placed on the use of electric furnaces.
Impact of water pollution
If we consider what substances are contained in the human body, then more than half of it consists of water, which affects the biochemical processes of the body. We get water from the environment and actively use it: we drink, cook with it, and wash. We not only consume water in its pure form, but also receive it through food and inhale water vapor along with air.
But, unfortunately, the quality of consumed water is getting worse every year. 80-90 percent of tap water does not meet sanitary standards. Even if we take water from a well, it is not always clean. Although the quality of groundwater is higher than that of open reservoirs. This water passes through sand, clay, stones, as if through a filter system. But such cleaning is not able to remove all harmful substances.
Wastewater from industrial enterprises ends up in the ground and water bodies. Oil leaks periodically occur in the oceans, polluting the water. Precipitation in the form of rain and snow falls along with atmospheric pollution and enters the soil and groundwater.
Waste from human activity and industrial enterprises releases hazardous substances into the environment, which leads to a shortage of clean drinking water on a planetary scale.
Research has established that tons of harmful substances enter the water. There end up petroleum products, heavy metals, nitrates, sulfates, nitrites and other impurities associated with environmental pollution.
The impact of environmental pollution on humans is more significant than it might seem at first glance. Even a small concentration of harmful substances in water can lead to catastrophic consequences. Harmful substances, the percentage of which in water is small, enter the body of the inhabitants of water bodies, for example, plankton. There they gradually accumulate. Their concentration in plankton significantly exceeds the impurity content in water. Fish eat plankton, and fish are caught and eaten by humans, who are at the top of the food chain. And the percentage of this substance that gets into its tissues is several thousand times higher than it was originally in the water.
A boy swims in the polluted waters of Manila Bay
We see that in the biological food chain, those at the top are at greatest risk of contamination. And the main “superpredator” of our planet, which suffers more than other organisms from polluted water, is humans. The impact of environmental pollution on humans is greater than on other living beings. Over the years of life, a huge amount of harmful elements accumulates in his body. Their concentration eventually reaches sizes that pose a serious danger to his health and life.
The concentration of isotopes contained in sea water is 20-40 thousand times lower than in the human body. Although they get there from sea water.
Soil pollution
Soil pollution also has a negative impact on humans.
Wastewater entering the soil and rapidly growing landfills of household waste are all sources of soil pollution.
We should also not forget about agricultural activities. All kinds of chemical fertilizers, herbicides, and pesticides that enter the soil contain chemicals that have a harmful effect on humans. And they enter our body with grown vegetables, grains and fruits. We also consume these substances through the meat of herbivores that have eaten poisoned plants.
All this affects us and our children. From an early age they begin to suffer from diseases that in the past were characteristic of older people.
Environmental pollution and human health
Back in the 80s of the last century, studies were conducted that took into account the dependence of human health on various factors. They found that the well-being of the population depends on the state of medical care by 10%, on genetic predisposition by 20%, and 50% of our health is determined by lifestyle. The impact of the environment on human health was estimated at 20%.
Repeated studies have shown that these indicators tend to change significantly. The importance of medicine is reduced to 5%, lifestyle – to 25%. At the same time, the environmental factor increases to 40 percent. Thus, environmental pollution and human health are much more closely linked today than they were three decades ago. And the question arises, what future awaits us? And do we have a future?
Think about tomorrow today
Environmental problems have risen to their full potential. If man's influence on nature has led to an environmental disaster, then he must find the strength to stop the uncontrolled pollution of the environment. Otherwise, humanity is threatened with degradation and extinction.
It is necessary to take urgent measures to improve the environment. This is the only way we can save our Earth from the gradual extinction of living organisms and its transformation into a desert. After all, man is the crown of nature. And only he is able to correct the situation, turning the planet into a cozy and flourishing oasis.
What is the impact of air pollution on humans, you will learn from this article.
Air pollution and human health
Scientists have conducted numerous studies that have confirmed the relationship between diseases and air pollution. Every day, mixtures of different pollutants are thrown into it. The harmful effects of air pollution on human health were first discovered in London in 1952.
Every person is affected differently by air pollution. Factors taken into account include age, lung capacity, health status and time spent in the environment. Large particles of pollutants negatively affect the upper respiratory tract, and small particles can penetrate into the alveoli of the lungs and small airways
A person exposed to air pollutants may experience long-term and short-term effects. It all depends on the influencing factors. But, one way or another, this leads to heart disease, lung disease and stroke.
Symptoms of diseases associated with air pollution are phlegm production, chronic cough, lung infections, heart attack, lung cancer, heart disease.
Also, emissions of pollutants into the air from vehicles affect fetal growth retardation in a pregnant woman and cause premature birth.
How does ozone affect health?
Ozone, which is an integral part of the atmosphere, also affects humans. US researchers claim that changes in ozone concentrations in the atmosphere in summer lead to increased mortality rates.
There are 3 factors that determine the response to ozone exposure:
- Concentration: The higher the ozone level, the more people suffer from it.
- Duration: Long-term exposure has a strong negative effect on the lungs.
- Volume of air inhaled: Increased human activity contributes to a greater negative effect on the lungs.
Symptoms of the influence of ozone on health are irritation and inflammation of the lungs, a feeling of tightness in the chest, and coughing. As soon as its effect stops, the symptoms disappear.
How do particulate matter affect health?
Fine particles released into the air quickly affect the lungs, as they penetrate the alveoli and small airways. They damage them irreversibly. Also, a distinctive feature of fine particles is that they can remain suspended in the air for a long time and be transported over long distances. In addition, they enter the blood and affect the heart.
Polluted atmospheric air affects human health and the natural environment, slowly gradually destroying various life support systems of the body. Thus, sulfur dioxide, combining with moisture, forms sulfuric acid, which destroys the lung tissue of humans and animals. Dust containing silicon dioxide causes a serious lung disease - silicosis. Nitrogen oxides irritate and, in severe cases, corrode mucous membranes, such as the eyes, lungs, participate in the formation of toxic mists, etc. They are especially dangerous if they are contained in polluted air together with sulfur dioxide and other toxic compounds. In these cases, even at low concentrations of pollutants, a synergistic effect occurs, i.e., an increase in the toxicity of the entire gaseous mixture. The effect of carbon monoxide (carbon monoxide) on the human body is widely known. In acute poisoning, general weakness, dizziness, nausea, drowsiness, loss of consciousness appear, and death is possible (Even after 3-7 days). However, due to the low concentration of CO in the atmospheric air, it, as a rule, does not cause mass poisoning, although it is very dangerous for people suffering from anemia and cardiovascular diseases. Among suspended solid particles, the most dangerous are particles smaller than 5 microns in size, which can penetrate the lymph nodes, linger in the alveoli of the lungs and clog the mucous membranes.
Very unfavorable consequences, which can affect a huge period of time, are also associated with such insignificant emissions as lead, phosphorus, cadmium, arsenic, cobalt, etc. They inhibit the hematopoietic system, cause cancer, reduce the body’s resistance to infections, etc. d. Dust containing lead and mercury compounds has mutagenic properties and causes genetic changes in the cells of the body. The consequences of exposure to the human body from harmful substances contained in car exhaust gases are very serious and have a wide range of effects from coughing to death.
Benzene is a potential cancer causative agent. High concentrations of benzene can be found in urban air and can increase the incidence of cancer. Detection of this source is difficult due to the significant role of other sources of benzene in humans, such as tobacco smoke. Another aromatic compound present in high concentrations in gasoline is toluene (C6H5CH3). Toluene is less likely than benzene to cause cancer, but it has a number of undesirable qualities. Perhaps most important is its reaction to form a PAN-type compound, peroxybenzyl nitrate, which is a potential eye irritant.
Table 1 - The influence of car exhaust gases on human health
|
HARMFUL SUBSTANCES |
CONSEQUENCES OF IMPACT ON THE HUMAN BODY |
|
Carbon monoxide |
Interferes with the blood's absorption of oxygen, which impairs thinking ability, slows reflexes, causes drowsiness and can cause loss of consciousness and death. |
|
Nitric oxide |
Affects the circulatory, nervous and genitourinary systems: probably causes a decrease in mental abilities in children, deposited in bones and other tissues, therefore dangerous for a long time |
|
Irritates the mucous membrane of the respiratory system, causes coughing, disrupts lung function; reduces resistance to colds; can aggravate chronic heart diseases, as well as cause asthma and bronchitis. |
Whether in the form of solid particles or as a solution in precipitation. Such secondary pollution of vegetation and water has a noticeable impact on the state. The detrimental effect of “acid rain” on aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems has already been mentioned. As a result of the disappearance or severe suppression of the vital activity of many species of animals and plants in these ecosystems, their ability to self-purify, that is, to bind and neutralize harmful impurities, is sharply reduced. Bringing them back to normal existence becomes a very difficult task.
For terrestrial ecosystems, the effect of absorption of pollutants by vegetation directly from the air through foliage or root systems through the soil is equally detrimental. At low concentrations of pollutants, forest ecosystems successfully neutralize and bind them. Some pollutants, to which plants are less sensitive than animals, may even improve plant health by suppressing pests. But this is rarely observed under natural conditions, since real pollution almost always contains more substances that suppress photosynthesis and plant growth, reducing their resistance to fungal and viral diseases and damage by insects.
The most sensitive organisms to pollution are: lichens, and a decrease in their numbers or disappearance always indicates the disadvantage of forest vegetation, and therefore the entire ecosystem. A method for determining the general contamination of an area by taking into account the number and species diversity of lichens - lichen indication- one of the most sensitive in the arsenal of environmental monitoring.
In areas under the maximum influence of air emissions from large industrial centers, forests often find themselves in such a depressed state that natural regeneration ceases, the ability of ecosystems to purify the air sharply decreases, and this leads to an increase in the harmful effects of industrial emissions on animals and humans.
Impact of pollution on people
The impact of air pollution on human health can be direct And indirect. Directly related to the impact on the human body of particles and gases inhaled in the air. Most of these pollutants cause irritation of the respiratory tract, a decrease in resistance to airborne infections (remember regular flu epidemics in large cities, where, along with a high frequency of contacts between people, as many studies have shown, resistance to such infections in the majority of the population is reduced), an increase in the likelihood cancer and disorders of the hereditary system, which leads to an increase in the frequency of deformities and a general deterioration in the condition of the offspring.
Many pollutants have simultaneously carcinogenic(causing cancer) and mutagenic(causing an increase in the frequency of mutations, including disorders leading to deformities) properties, since the mechanism of their action is associated with violations of the DNA structure or cellular mechanisms of genetic implementation. Such properties are possessed by both radioactive contamination and many organic chemicals - products of incomplete combustion of fuel, pesticides used to protect plants in agriculture, and many intermediate products of organic synthesis, partially lost in production processes.
Indirect influence, that is, exposure through soil, vegetation and water, is due to the fact that the same substances enter the body of animals and humans not only through the respiratory tract, but also with food and water. At the same time, the area of their influence can expand significantly. For example, toxic chemicals preserved in vegetables and fruits in dangerous quantities affect not only the population of rural areas, but also city residents who eat these products.
The danger of uncontrolled use of pesticides is also increased by the fact that the products of their metabolism in the soil sometimes turn out to be more toxic than the preparations themselves used in the fields.
Clean air, preventing anthropogenic pollution from entering the air environment is one of the most important tasks, the solution of which is necessary to improve the ecological state of the planet and each country. Unfortunately, the work being done in this direction is insufficient - the level of air pollution on Earth continues to increase. The possibilities for a normal life for future generations largely depend on how effectively government services and public organizations can reduce air pollution, especially in large cities.
The natural, background level of dust particles and gas impurities in the air from natural sources in cities and industrial areas is sometimes many times higher than emissions from enterprises and transport. Part of the emissions consists of chemicals new to nature, some of which are highly toxic.
Forest ecosystems are the most effective natural filter that purifies the air, but with high levels of pollution they are suppressed or die. Pollutants carried from the air or washed from plant foliage by precipitation enter the soil and water, causing harmful effects on people and ecosystems over large areas.
The strategy and tactics for combating air pollution require improvement, since transboundary transport can only be eliminated or compensated for by the concerted efforts of many countries.
One of the most dangerous components of air pollution of anthropogenic origin has become in recent decades numerous pesticides, many thousands of tons of which are sprayed annually over agricultural land to protect plants from pests and diseases. Their high toxicity to humans and animals, the gradual accumulation of pesticides themselves and the toxic products of their metabolism in soils, agricultural products, and in the human body require an early transition from mass chemicalization of agriculture to the development of biological and combined methods of plant protection and increasing soil fertility.
The concerted efforts of many countries to reduce pollution in the air environment that does not have state borders is an urgent need today.