Doing activities outdoors is a lifestyle that cannot be avoided by everyone. Every day, people have activities waiting outside, such as working, studying, refreshing or maybe visiting their favorite cafe to meet relatives. This causes the intensity of our bodies to be exposed to air pollution outdoors is quite high
Quoted from National Geographic, air pollution is a mixture of particles and gases that can reach harmful concentrations both outdoors and indoors. Examples of things that could be the cause of air pollution are soot, smoke, mold, pollen, methane, and carbon dioxide. We can imagine how dirty the air is outside, especially in the middle of a metropolitan city with a high level of pollution due to vehicles and factories that contribute to increasing O2 levels.
In 2019, iqair.com as a site that provides daily online pollution maps of major cities in the world, declared Indonesia in 6th place as the country with the worst air in the world with an average air quality index of 141 which considered as unhealthy ( 55.5 to 150.4 µg / m³ to be classified as such).
What is the impact of air pollution for the human body?
The World Health Organization (WHO) has mentioned that each year air pollution causes the death of millions of people around the world by contributing for one-third of deaths caused by strokes, lung cancer and heart disease. Why does this happen? Simply put, small substances (microscopic pollutants) that caused air pollution can pass through the human body’s defenses and then attack into the respiratory and circulatory systems and finally damage the work systems of important organs in the body such as the heart, lungs and brain.
The effects of air pollution cannot be ignored anymore. The fact that strokes, lung cancer and heart disease as the effects of air pollution is equivalent to being an active smoker is one example of the high levels of air pollution in the world today.
How to avoid exposure to air pollution outside the home?
The easiest way to avoid absorbing air pollution into our bodies through the respiratory system is to use a mask that is changed every 8 hours. Masks can reduce the entry of air pollution into the body.
Furthermore, the most important thing is to keep dirty air outside the house from getting into your room. Keep the air around you clean without any pollution, especially indoors such as cars and homes.
