Air pollution has a lot of negative effects on our health. From our immune system to our mental health – all these aspects might be affected by poor air quality. But how does air pollution affect mental health? Find out by reading this article.
- How are air pollution and mental health connected?
- Air pollution and mental health – how to alleviate the negative effects?
- The takeaway
How are air pollution and mental health connected?
While usually we associate air pollution with more physical issues, such as problems with breathing, it might also have an effect on our mental state. This is due to the fact that the chemicals that we breathe in react with our brains. As a result, we might suffer from several mental illnesses, such as:
- Anxiety,
- Depression,
- Dementia,
- Alzheimer’s.
It is worth noting that many of these illnesses are among the civilization diseases. After all, our current lifestyle is strongly connected with large agglomerations – places where air pollution is the highest. This makes it even more crucial to find solutions to poor air quality and fight it off effectively.
Air pollution and mental health – how to alleviate the negative effects?
The best solution is to reduce air pollution itself. It is possible by combining analysis with air purification. The former might be done by installing air quality monitors in your community. These devices will provide you with key data about the levels of particular pollutants. As a result, you will be able to apply air purifying methods and monitor their efficiency.
Improving the air quality might be done in different ways. You might, for example, get air purifying plants to fight-off air pollution on a smaller scale – in your household. Another option are air purifiers – special devices designed to eliminate chemicals from air and reduce the amount of allergens in it. These are only some of the options to increase the air quality around you and reduce the effects of air pollution on your mental health – try combining different ones to have the best possible result.
The takeaway
Air pollution has many effects on our mental health – it causes mental problems and diseases, from anxiety to dementia. Therefore, it is important to counter these detrimental out-turns – for instance by improving the air quality in our neighborhood.
This may also interest you: 9 steps you can take to reduce air pollution.