That's Why We Should Worry About Air Pollution

Unbeknownst to most people, air pollution is one of the major public health risks globally. Even in countries within Europe, where air quality is improved significantly. It is a day-to-day problem in many urban centers. And this is something that people only really realize when they see bulletins on the news, and there's a major smog at the South going on. But we have to get across the message that this happens every day, day in, day out.

This isn't a problem which is confined to Western countries. In fact, it's a problem that Western countries have been struggling with for many many years, but across the world. Now other cities as they develop and become megacities have got bigger and bigger problems with air quality. Polluted air problem is now visible and people can see this is a big problem.

Air Pollution In London

Thinking back to London in the 1950s, we could see air pollution then and we've improved things an awful lot since then. There's a lot convert that can be learned in London, elsewhere in the world.  Collaborative research between countries in the in Europe in the UK for example, and also in Asia, is very important for a number of reasons. 

Every city and country has its own unique characteristics. We have to understand these to be able to conduct effective research. But also, London has a lot to give to the rest of the world in terms of experience.

London Air Pollution History Make Benefits

We've been struggling with air pollution problems for many many years. And we can give this experience, the benefit of this experience to other countries like Delhi, Hong Kong, Beijing, who are now just coming to terms that they need to do something about this air pollution issue.

The levels of air pollution that we breathe every day depends on where we are and what we're doing, but also what the weather's like. So within a city, most of the pollution comes from cars. So the closer you are to roads, the higher levels of pollution you'll be breathing. But then there are industrial sources and even farming has sources of air pollution.

Weather Impact on Air Pollution

The weather also has a very big impact on how the pollution disperses once it's been emitted from those sources. And this is why some cities have more problems than others. Not necessarily how much pollution they create, but that how that pollution is blown away into the surrounding countryside.

Health Effects of Air Pollution on Humans

Getting across the risks of air pollution can be quite challenging because it's something that's invisible. Both in terms of the actual risk itself, but also in the harm. It's not like being run over by a car. So we need to look very carefully at what health impacts are caused by air pollution and what is caused by other factors such as smoking or nutrition. But we do know with increasing evidence and certainty that air pollution affects your cardiovascular system and a heart attack.

Polluted air affects your respiratory system and there are also thoughts that it may affect cognitive function and how we think and how we age. And all of these effects accumulative over a lifetime. It's very important when you're looking at the health impacts of air pollution to try and understand what is actually driving those health effects.

Outdoor Air Quality Monitoring System

Today we have some a network of monitors throughout London which on a day to day basis record air pollution levels of a wide variety of sorts. The monitors let us know whether air pollution is getting better or worse. And whether particularly interventions to improve a mission, such as cleaner buses, or low emission zones are having an impact.

But we're really interested in the personal health of people. And new technology these days allows us to give individuals air pollution monitors to see what they're actually breathing and how this affects their health on a day-to-day basis.

We're relatively lucky in London that we have some monitoring sites which have a very complex set of equipment such as Melbourne Road. This allows us to really understand in detail what's going on in the atmosphere.

This is important to monitor over a long period of time because of the impacts of the weather and other ways that we try and improve air quality. And we have different types of equipment which tell us all about the composition of pollution in the atmosphere. Some of these are gases, some of these are particles of different size and different compositions. And this allows us to separate out all the different kinds of pollution in the city. 

We've just started some very exciting research where for the first time we can give members of the public who suffer from respiratory disease. Their own personal pollution monitor for a very long period of time up to six months. When we record every minute their whole environment and the aim here is to understand what it is that they're doing whether they're cooking, whether they're out traveling on a bus or in a car, and relate those activities to their respiratory health. And then we can provide them with advice and everyone else with advice on how to reduce their risk.

The underlying aim of all of our research is to improve public health and like all other public health risks we need to engage with people and change behavior in some way. Or at least make policies more acceptable to them when politicians propose them.

Polluted Air Monitoring Device As a Warner

So, getting across this kind of information about air quality on a day-to-day and a year-to-year basis, in a way that the public can understand is extremely important. And a lot of our monitors and our activities, try and achieve this and even give warning to people when we think there's going to be a major pollution episode. So they can prepare for that.

The other aspect of it is actually providing strong robust evidence of the health impacts of air pollution. On individuals and that may be people with existing to get a disease like heart disease, or respiratory disease, or maybe young people ( other vulnerable people ). And to be able to identify what the cause of air pollution is amongst all of the other things that they do in their everyday lives is what we need this very detailed personal information form.

Much of the research on air pollution around the world focus on outdoor air quality which is extremely important. We've course spent much of our time indoors as well. By giving people a monitor of their own we can see as they move indoors and outdoors and go about their lives. How important, sources endure of air pollution are relative to sources of air pollution outdoor for instance cooking, or stoves, or heating.

But this is especially important in some developing countries where they're still using solid fuel for cooking. And this is a major global health risk and something that really has to be tackled across these countries as more and more people move to cities. And they become more and more densely populated buildings are getting taller and taller, and people are living higher and higher above the ground.

We have research ongoing in Hong Kong which is renowned as a vertical city. Looking at how pollution levels disperse as you move upwards. People live well above the street in those areas and we want to understand how pollution enters their homes and affects their health, even though they're way up in the sky.

One of the challenges of air pollution is a public health risk, is that it's not necessarily the people who are creating the pollution. That are the ones that are suffering the harmful effects of it.

Over the last five years or so, the awareness of air pollution issues in the UK has become much higher. there's a much greater public interest in this as a subject. Consequently, the politicians have become more aware of it and now making serious commitment to try and improve air quality.

This is something that needs to be reflected around the world in different countries and it's something that the public needs to demand improved air quality is important to their health.

Conclusion for This Air Pollution Problem

Air pollution in many ways is a complex subject area, but the basics of it are quite simple. If you're aware of the sources of pollution in your neighborhood then you know how to avoid them. For example traffic on your commute to work, you can avoid those busiest roads if you're cycling or walk. And walk down quieter, safer and more pleasant routes. 

There are now tools increasingly coming out around the world where people can look and see a forecast of air quality. So they can take action, an action such as carrying their inhaler if they have asthma or other respiratory problems.

However, avoiding air pollution isn't going to solve the problem. And there are actions that we can also take. Choices we could make to improve air quality. 

For example what car you decide to purchase, what fuel type it is whether, it's electric diesel or petrol. What mode of transport we take, active travel such as walking and cycling not only means that you're producing less pollution, and means you're exposed to less pollution, also means your fitness improves. So there's three benefits from one simple step.

Symbiosis Between Polluted Air, Health, And Tech Development

Air pollution has lots of effects. But I think the thing we worry about most is the shortening of life and reducing people's life expectancy. 

40 years ago we were thinking about this issue and began what was called a six-city study. And that study showed that people living in more polluted cities had the shorter life expectancy, who increased respiratory problems, but also through increased heart attacks, increased strokes.

As air quality has gotten better in those communities, we've seen that those people are living longer and have better health. 

Air pollution comes from combustion and we're burning fuels for produce energy, to produce heat, to drive our cars, all the things we think about in terms of our day to day life contribute to this.

An air potion is not independent of global warming issues. The same sources that are contributing to global warming are also causing air pollution in this country and in developing countries.

When you think about the need for increased electricity, cooking women being exposed, their children being exposed, heating using wood crop residues, dung, even automobiles congestion, building up in these developing countries needing to increase exposures. That we see in the news all the time now.

We have seen improvements in air quality over the past 40 years in the United States and Europe. And other developed countries too. This has been due to controls on automobile emissions, reductions in emissions from power plants, and other industries in increased fuel efficiency. And as air pollution gets better, even at these very low levels we have currently. 

We can see improvements in health in terms of extended life expectancy, reduced asthma attacks, reduced hospital admissions. That's it. We must take some action if we want to make our air fresh again.

Bathing With Cold Water Can Improve Our Health?

If you follow any productivity gurus, you've probably heard that you need to take cold showers in the morning. After all, not only will they wake you right up, but you're also promised a myriad of health benefits and everybody loves a good health.

Lifehack (whether these claims are actually true), it's still kind of a gray area. And also I have to say as someone who grew up in Florida and now lives in Montana. A cold shower is different depending on where you live. So, before you jump into that agonizingly cold shower, let's take a look at summer research.

One of the biggest problems with studying cold showers is that well people really haven't instead most health claims are implied. From studies of cryotherapy using cold water or air to treat a condition, or from things like people who repeatedly go swimming in cold water. But cryotherapy is really carefully controlled and those swimmers often stay in the water for over an hour. So it's hard to apply to your quick rinse before work. 

Still, that doesn't mean that there's zero evidence for cold showers because there is. It's just not very strong like take the claim that people make that those showers improve your immune system.

In 2016, a study published in PLoS ONE wanted to see if taking a quick cold shower in the morning would reduce the number of sick days someone took from work for 30 straight days. More than 2300 subjects took either a warm shower or a warm shower that turned cold for 30, 60, or 90 seconds at the end on average subjects. In all three of the cold shower, groups called into work 29% less than the warm shower group, roughly the same as one less sick day per month. But we don't know why since the research team didn't measure any biological markers.

Many of the participants didn't say that they felt an increase in energy and continued taking the cold showers after the experiment. But that's not enough to close the case. It's possible that their white blood cell count increased like what's been shown to happen with cold water swimmers. But again, a 90-second  rinse is a lot different from an hour in the water. Many people also swear that cold showers can boost mood. But the results there are maybe even weaker.

A 2008 study and medical hypothesis get referenced a lot as evidence for cold showers as an anti-depressive. But it's not really all that convincing, they hypothesized that cold water would activate your sympathetic nervous system. 

The system that does things like increase your heart rate and stimulate the release of endorphins which would elevate your mood. But it only had three data points, one of which was the author of the paper and none of them had symptoms that would diagnosed them with depression. Plus the biological markers, they expected to change were never actually measured. So really, we don't have any results to go off of to be fair.

The author did mention that in the paper, but at last the blogosphere still holds on to that antidepressant claim even though the article wasn't all that powerful. The thing here is you can't placebo a cold shower. You know, if you're getting one so it seems like maybe cold showers, get a lot more credit than they deserve based on the evidence that currently exists. 

A short one probably won't hurt you, but hey, let's do more research before we start making claims about reality and our bodies. Seriously, if you're looking for a research project, this sounds like a good one to try out. Couldn't be that expensive? It's cold water so even though cold showers might not be the key to making you more productive.

Thanks for reading my post. Don't forget to share this useful information to your friends, your family, your student. And also, share this to your social media like facebook, twitter, Instagram, etc. And bye :D

Blood Glucose Level: Normal For Healthy And How To Maintain It

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Most of us understand the importance of a normal blood glucose level. If our blood glucose level goes very low, we might become unconscious. If our blood glucose level goes very high, we develop a problem called diabetes. Now, diabetes is a serious problem. It can cause damage to the larger blood vessels in our body. 

Diabetic patients have a very high incidence of heart attack, stroke, as well as amputation. But diabetes can also cause problems to the very small blood vessels in the body. So-called microvascular problems resulting in damage to the retina. Diabetics have a high instance of blindness. It can also cause problems with the very small blood vessels supplying the kidney. So diabetics have a high incidence of kidney failure.

What exactly is a normal blood glucose level or to put it in terms?

Let's use some ingredients as examples. Prepare a container containing 5 liters of water. Why must 5 liters? The reason is that the average person has about five liters of blood circulating around the body.

And also a container of glucose, a white crystalline powder, and you might be surprised to know that the amount of glucose that we would need to add to the container to give a similar concentration of glucose in our blood is only one teaspoon.

In fact, it's slightly less. It's about 4.5 grams. So, here's the glucose and if we add that to that container, the concentration in there is approximately the same as the blood glucose level in our blood right now. Now if we were to add another teaspoon full, the concentration of glucose now in that water is that of a diabetic.

So as you can see (if you also do that while reading this post), the blood glucose level is very tightly controlled and the difference between a normal blood glucose and that of a diabetic person is only an additional one teaspoon full of glucose. Quite surprising, really? 

How do we maintain normal blood glucose levels during the course of the day?

Many people are advised to eat small frequent meals throughout the day consisting or having as part of that meal, or snack a complex carbohydrate which releases glucose very slowly into the bloodstream. 

In fact, Professor Tim Noakes in his excellent book "The Real Meal Revolution" has suggested that actually there's no requirement for us to eat carbohydrates at all. And certainly, the liver has an amazing ability to manufacture glucose should it be required. 

Certainly, for people with type 2 diabetes, in which the main problem is too much glucose in the bloodstream, many experts believe that the way to tackle this issue is to eat meals which have a restricted amount of carbohydrate within them. 

Because all carbohydrates when they're eaten are digested and they have to enter the bloodstream as glucose, and as you can see it doesn't take very much glucose entering the bloodstream to turn a normal blood glucose level into that of a diabetic. So it seems sensible if you have a risk of diabetes, then to restrict the amount of carbohydrate that you're eating. 

We don't need there's no essential requirement for carbohydrates in fact. We can exist very happily with proteins and fats we don't actually need to eat carbohydrates. And as we know, the liver has an ability to manufacture glucose and release it into the bloodstream a process called near gluconeogenesis. 

So that's a normal blood glucose level, only one teaspoon in five liters gives a concentration of glucose which is equivalent to that of a normal person. It doesn't take very much more to tip one into a high blood glucose level the same as that of a diabetic, and so for those who are at risk of developing type 2 diabetes - in fact, some would say - for all of us. It's sensible to restrict the number of carbohydrates that we eat.

The Facts And The Myth About Flu Shots And Influenza Vaccine You Should Know

Everyone agrees that the flu is dangerous. And then last winter alone, over 80,000 Americans died from them. That's the highest in a decade. Wow.

Welcome to the Wednesday post. And now, Healthy Course Today will share about The Facts And The Myth About Flu And Influenza Vaccine You Should Know. I know this can be a polarizing topic but let's get through it together. Here's the list of white, everyone young or old should be getting the flu shot every year.

1. The flu shot is our most effective way of preventing the flu. And trust me you don't want the flu. body, aches, nausea, vomiting, high fevers, fatigue. keep in mind that also means missing school work and sometimes it takes patients weeks to recover from this.

2. The flu shot decreases the likelihood of developing complications from the virus. It's the complications that can kill. 

3. By you getting the flu shot you're supporting herd immunity. Essentially limiting the spread of the virus. The people who are most susceptible to the flu, the young, the old, those with weakened immune systems, they need you to get your flu shot to help protect them. By you getting a flu shot, you could be saving a life. 

And I also want to debunk the myths I hear most often when it comes to the flu shot.

1. One the flu shot is ineffective at preventing them. That is untrue. Yes, it's not a hundred percent effective. This is because we have to predict what the flu strain is gonna look like in February for flu season in September. But having the flu shot even 50% effective is still better than nothing. Here's something that not a lot of people talk about. If you get your flu shot every year consecutively, you actually get a better result from each of those flu shots.

2. You can get the flu from the flu vaccine. This is completely untrue. The flu vaccine is an inactivated virus. It physically can transmit the virus to you. If you got sick after getting the vaccine, you were gonna get sick anyway. It's the most common time of year to get the flu and remember, it takes a week or two for the flu vaccine to give you that protection.

3. By taking antibiotics I'll feel better quicker. That's not true. It's actually the opposite. Antibiotics work on bacteria, not viruses. By taking antibiotics when they're not necessary, you can create a whole host of other problems. Finally, I'll leave you off with a couple of interesting facts about the flu.

You could actually spread the flu before you have symptoms. Germs have to hang time. So if someone walks into a room, sneezes without covering their mouth, you walk in after them, you're gonna get hit in the face with those germs. 

I know many of you want to be proactive and keep your immune system and tip-top shape ready to fight off any virus that comes along. Thanks for reading this article. If you have any recommendations for topics or questions about something we talked about, jump into the comment section and as always stay happy and healthy.