Is Conference Room Air Making Us Dumber?

Post by ezoe » Thu, May 09, 2019, 1:46 AM UTC

solveit wrote: post #263

quibono wrote: post #242

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If it's not CO2 the real cause might be even more interesting, if a real negative effect does exist (which it seems to do, given the recent studies). I find it interesting that 1) they disagree based on the tests/methodology used 2) no one seems to be acknowledging the military research from back then (which I have to say, I didn't know about myself).

Re 2: Military research gets ignored all the time despite (because?) it often outpacing academia by decades. Not sure exactly why this happens, just wanted to note this phenomenon isn't specific to CO2 levels and cognition.

Post by ekianjo » Thu, May 09, 2019, 1:49 AM UTC

ezoe wrote: post #271

solveit wrote: post #263

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Re 2: Military research gets ignored all the time despite (because?) it often outpacing academia by decades. Not sure exactly why this happens, just wanted to note this phenomenon isn't specific to CO2 levels and cognition.

Maybe, Military has strong incentive to conclude that CO2 level not affecting the soldier's intellectual and physical activities so they don't need to spend extra cost for submarine to keep the CO2 level low.

Post by castratikron » Thu, May 09, 2019, 2:17 AM UTC

colechristensen wrote: post #210

castratikron wrote: post #111

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I monitored the CO2 in my bedroom every second for three months and I found results similar to you. If I was sitting right next to the sensor in the evening it would go up to about 1900 ppm. Cracking open the window for an hour or so eventually brought things down to the 500ppm range. What was interesting is how fast the ppm increases when someone enters the room. I would plot the data and see a blip on the graph whe…

I noticed the same when I am sitting near the sensor. I'm thinking though that it is partially due to me essentially breathing onto the sensor and the sensor dynamics having an averaging function so that I'm not sure what the sensor reports and what I breathe in are the same. Repositioning the sensor so it wasn't in the "line of sight" of my breath changed the readings significantly.

Post by banku_brougham » Thu, May 09, 2019, 2:52 AM UTC

Mistletoe wrote: post #5

I own a CO2 monitor and it is shocking how high it can get in a house with two people just existing. 800 ppm or more. Outside air is 410. In a car with air on recirculate, it was getting to >1220 ppm, a level that impairs decision making and lowers brain function. I try to drive with air on fresh from now on. I don’t doubt the air in our conference room with 20 people gets super high in CO2 as the meeting goes on, an…

Post by ggreer » Thu, May 09, 2019, 4:11 AM UTC

Tade0 wrote: post #262

ggreer wrote: post #240

If it is, it's not due to CO2. The US Navy's submarines are run with CO2 levels varying from 300-11,300ppm.[1] The military did plenty of studies in the 60s and 70s and failed to find significant cognitive effects in environments as high as 4% CO2.[2] > Thus, CO2 at 40,000 ppm for 2 weeks did not affect performance on multiple tests of cognitive function in physically fit young airmen, a population probably not unlik…

My take is that it's the oxygen level. A drop from the usual 21% to 19.5% is enough to have a significant effect. That's barely a few hours worth of breathing in a typical office setting.