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The cognitive costs of air pollution

patrickcollison.com

261–270 of 300 posts

Re: The cognitive costs of air pollution

#261

Earlier quoted context omitted.

CO2Meter AZ-0004 https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B001PDGFR8/

I own this one as well, it's supposed to be one of the more accurate models available for the price

Where did you get the information about this model being more accurate than other models in the same price range?

Re: The cognitive costs of air pollution

#262
Recent Radiolab podcast talks about the one and maybe only benefit of IQ testing is geographic screening of toxins. For example, lead paints and lead as a fuel additive cause over a large sample a cumulative drop in IQ of 4 points. The statistics actually were the way this negative health effect was discovered in 1979. Testing for lead in the body that has replaced calcium isn't otherwise easy test (requires bone sample, or cleverly, kids' baby teeth).

https://www.wnycstudios.org/podcasts/radiolab/articles/g-pro...

Re: The cognitive costs of air pollution

#263
post #147

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why is the first step to monitor it, not 'get a HEPA filter & fan / purifier'? Monitoring seems like it's interesting to do if you want to, but if you already know it's an issue, just start addressing it?

Yeah, I'm confused by all the comments saying this too, especially since those detectors are yet another nontrivial expense. If you know you're in a polluted environment, why would you need instrumentation before taking action? To me it's like getting blood work done before you err on the side of exercising.

If you're closing up your house to avoid outside air pollution, you will spike your CO2 levels.

You need to keep enough ventilation going to ensure you don't exceed 800ppm CO2.

You also need to monitor the PM2.5 levels to ensure your air purifier is working.

An air quality monitoring device is an essential piece of equipment for anyone.

Re: The cognitive costs of air pollution

#264

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Curious, did you notice the cognitive effect yourself?

No. But I do notice I think better when jogging - whether that is due to fresh air outside or increased blood flow, who knows. Probably both.

Perhaps you could use one of those blood oxygen saturation meters to find out what is going on.

Re: The cognitive costs of air pollution

#265

I think this is an important question to answer, but the shehab paper (the first link) provides vertically no useful information. They didn't blind the assessors carrying out the cognitive studies, which on its own invalidates their conclusion. They also didn't randomize the ordering, but appear to have "investigated for order effects", found "no statistically robust difference", then proceeded to have every particip…

Just want to say it's impossible to tell which paper you're referring to.

The first link on the page isn't a paper. The word shehab doesn't appear anywhere on the page. The word shehab doesn't appear anywhere in the first paper linked. The three quoted sentences / fragments you provide don't appear anywhere in the first paper linked. I opened some of the papers and didn't see any with n=30.

Re: The cognitive costs of air pollution

#266

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah, I'm confused by all the comments saying this too, especially since those detectors are yet another nontrivial expense. If you know you're in a polluted environment, why would you need instrumentation before taking action? To me it's like getting blood work done before you err on the side of exercising.

If you're closing up your house to avoid outside air pollution, you will spike your CO2 levels. You need to keep enough ventilation going to ensure you don't exceed 800ppm CO2. You also need to monitor the PM2.5 levels to ensure your air purifier is working. An air quality monitoring device is an essential piece of equipment for anyone.

> You also need to monitor the PM2.5 levels to ensure your air purifier is working.

But if you don't have an air purifier, and you're concerned about air quality, surely you want to get one before you start worrying about whether or not it's working?

Or both at the same time, sure, my only point is that if there's already concern I don't see the point in monitoring before or without mitigating.

Re: The cognitive costs of air pollution

#267
post #239

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And f) most passive house designs have humidity/mold issues down the road, unless proper and frequent maintenance is done. (I've read about passiv haus and similar a while back).

Mold is only an issue in hot climate. When it's never above 25C / 75F _and_ humidity is controlled, there is never any mold.

Cold climate, surely? Mold as a result of internal condensation?

Re: The cognitive costs of air pollution

#269

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Except these heat exchangers have two filters that need cleaning very 3 months and most people never do it, so they don't really function properly.

Is the 3 months interval a regional thing, or based on the heat exchanger? Mine have 1 year intervals, and with a subscription for filters it is easy to remember to change the filters

>Is the 3 months interval a regional thing, or based on the heat exchanger?

both. That is it varies between different units but also varies with local conditions, if your local conditions are "heavy-duty" (very high humidity, smog, area with lots of dust or lots of pollens etc.) you should consider replacing more frequently than rated intervals.

Re: The cognitive costs of air pollution

#270
post #239

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Mold is only an issue in hot climate. When it's never above 25C / 75F _and_ humidity is controlled, there is never any mold.

Never above 25C... so Iceland, Greenland and Svalbard? Actually not even those, they are pretty humid above 0 celzius

It's pretty rare for it to get above 25C where we live in Scotland - pretty sure it didn't get that warm at all this year.
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