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Depression and suicide linked to air pollution in new global study

theguardian.com

51–60 of 204 posts

Re: Depression and suicide linked to air pollution in new global study

#51
post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Making the air smell like ozone means it’s probably doing something unhelpful/actively harmful in addition to filtering. Did it have an ionizer or similar?

No, it’s a Blue Air so doesn’t include an ionizer, it just when HEPA filter.

Where is the ozone coming from then? Something doesn't seem right.

Re: Depression and suicide linked to air pollution in new global study

#52
post #8

I live in Northern India which has heavy air pollution. I recently bought an air purifier. Just the difference in the quality of sleep is amazing. And it is not a placebo effect. The filters are already visibly grimy. The PM 2.5 consistently now is around mid 20s down from around 180-190. I would recommend it to all in North India who can afford it, esp households with small children.

Are you sure? We had one of the bigger Blue Airs (605) in Beijing and I didn’t like using it at all. When it was a 150-200 day, I would just run it before sleep with the windows closed. On worse days, we ran it all night, but it was loud and made the air smell like ozone, giving me a headache. I’m so glad I live in the Seattle area now and can open the window at night.

You'll be getting a headache from the excess CO2 buildup with the windows closed. If you want to effectively control and monitor indoor pollutants, you also need to buy a CO2+PM2.5 portable monitor. They cost about $80 on Aliexpress.

Re: Depression and suicide linked to air pollution in new global study

#53

Air pollution linked to overpopulation. Overpopulation linked to high birth rates. So, in conclusion : Depression and suicide linked to high birth rates

You didn't go far enough:

Air pollution linked to overpopulation. Overpopulation linked to high birth rates. High birth rates linked to sex. So in conclusion: Celibacy cures depression and suicide.

Of course, why stop there? We could keep going deeper.

Re: Depression and suicide linked to air pollution in new global study

#54
post #4

The causal relationship seems like a stretch here. I highly doubt reducing air pollution will cure anyone’s depression. That said, it has other value in signally regions of high air pollution are regions of higher proportional depression. Areas of high pollution are less desirable to live in. If you live right next to a highway, garbage dump or power plant, your property value is going to be lower. (I must admit, I’m…

> If you live right next to a highway, garbage dump or power plant

In cities like London most of the city is like that. probably same as L.A. or New york, the whole place is next to a highway + powerplant + garbage dump

Re: Depression and suicide linked to air pollution in new global study

#55
Nothing was more depressing than growing up in LA in the 1970s, lungs hurting, and 30% of PE classes cancelled because of smog. I remember looking at the sickly yellow light casting this disgusting puce sheen on the asphalt. The city was all I knew, and I hated it. Once a year we would go up to the Eastern Sierra and I felt released, natural, like this was how the world should be. Returning home to the smog and traffic was a depressogenic gutpunch.

Re: Depression and suicide linked to air pollution in new global study

#56

I can't find the link to the actual study. What I'd like to know is whether there was any research into the actual causal relationships (such as the other study that was linked with pollution particles found in brains), or if it was just statistical correlation between places with high pollution and places with high levels of depression and suicide. If the latter, it could well be a spurious correlation (e.g. polluti…

https://ehp.niehs.nih.gov/doi/10.1289/EHP4595

Re: Depression and suicide linked to air pollution in new global study

#58

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's a lot harder to test without administering the subject in question because there are far more variables to control than (mostly) just A/B. HVAC may confound the study by removing the actual responsible substances, for example, if "air pollution" is not solely the cause.

Isn't removing the "actual responsible substances" from the air removing air pollutants?

The trick is to adjust only the parameter you were targeting. Say you also change temperature and humidity and they are the real culprits, or big contributors. This is why the unethical method would be more precise because conceivably it's easier to introduce specific pollutants in the experiment.

Of course this would be irresponsible so I'm hoping that by combining data from multiple studies and getting a better grip on how to control the test environment to selectively adjust (remove) only the studied parameters (pollutants) we can still get a good idea of what's happening.

Re: Depression and suicide linked to air pollution in new global study

#60
post #7

> The results show strong correlations, but research that would prove a causal link is difficult because ethical experiments cannot deliberately expose people to harm. This is kind of my hobby horse: you don't need to subject people to harm to test causuality. You can do the opposite: Remove harm and see what happens. Maybe give people free HVAC upgrades to filter more particles.

Or, like, reduce air pollution since in addition to this possibility it's already known to cause asthma, lung cancer, and heart disease.
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