Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

High air pollution could diminish exercise benefits by half – study

scienceclock.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

41–50 of 81 posts

Re: High air pollution could diminish exercise benefits by half – study

#41

Post by labcomputer »

djtango wrote: post #39
potato3732842 wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The measurement may very well be accurate but statements like that should set off massive red flags and not be taken at face value. A factor of ten difference for something that just kinda diffuses through the air doesn't "just exist". You don't get gradients like that "naturally" for the most part. It's the result of something. Maybe there's a source something is upwind of and something else is downwind of. Maybe th…

Doesn't it really depend? Like I recall Oxford Street in London at one point was notoriously bad because it was a bottleneck for a lot of slow moving traffic so that one length of road was especially bad. 10x bad I don't know... But it's not hard to imagine some of the quieter roads filtering off like Berwick St or Dean St would be considerably better

Slow moving traffic at one intersection and free flowing traffic at another could easily account for a 10x ratio of particulate pollution, especially in European capitals where diesels are prevalent.

But a 10x ratio on the same road is also plausible if the Google car is following a large truck on one pass and then driving by itself on the second.

Re: High air pollution could diminish exercise benefits by half – study

#42

Post by PaulKeeble »

Almost all of the problem is PM2.5 but its not the only pollution problem. For PM2.5 a simple N95/FFP2 mask will drop the particles you breath in to basically zero and remove the health consequences of them and as we saw in 2020-2021 you can happily run in them they don't restrict breathing much at all. You do not have to put up with the damage from polluted air alongside the exercise.

Re: High air pollution could diminish exercise benefits by half – study

#43

Post by xeromal »

merryocha wrote: post #36

I wish more people paid attention to air quality. I'm a delivery driver and air quality has a noticeable effect on my energy levels throughout the day and also my mood. Slightly rainy days are probably my favorite days to work because no one is outside digging up roads and kicking up tire dust with leaf blowers and the rain seems to clean the air a bit.

As a motorcycle rider, it's always very noticeable. The stale air from the helmet coupled with the shit shit air from outside makes me very sleepy and you can develop a sore throat in a few hours

Re: High air pollution could diminish exercise benefits by half – study

#44

Post by lm28469 »

adrianN wrote: post #6
bluesky19283746 wrote: post #2

It sounds terrible . What will happend in the future?! The research doesn't differentiate between seasons , and every one knows how polluted the air is in the winter when everyone is heating their home and apartament.

In the future electric cars and heat pumps will improve the situation.

When everyone on this planet want to live like the average European or American heat pumps and EVs won't save you from pollution

Re: High air pollution could diminish exercise benefits by half – study

#45

Post by lm28469 »

colinb wrote: post #4
bluesky19283746 wrote: post #2

It sounds terrible . What will happend in the future?! The research doesn't differentiate between seasons , and every one knows how polluted the air is in the winter when everyone is heating their home and apartament.

One more reason to look to an electrically heated future. Where I live the air becomes unpleasant in winter as some neighbours heat their homes by burning what i can only assume are old tires and horse carcasses.

Burning clean dry wood in a modern well maintained wood stove is surprisingly efficient and relatively clean (+ renewable)

Of course if you burn trash none of that matters, but it's already illegal in pretty much any advanced societies.

Re: High air pollution could diminish exercise benefits by half – study

#46

Post by ck2 »

I am hoping by the end of the decade smartphones start having pm2.5 and co2 sensors built-in

and then next decade smartwatches

Once EVERYONE starts seeing air-quality on their phones every hour of the day everywhere they are, they will start to care and then eventually, maybe do something about the politics to improve air-quality

Imagine the game-changer if air-quality was in the next iPhone

They already make sensors that can go on a keyring so inside a phone is not implausible within a few years

Re: High air pollution could diminish exercise benefits by half – study

#47

Post by homebrewer »

ck2 wrote: post #46

I am hoping by the end of the decade smartphones start having pm2.5 and co2 sensors built-in and then next decade smartwatches Once EVERYONE starts seeing air-quality on their phones every hour of the day everywhere they are, they will start to care and then eventually, maybe do something about the politics to improve air-quality Imagine the game-changer if air-quality was in the next iPhone They already make sensors…

I doubt it, maybe in rich countries where the air is already pretty good. There are enough places out there (mine included) where you can see and feel air pollution without using any sensors: limited visibility on the order of a few dozen meters, smell of burning coal and rubber tires in the air, windows blackened by soot. Everybody knows how terrible the air is, talks about it daily, and can't actually do anything about it.

I've been advocating for closed windows and increased use of air purifiers and FFP3/N99 respirators, and had some limited success among people I know. People are often easily convinced once they see the state of their filter or respirator after a few days of use.

Re: High air pollution could diminish exercise benefits by half – study

#48

Post by dahart »

ck2 wrote: post #46

I am hoping by the end of the decade smartphones start having pm2.5 and co2 sensors built-in and then next decade smartwatches Once EVERYONE starts seeing air-quality on their phones every hour of the day everywhere they are, they will start to care and then eventually, maybe do something about the politics to improve air-quality Imagine the game-changer if air-quality was in the next iPhone They already make sensors…

Yeah it’d be cool if the phones had sensors. Everyone can see local AQI already though; weather app has AQI, and you can tap on it for a local region map, as well as a table of pollutant details.

Re: High air pollution could diminish exercise benefits by half – study

#49

Post by [deleted] »

PaulKeeble wrote: post #42

Almost all of the problem is PM2.5 but its not the only pollution problem. For PM2.5 a simple N95/FFP2 mask will drop the particles you breath in to basically zero and remove the health consequences of them and as we saw in 2020-2021 you can happily run in them they don't restrict breathing much at all. You do not have to put up with the damage from polluted air alongside the exercise.

[deleted]

Re: High air pollution could diminish exercise benefits by half – study

#50

Post by homebrewer »

PaulKeeble wrote: post #42

Almost all of the problem is PM2.5 but its not the only pollution problem. For PM2.5 a simple N95/FFP2 mask will drop the particles you breath in to basically zero and remove the health consequences of them and as we saw in 2020-2021 you can happily run in them they don't restrict breathing much at all. You do not have to put up with the damage from polluted air alongside the exercise.

Respirators can't do anything about volatile components that have low boiling points: sulfur and nitrogen oxides, hundreds of often carcinogenic aromatic hydrocarbons released by burning any organic matter. If you wear a good FFP3 respirator in heavily polluted air, it's very noticeable that it doesn't filter out everything — the smell gets through. And it's a specific smell, reminds me of walking through charred ruins of a building that has burned down 5-10 years ago and never rebuilt.
Post reply on HN