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Air pollution reduces people’s ability to focus on everyday tasks, study finds (www.theguardian.com)

submitted 1 day ago by MicroWave to c/health

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Summary

A study in Nature Communications found that short-term exposure to air pollution, specifically particulate matter (PM), impairs selective attention and emotion recognition.

Researchers tested 26 participants before and after exposure to candle smoke or clean air, revealing increased distraction and difficulty recognizing emotions.

While working memory remained unaffected, findings suggest potential societal and economic impacts on productivity and education.

Given air pollution’s global health risks, researchers aim to identify key pollution sources, such as cooking or cleaning products, to inform future policies.

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[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago)

It doesn’t matter one’s rationale for doing the right thing, what matters is that one does the right thing. In this paper they show adverse cognitive effects via a Lung-Brain pathway, from PM exposure. If I put an HEPA filter in my office and only breathe clean air all day as a result, it should benefit my cognitive function. It doesn’t matter if I installed the filter due to COVID & respiratory illness concerns, or because Zeus said I should. I’ll still accrue the benefits to my cognitive health, AND prevent some number of respiratory infections. Of course in this study the right thing is obviously don’t irritate and inflame you lungs with PMs. Note: PMs in the article refers to Particulate Matter in 10nm and 2.5nm size. The smaller size gets deeper into the lungs and causes a chronic inflammatory response, which is believed to be the causal factor in the measured cognitive loss.