Breathing dirty air causes stress hormones to spike, new research suggests, but air filters to boost indoor air quality can curb pollution's effects, according to an article on the Reuters website.
Researchers at Fudan University in Shanghai, China, looked at the health effects of particulate matter from industrial sources. The study included 55 healthy college students in Shanghai, a city with pollution levels in the middle range compared to other Chinese cities.
The study put working or non-working air purifiers in each student’s dorm and left them in place for nine days. Students’ levels of the stress hormones cortisol, cortisone, epinephrine and norepinephrine rose with dirtier air, the article said.
Blood sugar levels, amino acids, fatty acids and lipids were also elevated.
Air purification cut the amount of particulate matter students were exposed to in half, from 53 micrograms per cubic meter of air to 24.3 micrograms per cubic meter – still well above the World Health Organization’s Air Quality Guideline of 10 micrograms per cubic meter.
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