{"id":393,"date":"2018-11-18T15:25:44","date_gmt":"2018-11-18T15:25:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/smartairfilters.com\/mn\/?p=393"},"modified":"2019-06-01T06:43:35","modified_gmt":"2019-06-01T06:43:35","slug":"protect-from-air-pollution-polluted-city","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/smartairfilters.com\/mn\/en\/blog\/protect-from-air-pollution-polluted-city\/","title":{"rendered":"Protect yourself from cities with bad air pollution: A Beginner\u2019s Guide"},"content":{"rendered":"

So you\u2019ve arrived to a polluted city\u2013Beijing or Bangalore, Delhi or Shanghai. What can you do to keep air pollution from trimming years off your life?<\/span><\/p>\n

When I moved to China in 2007, I wasn\u2019t a dummy. I was a college grad, and I knew about air pollution. But I knew almost nothing about protecting myself from air pollution.<\/span><\/p>\n

Since then, I\u2019ve spent ten years researching\u00a0<\/span>whether masks actually work<\/span><\/a>, building\u00a0<\/span>my own purifiers<\/span><\/a>, and\u00a0<\/span>testing<\/a><\/span>\u00a0<\/span>them against the expensive imports. I\u2019ve learned a lot about the effects of air pollution, and how to survive the smog. I\u2019ll spare you the decade of research so that, in just minutes, you can equip yourself with the four most important tips I\u2019ve learned about staying safe in the world\u2019s most polluted cities. Then you can spend the rest of your time thinking about things other than air quality and air pollution.<\/span><\/p>\n

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1.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0The Health Effects of Air Pollution<\/span><\/strong><\/h3>\n

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\"The<\/p>\n

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Bad air quality effects wages war on even young, healthy people\u2019s bodies a lot faster (even without noticeable symptoms) and at a lot lower levels than I had ever imagined.<\/p>\n

When I look at small particulate (PM2.5) air pollution readings, I sometimes see warnings like this one for Beijing:\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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\"Beijing<\/p>\n

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\u201cUnhealthy for sensitive groups?\u201d Well, I\u2019m not a \u201csensitive group.\u201d I\u2019m young. I\u2019m healthy. So I don\u2019t need to worry. Plus, I\u2019m usually only in those polluted cities in China or India for a few months. I\u2019m probably fine.<\/p>\n

Then I saw\u00a0<\/span>this air pollution study<\/a>. Researchers gave real or fake air purifiers to 35 healthy college students in Shanghai \u2014 a top polluted city \u2014 and tested their blood.<\/p>\n

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\"Effects<\/p>\n

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After just 48 hours, the students who were breathing Shanghai pollution had a war going on in their blood and the health effects of air pollution were obvious\u2014their bodies were raging with inflammation, their blood pressure was up, their blood vessels were constricting, and their blood was preparing to form blood clots.<\/p>\n

Yet the students breathing clean, purified air had significantly less damage in their body. For example, they had less inflammation.<\/p>\n

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\"air<\/p>\n

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And they had less constriction in their blood vessels.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Another crazy thing about that study is that its biggest effects weren\u2019t in people\u2019s lungs. It was in their blood and inflammation throughout their body. It\u2019s clear, using an air purifier reduced the impacts of air pollution on people\u2019s health.<\/p>\n

This hits on an important fact I discovered. Air pollution doesn\u2019t kill like we think it does. When the World Health Organization tallied up air pollution deaths per year, they found that lung cancer only\u00a0<\/span>accounted for 14%<\/a>. Other lung problems like bronchitis were another 14%. So what\u2019s the other 72%\u2014the large majority of air pollution deaths? Heart attacks and strokes. It comes from that war air pollution plays in our heart and blood vessels.<\/p>\n

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But wait, the media always reports on those scary air pollution days when the air outside looks like the end of the world \u2013 but those are pretty rare \u2013 and they\u2019re just talking about one of the most polluted cities like Beijing, Delhi, Shanghai or Mumbai. The air quality isn\u2019t normally that bad, right?<\/span><\/p>\n

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What\u2019s more, Air quality in smoggy cities like\u00a0Beijing has gotten better<\/a>\u00a0in recent years.<\/span><\/section>\n<\/section>\n<\/section>\n
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All true. But the more studies I read, the more I\u2019m convinced that there\u2019s no safe level for PM2.5 air quality levels. For example, scientists used statistics to best estimate of how many people\u00a0die each year from air pollution<\/a>, at different levels of PM2.5 air pollution.<\/section>\n<\/section>\n<\/section>\n

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\"Statistics<\/p>\n

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Take a look at the black line showing total worldwide deaths each year from air pollution. It goes up pretty fast. Even at 25 micrograms, it\u2019s up pretty high. Now here\u2019s where 2017\u2014Beijing\u2019s best year on record\u2014falls on that graph.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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\"Statistics<\/p>\n

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This is what all that air pollution facts mean to me: air pollution is waging war on our bodies, even if we don\u2019t have obvious symptoms, even if we\u2019re young and healthy, and even if it\u2019s at levels far below the ones that make the news. If you\u2019re in virtually\u00a0<\/span>any city in China<\/a>, or\u00a0<\/span>any city in India<\/a>, you\u2019re breathing air that is killing people and you need to protect yourself from this harmful air pollution.<\/span><\/p>\n

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2.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0 \u00a0 Solution #1: Protect yourself indoors<\/span><\/strong><\/h3>\n

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Solving poor indoor air quality is easy. Purifiers are just fans and filters. Skip the marketing noise. Build your own or buy a low-cost, data-backed purifier. When I started searching for air purifiers, I saw lots of people buying $500 Blue Air\u2019s and $2,000 IQ Air\u2019s. I wondered, does clean air need to be so expensive? Is there any truth to their claims about special technology or imported HEPA filters?<\/section>\n<\/section>\n<\/section>\n

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\"Air<\/p>\n

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I found out the main ingredient in purifiers\u2014HEPA filters\u2014were invented back in the 1940s.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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\"HEPA<\/p>\n

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\"HEPA<\/p>\n

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Fans aren\u2019t expensive either. So I built my own and tested whether it worked.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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\"Low<\/p>\n

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The results were clear\u2014air purifiers work.<\/span><\/p>\n

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\"DIY<\/p>\n

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My DIY air purifier improved air quality and reduced particulate in my bedroom\u00a0<\/span>by 86%<\/a>. It captures even really\u00a0<\/span>small particles below 2.5 microns<\/a>, and you can even\u00a0<\/span>make your own<\/a>\u00a0for a tiny fraction of what that fancy Swiss machines sell for.<\/span><\/p>\n

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In\u00a0<\/span>my tests<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0<\/span>other independent tests<\/a>\u00a0that I describe here, there\u2019s basically no correlation between price and effectiveness. Put another way, there are low-cost purifiers that remove just as much particulate as the $1,000 machines.<\/span><\/p>\n

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So, my startup Smart Air designed purifiers that are\u2014you guessed it\u2014just fans and filters. These\u00a0<\/span>DIY purifiers\u00a0<\/span>cost about $35 in\u00a0<\/span>China<\/a>,\u00a0<\/span>India<\/a>\u00a0<\/span>and the\u00a0<\/span>Philippines<\/a>, and our super strong\u00a0<\/span>Blast Mini\u2019s\u00a0<\/span><\/a>cost about\u00a0<\/span>$200 and can be delivered in China, Philippines and India. Clean air can be simple and cheap.<\/p>\n

What you can do to protect yourself:<\/strong>\u00a0<\/span>Make your own DIY air purifier<\/a>, order\u00a0<\/span>a low-cost DIY purifier<\/a>\u00a0<\/span>or the super\u00a0<\/span>quiet Blast Mini air purifier<\/a>, or choose any other empirically backed purifier.<\/p>\n

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3.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/strong>\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0Solution #2: Protect Yourself Outside with a Simple Air Pollution Mask<\/span><\/strong><\/h3>\n

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I\u2019ve encountered lots of people who are skeptical of pollution masks. People have told me that masks are so thin, there\u2019s no way to capture small particles. Or they do capture small particles, but unless they\u2019re professionally fitted, the pollution leaks in, so they\u2019re basically useless. Even\u00a0<\/span>news media outlets\u00a0<\/span><\/a>repeat this idea.<\/p>\n

Before I saw the research on masks, I would have guessed they kinda work all right. Turns out masks are wildly more effective than I thought, even\u00a0<\/span>against really tiny .007 micron<\/a>\u00a0<\/span>particles, even when regular people are\u00a0<\/span>wearing them<\/a>, and even when measured by physiological outcomes like lower blood pressure and better regulated heart rate. In short, masks are wildly effective.<\/p>\n

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\"Statistics<\/p>\n

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And just like with purifiers, some of the most effective masks are also the cheapest.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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\"Cheap<\/p>\n

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I used to spend US$80 to buy the UK Respro mask in Beijing. Now I spend less than 10% of that to buy 3M N99 masks that are more effective and more comfortable\u00a0<\/span>(here\u2019s the data)<\/a>. Avoid the marketing noise.<\/p>\n

What you can do:<\/strong>\u00a0<\/span>Choose any of the low-cost, scientifically tested masks in the data above.<\/p>\n

Which masks are good choices? I cover tests of masks and practical considerations like comfort in this answer:\u00a0<\/span>What is the best pollution mask for a vacation in China<\/a>?<\/p>\n

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4.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0 \u00a0Solution #3:\u00a0<\/span>Test the Air You\u2019re Breathing<\/span><\/strong><\/h3>\n<\/section>\n<\/section>\n<\/section>\n
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If you want to reach real air pollution nerd status, get an air quality monitor and know what you\u2019re breathing. They\u2019re also great for letting you know if your purifier is working.But are they any accurate? Smart Air\u00a0tested three<\/a>: the Laser Egg, the Air Visual Pro, and Dylos (left to right).<\/section>\n<\/section>\n<\/section>\n

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\"Review<\/p>\n

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We compared data from these particle counters to data from the U.S. Embassy in Beijing, which is close to our office:<\/span><\/p>\n

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\"China<\/p>\n

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We ran the machines for six days. Here are the results for the first (72-hour) test outside our office in Beijing:<\/span><\/p>\n

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All three particle counters tracked the official pollution readings really well! On average, they were about 5-9 micrograms off from the official readings.<\/span><\/p>\n

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\"accuracy<\/p>\n

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What you can do:<\/strong>\u00a0Order a\u00a0Laser Egg<\/a>\u00a0or the pricier Air Visual air quality monitor and discover what\u2019s in the air you\u2019re breathing.\u00a0<\/span><\/section>\n<\/section>\n
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Air Pollution Fact Roundup:<\/h3>\n
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Bottom Line:\u00a0<\/strong>I take these simple steps to protect myself from air pollution and breathe clean air, then I spend my time enjoying myself when I visit polluted cities like Beijing and Delhi. Clean air is that simple.\u00a0<\/span><\/section>\n<\/section>\n

<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

So you\u2019ve arrived to a polluted city\u2013Beijing or Bangalore, Delhi or Shanghai. What can you do to keep air pollution from trimming years off your life? When I moved to China in 2007, I wasn\u2019t a dummy. I was a college grad, and I knew about air pollution. But I … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1035,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-393","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/smartairfilters.com\/mn\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/393","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/smartairfilters.com\/mn\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/smartairfilters.com\/mn\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/smartairfilters.com\/mn\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1035"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/smartairfilters.com\/mn\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=393"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/smartairfilters.com\/mn\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/393\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":418,"href":"https:\/\/smartairfilters.com\/mn\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/393\/revisions\/418"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/smartairfilters.com\/mn\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=393"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/smartairfilters.com\/mn\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=393"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/smartairfilters.com\/mn\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=393"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}