Research out of Italy recently has given scientists pause for thought…a pause in breathing, that is.
Looking at hospitalization records related to high blood pressure, heart disease, and heart attack, scientists discovered that the essential act of breathing could actually cause those serious condition.
But how is that possible? After all, without breathing, we would all die.
In a study recently released out of Italy and presented at the Acute Cardiac Care Congress, scientists pointed the heart disease finger directly at air pollution as a key factor in high blood pressure, heart disease, and even heart attack.
Looking at a standard of measurement called PM10, or particulate matter measuring 10 micrometers or less in diameter, the researchers compared rates of heart disease-related hospitalizations to the amount of pollution in the air, as evidenced by the air’s PM10 rating.
Various kinds of particulate matter constitute pollution in the air we breathe, and the biggest generators of it are factories and other types of industry or vehicle pollution.
Scientists found that for every increase of 10 micrograms in the PM10 rating of air quality, there was a 3% increase in the number of casualties recorded in hospitals for heart disease and heart attack.
In the European Union, the environmental standards for safety are to not exceed PM10 of 50 micrograms per cubic meter. In the US, though, it is 3 times higher at 150 micrograms per cubic meter.
The environmental link points to clear evidence that what and how we breathe has a direct effect on our blood pressure health, and helps to explain why high blood pressure affects a full quarter of the earth’s population, being more concentrated in areas that are more polluted.
I guess it would stand to reason that living in an Industrial Area & Breathing Polluted Air would significantly increase ones chances of dying sooner from associated lung disease or health effects of whatever type of gases or pollutants one would be subject to, rather than later if one lived out on a ranch in the middle of nowhere.
However in a lot of cases these industrial areas grow rather than just happen overnight, people live and work close to where there is work & that is mostly a fact of life, an industrial area is usually established & in order to have people work there, the company in a lot of cases build houses for their workers.
Government Regulation Of Air Quality Is Paramount or The Key in ensuring pollution is kept to a minimum, but in a lot of cases this is not first in a long list of priority’s where government is concerned & this is where people like Erin Brockovich is come in on behalf of folk who do have a problem with “The Industrial Giants’.
While this lady knows how to fight against these problems, it is incumbent on all of us to be aware of what is going on in our own neck of the woods and actually do something about it rather than leaving it to someone else……Just saying
I tend towards allergies. If I have had a bad virus over winter with a persistent cough, then as soon as pollen counts rise, my tubes all get very runny and breathing is difficult.
Even immediately following a bad virus, I seem to have learnt a pattern of shallow breathing, so as to reduce the irritation in the passages.
In these conditions, when I take my blood pressure, I find that around 3 minutes of slow deep breathing can often get my systolic down from the 140 region to 120 or even lower. As time goes on and the affect of the virus diminishes my breathing returns to normal all the time, and so does my blood pressure. I would guess that people who breath regularly in polluted air will behave similarly.
All this must be caused by the blood pressure regulatory mechanism in the brain, which appears to be very complex and to take many different factors into account. Books I read on the subject tell me that the linings of the arteries do recover from damage, with normal repair mechanisms, so long as they have fairly long periods of low blood pressure which allows this.
A good spring clean can help. In my conservatory, the flies leave their droppings over the summer, and black mould grows on them in tiny dots. These release spores which irritate the bronchi. Often, you can smell the spores, in about the bottom 1.5 feet of air in the conservatory. A steam cleaner is a quick way of cleaning, and the air smells sweet and clean afterwards.
Read the posting below
that is so true!
how did this happen any way