How often do you think about the air around you and how clean or toxic it is? Two things have forced me to think about it on a deeper level lately recently.
Toxic Air is All Around Us
The first is the front cover of a National Geographic Magazine in April stating that “air pollution kills millions of people every year” and “air pollution could be increasing the COVID-19 death toll”. What is scary is that people who live in air polluted spaces are more likely to suffer from a chronic illness. These very same people are then also going to be more vulnerable to airborne diseases such as Covid19.
Toxic Air Plays a Role in Weakening The Immune System
The second prompt was the 15-Minute Matrix podcast by The Functional Nutrition Alliance that recently featured Dr Kasia Kines, who discussed how dioxin exposure from smoke inhalation can reactivate Epstein Barr Virus (EBV) in susceptible people. The majority of the world is infected with EBV, however, not everyone suffers from reactivation flare-ups. But when it does flare up, it can cause symptoms like fatigue, fever, rash and swollen glands.
It is also important to know that air pollution can weaken the immune system and inflame the airways, leaving the body less able to fight off a respiratory virus. For children, air pollution puts children at a higher risk of disease in adulthood. So toxic air really is a topic that deserves more attention by governments and ourselves as individuals worldwide!
