Air Pollution and Its Effects on Vital Body Organs

The air we breathe in impacts our body as a whole. We can’t say it only impacts just lungs and airways but also affects brain, heart, stomach, skin, eyes and even bring hormonal changes too.

The pollutants which are too small to be seen through the eyes like PM 2.5 (Particulate matter 2.5) are so tiny and microscopic that they can reach the lungs through inhaled air and then it can cross lungs channels (alveoli) to reach the blood stream. Once these particles enter the bloodstream, they are carried to different organ through blood flow having widespread organ effect and nearly affecting all body organ systems importantly cardiovascular, neurological, hormonal and nephron logical organ systems.

1. Now to understand how it can affect the brain and IQ.  Studies have been done which shows that prolonged exposure to pollution causes brain fogging leading to cognitive decline and reduced IQ during developing phase causing early dementia, Alzheimer’s and Parkinsonism. From the cognitive or behavioural aspect, we may see paediatric populations with slow learning, autism, learning disabilities, poor concentration also So affecting the overall intellectual abilities of the person. Though these effects are not acute but they are more of chronic effects and so these problems may not be visible right now but considering the level of exposure every individual is having to bad AQI, the future doesn’t look to be very much promising and rather we may see a sharp rise in no. Of cases where IQ is affected and also the neurological effects as mentioned 

2.  As on effect on heart and cardiovascular system, exposure to Poor quality of air can make air pollutants travel deep in bloodstream causing decrease in blood flow and heart’s pumping function leading to arrhythmias, heart failures and even stroke. Though there are many confounding factors with lifestyle on toss and people eating more junk/ exposed to smoking, combining effect of pollution may see more problematic state then expected causing more severe symptoms in some group of patients. As this pollution days coincides with cold season which in itself is risk factor for cardiac diseases hence it is important to get safe guard from pollution and avoiding outdoor exposure in these pollution times.

3. Now understanding effect on GI symptoms, Exposure to particulate matter like NO2, O3 alters GI motility, mucus secretions and chronic inflammatory diseases like IBD. We see lot of patients coming with altered bowel habit during these days however it’s still very early to indicate that all these cases are related to pollution but yes, we can say that presence of pollution definitely may increase the symptoms and its severeness

4. Air pollution triggers can allergy with redness, itching, discharge, and swelling of the eyes. This even causes dry eyes and allergic conjunctivitis. So, it it’s important to wash your eyes and face once a person has returned from the pollution area as continued exposure can affect the eyes. Wearing spectacles may not help much in saving exposure as the air may still get in touch with eyes and hence washing eyes remains best option to follow to prevent eyes exposure from pollution

5. Increases in PM2.5, NO2, and O3 exposures are linked to alterations in thyroid hormones, blunted immune function, type 2 diabetes and obesity. It leads to significant declines in estrogen and FSH levels causing early menopause in women. It also reduces testosterone levels in men causing low libido and energy.