Did you know that exposure wildfire smoke can significantly impact your ability to concentrate, think clearly, and make decisions?
You may feel some eye and throat irritation when first exposed to wildfire smoke, but you may not notice the cognitive impacts of breathing cognitive impacts of breathing this highly polluted air. The effects are cumulative and, within just a few hours, your exposure to wildfire smoke will make you feel foggy, sluggish and irritable. These effects may not always be initially apparent, but their onset can occur several hours later and persist for days or even over week.
Wildfire smoke travels across continents
Most of live in large cities and urban environments, so we may not occur to occur to us that wildfire smoke contributes to air pollution and episodes of poor air quality.
However, wildfire smoke is commonly subject to long-range transport, travelling hundreds, or even thousands of kilometers, from its source. Wind patterns and wind cycles ultimately determine where the smoke ends up.
What decades of science tell us
Air pollution affects everyone, indoors and outdoors, and regardless of how young, healthy or active you are.
Short-term effects on the brain
Breathing clean air improves acuity. You're more focused, better able to make decisions, and more productive.
1️⃣ Brain fog & difficulty concentrating: just a few hours of exposure to wildfire smoke diminishes your ability to think clearly and focus for up to a week.
2️⃣ Critical thinking & decision making: MLB umpires make 260 more incorrect calls per season for every 10 mg/m³ increase in PM2.5. Stockbrokers on Wall Street also experience a staggering 12% decrease in same-day returns on days with poor air quality.
3️⃣ Lower productivity: poor air quality reduces workplace productivity and test performance.
Physical wellbeing
Healthy air helps your body function better. You don’t get sick as often, your skin looks healthier, and you're better able to cope with stress.
1️⃣ Inflammation: even low doses of polluted air trigger the immune system, and can cause migraines, affect sleep quality, elevate blood pressure, and raise risk for diabetes, obesity, and autoimmune diseases.
2️⃣ Infection: breathing polluted air increases susceptibility to respiratory infections, and diminishes your ability to fight them. A 2022 study found that people living in the most polluted areas of California had a 20% higher risk of COVID-19 infection and a 51% higher risk of death than residents in the least polluted areas.
3️⃣ Accelerated aging: air pollution damages skin, causing wrinkles, acne, and dark spots. It also ages your body at a cellular level.
We all breathe air that makes us worse performers – yet we think we can't do anything about it.
99% of us breathe polluted air. We care about you optimizing your cognitive performance and overall health by improving the air you breathe, not just tracking air quality. Our mission is to inspire healthier communities by connecting people to their environment.
Improve your health, wellbeing and productivity wherever you go with the AER tag and app.