Peaky performance

No parole for particulates

Last night was Clean Air Night as we’ve highlighted before. We know that wood burning is the largest source of particulate matter in the UK, so we thought we’d take a look at our Brixton node readings to see whether it was a Clean Air Night.

Sadly, our readings peaked at around 18 micrograms per cubic metre that night. Across London, we broke the World Health Organisation daily limit for PM2.5 by a factor of two. On 24 January the hourly average peaked at over 60 micrograms, with an average daily reading across London of about 30 micrograms. For comparison, the WHO daily limit for PM2.5 is 15 micrograms. Brixton might be below this, but it’s still not a pretty picture.

Flash, bang, wallop, what a picture, what a photograph; pour old soul, what a joke: hat blown off in a cloud of smoke

Air pollution causes all sorts of health impacts, many of which are predominantly caused by particulate matter. The understanding of its effects is growing all the time, with new insights being found by scientists on a regular basis. The impact of ultra-fine particles (the smaller the particle, the further it can travel in the body) is an area for particular study.

There can be both short-term impacts of pollutants, exacerbating existing conditions; and long-term impacts of high concentrations, which can actually lead to diseases. This is why WHO guidelines give both daily and annual limits.

Jailhouse blues

Having looked at the health impacts, we thought we’d take a look at broader impacts on society. We’re constantly surprised by the associations that are made with locations or periods of high air pollution:

• we noted before the impacts of PM2.5 on children’s test scores, but it can even result in an increased likelihood for adolescents to end up in prison

• it has been shown to reduce labour productivity by 4% and it can even make us bad leaders at work, with an association with abusive behaviours - any business should be taking notice of this! This and other factors result in a 6.1% reduction to the global economy and 1.2 billion work days lost globally each year, according to this handy set of facts and stats from Clean Air Fund

• we’ve mentioned before the association between various pollutants and athletic performance. This campaign also linked rising athletic talent with the risks from air pollution. And here we have top athletes campaigning for better air. Books have been written about it - this one even advises athletes to turn up early to races to acclimatise to poor air, urgh!

• ultimately a health impact, but amazingly air pollution is associated with an increase of 22 minutes a day sedentary time

• and further news on the health front since we last updated you: air pollution can exacerbate skin problems such as eczema.

Shocking isn’t it? The causes of high pollution are many but some are in our control. We’ve got some cold nights ahead of us, so do think twice about lighting that fire. The claims of wood burning companies that their products are ‘clean’ have been in the news recently. We’d love to actually have a Clean Air Night this winter!