Mumbai, April 6, 2017 – World Health Day, celebrated every year on April 7, provides us with an opportunity to organize action around a specific health topic of concern to people all over the world. The theme for this year’s campaign is one of the most commonly diagnosed mental disorders– ‘Depression’.
Depression, anxiety, memory loss, poor academic performance – these are just some of the things that scientists have connected to air pollution in recent years. While the connection between poor air quality and increasing risk of stroke, heart attack and lung disease is more apparent, air pollution could also have an adverse impact on our brains, ultimately leading to learning problems and even depression.
A team of Oxford University scientists discovered that tiny magnetic particles lodged in human brains as a result of air pollution could be a possible cause of Alzheimer's disease. Similarly, researchers at the Ohio State University carried out tests and showed that, in the long term, dirty air could cause actual physical changes to the brain.
Trying to bring people’s attention towards the indoor air pollution problem, Mr. Girish Bapat, Director - West and South Asia Region at Blueair, said, “Outdoor air pollution problems are already being addressed by the government of India. However, it is crucial to start talking more about indoor air pollution which is a more serious and potentially fatal problem and given that indoors is where we spend 90% of our time. According to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), indoor air can be two to four times, and occasionally up to hundred times, more polluted than outdoor air.”
