How does dirty air affect children's mental health?

If your city has plants, we have a badnews for you - you breathe dirty air. Not only does it contain an increased concentration of carbon dioxide that can cause oxygen starvation, so tiny particles of heavy metals also fly in it. They are dangerous because they accumulate in our bodies and become the cause of cardiovascular diseases and millions of deaths around the world. Recently, it also became clear that air polluted with heavy metals negatively affects the psyche of children - they experience anxiety disorders and suicidal thoughts.

Today almost every city is polluted by air.

This conclusion was reached by researchers from the nurseryOhio State Hospitals. In the course of studying statistics on visits to the emergency room, they found that most of the visits were made on strictly defined days. We are talking about the days when there was a particularly high concentration of air pollutants in urban air, which environmentalists called PM2.5. These include solid and liquid microparticles that can penetrate a person’s lungs and enter his bloodstream.

The cause of mental disorders in children

Once in the body, they cause irritationorgans and certainly lead to respiratory problems. Prolonged exposure to PM2.5 can cause cancer and heart attack. However, this is not all - scientists do not yet understand how, but tiny pollutants even affect the mental state of people. Children are especially affected by dirty air.

Dirty air causes suicidal thoughts in children

After examining the patient data, scientists found that withincreased air pollution, children complain of anxiety and even the occurrence of suicidal thoughts. Particular harm is inflicted on children from dysfunctional families - not only does the unexplained effect on them produce dirty air, but also at school they suffer from bullying by classmates.

This is interesting: How does bullying in school affect a child’s brain?

Upon learning of the negative effects of dirty air onmental health of children, scientists intend to continue research. It is hoped that they still manage to find the cause of the problems and develop disease prevention strategies. There is practically no doubt about the negative impact of dirty air on children - in March 2019, even British scientists announced this. They found that children from big cities eventually find psychological problems twice as often as children from villages with fresh air.

How difficult is air purification?

The issue of air pollution is particularly acutestanding in China. Having identified a huge number of deaths due to dirty air, in 2013, the country's authorities decided at all costs to clear the air of harmful impurities. It was possible to do this in record time, however, after the work done, another problem arose - an increased concentration of ozone in the air.

What do you think - is there clean air in your city? Share your answer in the comments or in our Telegram chat.

The fact is that particles flying in the airabsorbed this harmful substance. When they were gone, ozone began to actively fill with itself all the vacated space. Not only did ozone begin to cause respiratory problems, it also ceased to protect people from harmful ultraviolet radiation from the sun. Now China is tackling the problem of increased ozone concentration, and if it succeeds, residents will certainly be grateful.