Your Lungs And You – 4
By Dr Arvind Kumar*
While in-car air pollution poses a range of health risks to drivers and passengers, it is especially hazardous for people already suffering from heart problems. And the more time you are spending in your car, the greater risk you are inviting of heart health complications.
Besides affecting the lungs, prolonged exposure to polluted air inside vehicles can lead to potentially dangerous changes in heart function. As a matter of fact, exposure to fine airborne particulate matter is associated with cardiovascular events and mortality in older and cardiac patients.
The polluted and dirty air inside your car cabin also enhances the risk of heart attack or stroke among those already having existing health problems by changing the way the heart functions.
Also read: The car cabin air pollution may lead to cancer
Experts have pointed out in past studies the kind of changes that exposure to in-car pollution can induce. These changes could include increased markers of inflammation and increased blood clotting proteins, variations in heart rate, and other changes in the functioning of the cardiovascular system.
Prolonged exposure to air pollution inside vehicles is known to prompt changes in the heart rate that could be hazardous in less healthy individuals.
It must be noted here that heart rate variability measures the nervous system function of the heart, which controls blood vessel widening or stiffening, blood pressure, the heart’s electrical activity and its ability to contract and pump blood.
These changes are not desirable and they drive home the point that exposure to in-car air pollutants should be minimized. This is where a hi-tech and high-quality air purification system comes in to ensure that the air you breathe inside your car is not hazardous to your heart health.
And when you are looking for the best air purifier to be installed in your car, go for the medical-grade air purification system for automobiles. Its reliability and performance are such that it’s highly recommended by experts to install in your vehicles. This helps you keep safe from the dirty air and other particles inside your car.
*MD (Medicine)
(Your Lungs And You series is an awareness campaign run by an NGO, The Eminent, in collaboration with PetriMed CA, an air purification system with 99.999% filtration and coupled with UV-C disinfectation and air ioniser, using 8 – stage filtration technology).
