Indoor Air Quality and Pollution Awareness

Many Americans are aware of the dangers of poor air quality from pollution in the outside world. Pollen counts and air quality index readings are reported alongside the temperature and humidity in daily weather forecasts. Warning labels and news stories have long alerted Americans to hazards found in tap water, consumer goods, and food products, some of the common means of ingesting potentially harmful biological and chemical compounds. However, surveys indicate that the general public does not share the same level of awareness with indoor air quality (IAQ). Although many Americans may feel as though the air they breathe when they are indoors is cleaner and safer than the air they breathe outside, research suggests that, in reality, the exact opposite is true. Generally speaking, indoor air contains much higher levels of toxins and Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs). Chemicals from building products, harmful levels of mold, dust mites, indoor allergens, and other indoor pollutants all contribute to poor IAQ. Polluted indoor air is becoming increasingly damaging to the health of Americans, despite their unfamiliarity with the issue.

Three Steps to Reduce Humidity in Your Home

Excess indoor humidity can make life miserable. People who suffer through humid air in their homes can experience a wide range of problems—anything from frizzy hair, to sleeplessness, to respiratory system illnesses. There are many potential causes for indoor humidity, but they can be remedied rather simply. You can, and should, gain control over the humidity level in your home. Doing so could save you and your family from any number of adverse reactions caused by unwanted moisture in the air.

The first step in effectively combating any recurring problem is to determine the underlying cause. What is humidity in the first place, and why is it in your home? In the most general sense, humidity is the presence of water vapor in the air. Water vapor enters the Earth’s air, or atmosphere, in two main ways: 1) heat from the sun evaporates water from oceans, lakes, and ice, and 2) plants sweat water out in the process of transpiration. Water vapor usually doesn’t stay in the atmosphere very long. It accumulates and then returns to the Earth as precipitation.

What is Bad Ozone?

Sometimes we hear that ozone is good, as in the ozone layer, and sometimes we hear that ozone is bad as in air pollution or smog.  How can it be both good and bad?  This depends on where it is in the environment and how it is formed.  


This page will discuss the so called "bad ozone" or "ground level ozone".  To learn about "good ozone" by clicking on this link.  


In the Earth’s lower atmosphere, near ground level, ozone is formed when pollutants emitted by cars, power plants, chemical plants, and other sources react chemically in the presence of sunlight. 


Ozone pollution is a concern during the summer months when the weather conditions needed to form ground-level ozone—lots of sun, hot temperatures—normally occur.

Ozone can irritate your respiratory system, causing you to start coughing, feel an irritation in your throat and/or experience an uncomfortable sensation in your chest. Ozone can reduce lung function and make it more difficult for you to breathe as deeply and vigorously as you normally would. 


When this happens, you may notice that breathing starts to feel uncomfortable. If you are exercising or working outdoors, you may notice that you are taking more rapid and shallow breaths than normal. 


Ozone can aggravate asthma. When ozone levels are high, more people with asthma have attacks that require a doctor’s attention or the use of additional medication. One reason this happens is that ozone makes people more sensitive to allergens, which are the most common triggers for asthma attacks. Also, asthmatics are more severely affected by the reduced lung function and irritation that ozone causes in the respiratory system. 


Ozone can inflame and damage cells that line your lungs. Within a few days, the damaged cells are replaced and the old cells are shed—much in the way your skin peels after a sunburn. 


Ozone may aggravate chronic lung diseases such as emphysema and bronchitis and reduce the immune system’s ability to fight off bacterial infections in the respiratory system.

This is why ozone water treatment systems are designed to remove ozone before the vent gas is released into the environment.

Here are some additional links on ground level ozone:

Ozone and Your Health (USEPA)
Smog - Who Does it Hurt? (USEPA)
Summertime Safety: Keeping Kids Safe from Sun and Smog (USEPA)USEPA Ozone Air Quality StandardsUS Ozone Air Quality Trends


gotquestions http://www.spartanwatertreatment.com/ground-level-ozone.html

Is It Asthma, COPD, or Both?

By Lisa D. Ellis

Reviewed by QualityHealth's Medical Advisory Board

Have you noticed that your fast-acting relief inhaler isn't providing as much relief as you'd expect? If you're an older person who smoked, it's possible that in addition to asthma, you could have another ailment called Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD).

What is COPD?

COPD refers to a variety of respiratory conditions that cause symptoms that are quite similar to asthma, except that while asthma can be reversed with proper treatment, COPD causes more permanent damage.

Long-term smoking most often leads to COPD, and smokers are also more likely to have both asthma and COPD.

Is It Asthma or COPD?

Because asthma and COPD look similar, causing symptoms such as coughing, wheezing, and difficulty breathing, it's often challenging to differentiate between the two illnesses, especially when they co-occur. Yet there are some subtle differences. For instance, asthma episodes often occur at night and after exposure to allergens, while people with COPD commonly experience coughing and mucus in the mornings, along with chest symptoms that can linger throughout the day. But using symptoms alone may not be enough to accurately identify the conditions and determine how best to treat them.

Diagnosing Asthma and COPD

One way doctors assess a patient's respiratory condition is through a pulmonary function test (PFT) to reveal obstruction in the airways. In asthmatics, a bronchodilator usually improves lung function, while in people who have COPD alone, the medicine usually won't make a significant difference. People who have both asthma and COPD together usually get some benefits from the inhaler, however the effects aren't as efficient as when it's used for asthma alone.

Using Biomarkers to Identify Asthma or COPD

To help make it easier for doctors to diagnosis asthma and COPD, researchers from Australia recently tried to identify some of the common characteristics in the cells that occur with asthma and with COPD. They examined the blood of people with asthma, those with COPD, and those with no respiratory disease in order to understand the proteins that exist in these different scenarios. They were able to identify four biomarkers in the blood that help regulate inflammation in the cells and can be indicative of asthma or COPD. In the future, these markers may help doctors to properly identify asthma and COPD, or a combination of the two conditions, at an earlier stage. These findings appeared in the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine in summer 2011.

Treating Asthma and COPD

If you're grappling with respiratory symptoms and you believe that asthma, COPD, or both conditions may be to blame for your ailments, it's important to see a specialist who can confirm the diagnosis. While testing to identify the biomarkers may not be available yet for the general public, your doctor can still use more conventional methods to assess the health of your respiratory system, determine what's causing your symptoms, and ways to best to treat them.

Smoke Triggers Asthma and COPD

Regardless of what ails you, if you smoke, you'll need to kick the bad habit. Smoking can worsen both asthma and COPD and can also lead to many other serious health problems. You should also avoid second-hand smoke, too, since someone else's smoke can be enough to trigger your symptoms.

Treating Asthma and COPD

Asthma and COPD are usually both treated with bronchodilators and inhaled corticosteroids. In addition, many people with asthma and COPD will need a flu shot and pneumonia shot each year to help avoid illnesses that can make the conditions worse. If you do get sick, people with COPD often need an antibiotic to prevent an infection from taking root. Finally, for both conditions it's best to avoid dry air and pollutants, since these can irritate sensitive airways and can make you feel worse.

While you can't make asthma and COPD go away completely, with proper diagnosis, you can effectively manage the symptoms and breathe more easily.

Sources:

Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) American Academy of Asthma, Allergy, and Immunology. AAAAI, n.d. Web. 21 Aug. 2011.

"COPD." American Lung Association. LungUSA.org, n.d. Web, 25 Aug. 2011.

Verrills, Nicole M. "Identification of Novel Diagnostic Biomarkers for Asthma and Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease." American Journal of Respiratory Critical Care Medicine, 183 (Jun 2011) 1633 - 1643.

got questions  http://www.qualityhealth.com/asthma-articles/it-asthma-copd-both

WOMEN CAN PREVENT HEART DISEASE

FDA.gov - A lot of people think that women do not get heart disease. More women die from heart disease than from anything else. Any woman can get heart disease.

When you think about heart disease, you probably think about chest pain. Women might not have chest pain. If they do, they might call it an achy, tight or "heavy" feeling instead of pain. The pain might even be in the back between the shoulder blades, instead of the chest.

Women might think these signs are no big deal because they don't "sound" like a heart attack. Don't ignore these signs. Go to your doctor of clinic right away.

What are the signs of heart disease in women? 
The most important sign is feeling really tired--even if after enough sleep. Other signs of heart disease in women are:

Trouble breathing
Trouble sleeping
Feeling sick to the stomach
Feeling scared or nervous
New or worse headaches
An ache in the chest
Feeling "heavy" or "tight" in the chest
A burning feeling in the chest
Pain in the back, between the shoulders
Pain or tightness in the chest that spreads to the jaw, neck, shoulders, ear, or the inside of the arms
Pain in the belly, above the belly button
There is good news: You can take steps to keep your heart healthy.

Don't wait to get help!
Go to your doctor or clinic if you have any warning signs.

Lower Your Risk of Heart DiseaseFind out if heart disease runs in your family.
Visit your doctor or clinic often. Find out if you are at risk.
Don't smoke. Stay away from other people who are smoking.
Get your blood pressure checked often. You might need medicine to keep it at the right level.
Control your diabetes.
Get your cholesterol checked often.
Stay active. Walking every day can lower your chances of a heart attack.
Eat right and keep a healthy weight.
Eat less salt.
If you take birth control pills, don't smoke.
Hormones for menopause should not be used to prevent heart attacks.
Being stressed, angry or sad a lot may add to your risk of heart attack.
If you've had a heart attack, talk to your doctor about medicine. Some medicines can help cut down the risk of having another heart attack.

High Blood Pressure
High blood pressure adds to the chance of having heart disease.
High blood pressure is called the "silent killer". Most people who have it do not feel sick and don't know that they have it.
Have your blood pressure checked each time you go to the doctor or clinic.

To learn more:FDA's Office of Women's Health website:
www.fda.gov/womens/ 

National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke Information Office
Phone: 301-496-5751
Web site: http://www.ninds.nih.gov/

National High Blood Pressure Education Program c/o NHLBI Information Center
Phone: 301-592-8573

http://www.bennyhinn.org/yourlife/healthy-living/your-health-today/6692/women-can-prevent-heart-disease