What are the hazards of smog weather? What are the effects of smog weather on health and how to prevent it

Haze weather causes low visibility in large areas of cities. When the relative humidity is high in the morning or at night, fog is formed; when the temperature rises and the humidity drops during the day, it gradually turns into haze. This phenomenon has both meteorological reasons and pollution emissions. Since January 9, 2013, the central and eastern regions of the country have been caught in serious haze and pollution. The Central Meteorological Observatory upgraded the blue warning for heavy fog to a yellow warning. At 10 a.m. on the 13th, Beijing even issued the first haze orange warning in Beijing's meteorological history. From the northeast to the northwest, from North China to the central region, the Huanghuai and Jiangnan regions have all experienced large-scale heavy and severe pollution. After so many years, the pollution situation has not been effectively resolved.

Introduction to haze weather

Haze, also known as gray haze (smoky haze), refers to dust, sulfuric acid, nitric acid, organic hydrocarbon particles in the air that make the atmosphere turbid, blur the vision and cause visibility deterioration. If the horizontal visibility is less than 10,000 meters, the visual obstruction caused by this aerosol system composed of non-water substances is called haze or gray haze. The Hong Kong Observatory calls it haze. The difference between haze and fog is that the relative humidity is not high when haze occurs, while the relative humidity in fog is saturated (if there are a large number of condensation nuclei, saturation may occur even if the relative humidity does not reach 100%). Generally, when the relative humidity is less than 80%, the deterioration of visibility caused by the turbidity of the atmosphere and the blurred vision is caused by haze, when the relative humidity is greater than 90%, the deterioration of visibility caused by the turbidity of the atmosphere and the blurred vision is caused by fog, and when the relative humidity is between 80-90%, the deterioration of visibility caused by the turbidity of the atmosphere and the blurred vision is caused by a mixture of haze and fog, but its main component is haze. The thickness of haze is relatively thick, reaching about 1-3 kilometers. Unlike fog and clouds, haze has no obvious boundary with clear sky. The distribution of haze particles is relatively uniform, and the size of haze particles is relatively small, ranging from 0.001 microns to 10 microns, with an average diameter of about 1-2 microns. The particles floating in the air cannot be seen by the naked eye. Haze is composed of dust, sulfuric acid, nitric acid and other particles, which scatter more light with longer wavelengths, so haze looks yellow or orange-gray.

What are the hazards of smog weather ?

Haze weather can easily cause upper respiratory tract infections, with coughing, sneezing, and runny nose as the main symptoms; pollutants such as inhalable particles and sulfur dioxide in foggy days are the main factors that induce asthma and chronic bronchitis. At the same time, winter is cold and foggy, with low air pressure, which can easily lead to hypoxia and ischemia, causing coronary vasospasm, thereby inducing cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases.

The various harmful substances in haze are also harmful to human skin and should be taken seriously. In particular, when the harmful substances in haze adhere to the facial skin of people with acne, they often cause various symptoms, such as facial itching, redness, swelling, and increased inflammation.

Does smog worsen flu symptoms? Experts are not sure

Experts from the Beijing Center for Disease Control and Prevention said that there is no scientific conclusion that there is a link between smog and influenza. Experts said that influenza is spread by viruses and mainly occurs indoors. Closed places with crowded people and poor ventilation are more likely to spread infectious diseases than outdoor environments. The impact of smog on the human body is mainly reflected in people with respiratory problems, such as asthma, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and other respiratory diseases.

However, Kuang Tuguang, an expert at the Beijing Institute of Respiratory Diseases, believes that in smog weather, there are more particles in the atmosphere, and the surface of these particles is easy to absorb bacteria and viruses, which may aggravate the spread of influenza viruses, especially in places where people gather, such as subways and markets. He said that judging from the cases received by the hospital, not only has the incidence of respiratory diseases been on the rise in recent days, but there have also been more cases of influenza.

Smog is more likely to cause cancer than smoking

"Haze is more likely to cause cancer than cigarettes." Zhong Nanshan, an academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering and director of the Guangzhou Institute of Respiratory Diseases, once pointed out at a relevant forum that in the past 30 years, the smoking rate among the Chinese public has continued to decline, but the incidence of lung cancer has increased by more than 4 times. This may be related to the increase in haze days.

Zhong Nanshan stressed that dense fog and low visibility weather will have an impact on human health. The composition of haze is very complex, including hundreds of atmospheric particulate matter. Among them, the main harm to human health is aerosol particles with a diameter of less than 10 microns, which can directly enter and adhere to the upper and lower respiratory tracts and lung lobes of the human body, causing rhinitis, bronchitis and other diseases. Long-term exposure to such an environment can also induce lung cancer.

Preventive measures for haze weather

What are the hazards of smog weather? What are the effects of smog weather on health and how to prevent it

Wear a mask when going out in haze weather

If you go out, you can wear a mask, which can effectively prevent dust particles from entering the body. Cotton masks are the best, because some people are allergic to non-woven fabrics, while cotton masks are generally not allergic to people, and they are easy to wash. When you come back from going out, you should immediately wash your face and exposed skin.

Open windows less in foggy weather

Many people are used to opening windows for ventilation. But if the smog lasts all day, should we open windows for ventilation or keep doors and windows closed? Li Zhi pointed out that in smog weather, it is not recommended to open windows for ventilation in the morning and evening. It is best to wait until the sun comes out before opening windows for ventilation.

Eat light food and drink plenty of water

On foggy days, it is advisable to choose light, easy-to-digest and vitamin-rich foods, drink plenty of water, and eat more fresh vegetables and fruits. This can not only supplement various vitamins and inorganic salts, but also moisten the lungs and remove dryness, eliminate phlegm and relieve cough, and strengthen the spleen and kidney. Eat less irritating foods and eat more pears, loquats, oranges, tangerines and other foods that clear the lungs and reduce phlegm.

Supplement vitamin D appropriately

There is a lot of fog and little sunshine in this season. Due to insufficient ultraviolet radiation, the human body's production of vitamin D is insufficient. Some people may experience mental laziness and depression. If necessary, you can supplement some vitamin D.

Clear the large amount of free radicals produced in the body due to haze weather

We know that smoking is harmful to health because it causes a sharp increase in the number of free radicals in the body. Free radicals attack the cells of the body's organs, causing various diseases. When haze enters the human body, it produces far more free radicals than smoking. The most direct manifestation is respiratory diseases, and even serious ones may induce heart disease, cancer, and death.

Therefore, when we encounter smog weather, in addition to taking physical isolation measures, we must also clean up the free radicals produced in the body by the smog weather, so that we can comprehensively protect our health from the inside out.

The only effective way to fight free radicals is to supplement antioxidants, because antioxidants can effectively remove free radicals. The vegetables and fruits we eat usually contain some antioxidant ingredients, but the content is very small and cannot meet our body's daily antioxidant needs, especially in cities with serious pollution. These situations have attracted the attention of the world's preventive medicine community. In some developed countries in Europe and the United States, some products with very high antioxidant values ​​have been developed and produced, which can effectively fight the harm of worsening environmental pollution to the human body.

Take good care of personal hygiene in haze weather

Although fog may seem mild, it actually contains various harmful substances such as acids, alkalis, salts, amines, phenols, dust, pathogenic microorganisms, etc. Therefore, you should wash your face and exposed skin immediately after returning from going out on a foggy day.

Plant more green plants

Plant a variety of green plants on your balcony, terrace and indoors. Singapore's indoor green walls, from balconies, windowsills to underground warehouses, have plants planted from the 1st floor to the 9th floor. But in Beijing, many high-end office buildings are not green. If everyone plants one square meter, Beijing can add 20 million square meters of green plants. During the interview, the reporter saw many plants at the door of Wang Xianmin's office and indoors. From his experience, green crown leaf plants such as green radish, evergreen, and tiger skin orchid have relatively strong adsorption capacity because of their large leaves.