The times we live in forces us to think about the harmful impact of the current environmental conditions on our health and now where are we heading? Fresh air to breath is already a thing of past for many. Not only cities but the air of suburban regions is also not fit for breathing.
Now many respiratory diseases are prevalent, even among children. There seems to be no way to safeguard our children, no matter how much protective we are.
We can’t change the air and we are failing badly in improving the environmental conditions. Most of the cities in the world are facing the crisis of densely polluted air, water and soil.
Bad air is solely responsible for the sharp rise in respiratory diseases and as much as 10% of deaths in Los Angeles are reported due to it. Even if we take drastic measures to reverse this situation and do the damage control, what’s the possibility of it being a success and bring some relief immediately?
Truth to be told the sad reality of current times is that dust masks and smoggy air had become a way of living in places like Beijing and New Delhi. Day-by-day air pollution is only worsening.
Not only these two cities but in the rest of the world and mostly in all the heavily populated places the quality of air is responsible for plenty of negative health consequences for the inhabitants to face.
How a Dust Mask can offer help?
Smoggy air is not good for breathing. Breathing smog is injurious like smoking. The damage caused to lungs by both is the same. Reportedly, there’s a rise in cases of asthma and heart attacks due to the poor air quality.
Even sub-urban air quality is also not satisfactory. Approximately 5.5 million people die (worldwide) due to the dirty air they’re breathing. Air pollution is mainly contributed by power plants, automobiles and causes an increase of particulate and gaseous pollutants in the air.
Dust masks do offer temporary relief. Apart from this, a lot of working environments are hazardous and require adequate measures for the protection of workers. Personal protective equipment (PPE) is compulsory to use to safeguard health.
An important component of these protective wear is – respirator/ masks.
Commonly used Dust Masks and when They’re Required?
Most of the places and work environments require the use of respirators to protect the health of the wearer. Not only workplaces but the
FFP2 mask offers a moderate level of protection against mists, fume, and particulates. These masks are effective in protecting against air pollution and filter about 94% of the particles.
FFP3 mask gives the highest protection filtering 99% of the particles. It safeguards the wearers against the most toxic finest particles. You get effective protection against radioactive dust, bacteria, viruses, etc.
The use of these masks ensures safety but they are not comfortable to wear on a daily basis while doing any strenuous activity. And how they fit on your face is important and a fit test should be done to check the effectiveness of the mask.
If the mask fails to fit properly then the polluted air will easily get inside causing the damage to the wearer.
In the End
All we need for a better life and a healthy body is fresh air, water, and healthy food. If you keep good habits like you exercise and run in the park, go for daily walks, then also you’re breathing dirty air that can trigger allergies and cause illness.
The smaller particulates present in the air causes maximum damage. The minuscule size of particulate allows it to stay in the air for longer, travel farther, evade body’s defense and lodge in the lungs and stay there. Particulates blacken our lungs from inside and are most toxic.
Old people and children are at major risk because they have weak immune systems. It’s better for them to use masks for safety.
