It's long been known that air pollution impacts every single part of the body. So it's no surprise that it also affects the brain.
Increased episodes of depression and anxiety, cognitive decline such as dementia and lower productivity have all at one time or another been correlated with high levels of air pollution.
Here's a look at two of the very latest studies showing exactly how air pollution can cause problems for your mental health, and may even be a factor in making mistakes.
Study linking UK air pollution – even at low levels – and poor mental health
Previous studies from China (like this one) have shown air pollution can cause mental health issues such as anxiety and depression.
But China has a really bad air pollution problem. It couldn't be that bad in the UK, right? Wrong.
Research from South east London in 2019 found that adults exposed to high levels of traffic-related air pollution are more likely to experience common mental health disorders.
In 2021 a London-based study showed how severe mental health episodes increased among people recently diagnosed with psychotic and mood disorders, if they lived in high-pollution areas.
And recently, a study tracking depression and anxiety in almost 500,000 UK adults over 11 years found those living in even comparatively low levels of air pollution were more likely to suffer episodes of mental ill-health.
What's so awful about this study's conclusion is that air pollution doesn't even have to be super high where you are for it to cause increased anxiety or depression.
Here's what it says:
"As air pollution increased, the researchers found, so did cases of depression and anxiety. Exposure-response curves were non-linear, however, with steeper slopes at lower levels and plateauing trends at higher exposure, suggesting that long-term exposure to low levels of pollution were just just as likely to lead to diagnoses as exposure to higher levels." [my italics]
Essentially this means that even if you don't think air pollution is a problem for you – it all adds up.
And as anyone who suffers knows, the effect on the brain and our precious mental health is just horrible.
Smart people make more mistakes when air pollution is high
Another miserable study came out the next day (thanks February 2023!).
This one concluded that air pollution causes chess players to make more mistakes. It did some pretty whizzy things that analysed air quality across three seven-round eight-week-long tournaments, comprising more than 30,000 chess moves made by 121 players.
And it found (thanks to comparing with optimal moves generated by chess engine Stockfish), that when air pollution was elevated, more mistakes were made.
While this might not worry you if you don't live in a polluted area or play chess, the implications are pretty terrifying.
It's a huge deal for anyone who had to think hard at work in polluted areas – including those at work in governments and business districts!
Snü has got you covered
Obviously it's not fun to realise that the very air we breathe might not be optimal for our health.
It's even worse realising that the powers that be are struggling to do anything about it. (Even levels under the "legal limits" for air pollution are causing poor mental health, according to the above study.)
Luckily, Snü is a subtle, effective air pollution mask hidden in a scarf – so you don't have to worry about any of the above OR looking too conspicuous in public.
Snü's got you covered – literally!