Air...ing the Truth: Factoids About Indoor and Outdoor Air Pollution

Today's Results

The scale reads: 142 lbs. (Analog scale. I checked the digital scale later and got a reading of 148 lbs. Sadness) Goal: 127 lbs.

The stupid Wal*mart pedometer reads: 7017 steps, 1.771 mi., 288.9 calories

Other aerobic activities:

• Light chores
• 51 minutes of Billy Blank, Jr.'s Dance With Me: Groove and Burn
• 30 minutes of Quick Fix: Cardio Hip Hop

I stayed indoors and I'm still breathing after all that aerobic activity! I'm kind of puzzled how I'm at 148 with all the physical activity I enjoyed.

Image courtesy of NASA and The Batelle Institute

I'm going through the mailed donation solicitations again and the one from the American Lung Association caught my eye. It kind of makes me want to spend more time outdoors and take my exercising business there. However, according to NASA, "Houston has exchanged titles with Los Angeles as having the most polluted air in the United States defined by the number of days each city violates federal smog standards." Let's take a look at some of these factoids:

• Levels of air pollution inside the home can be 2-5 times higher (and occasionally 100 times higher) than outdoors
• Americans spend as much as 90% of their time indoors
• Breathing polluted air can trigger wheezing, coughing, and asthma attacks. It can also increase the risk of having to go to the hospital, developing lunch cancer and dying earlier
• Air pollution contributes to lung disease, which claims more than 400,000 lives in America every year and is the 3^rd leading cause of death in the U.S.
• More than 1/2 of the people living in the U.S. - over 175 million - live in areas with unhealthy levels of outdoor air pollution. Children, seniors, and people with lung disease are among the most at risk.
• The EPA has repeatedly delayed setting new limits for ozone smog, the most widespread pollution in the country.

For additional facts on the dangers of poor indoor and outdoor air quality, and ways you can help to improve the air you breathe, visit http://www.lungusa.org