Get out into the countryside and take in giant gulps of pollution-free air—your brain will thank you.
Breathing even moderate levels of traffic pollution for a few hours starts to affect the way our brain functions.
Exposure to diesel exhaust changes the way the brain’s neural pathways connect, and this affects our memory and ability to problem-solve.
Researchers from the University of British Columbia tested the effects of diesel pollution on a group of 25 volunteers whose brain activity was measured with functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) before and after exposure.
The good news is that brain impairment is temporary, and healthy neural connections started up again when the participants began to breathe in fresh, unpolluted air.
Getting out into the countryside is a great way to get your brain working healthily again, but there are little things we can do in the meantime, the researchers say. For one, don’t sit in a traffic jam with your windows down, and make sure your car air filter is working properly. If you’re walking or biking, try to find some quieter routes that avoid heavy traffic concentration.
“Air pollution is now recognised as the largest environmental threat to human health and we are increasingly seeing the impact across all major organ systems”, said Chris Carlsten, one of the researchers.
