On a bad-air morning the questions come fast, especially if someone at home has asthma. Do purifiers help? Are cloth masks enough? Should the kids skip outdoor games? There are practical answers that lower your exposure while the bigger fight for clean air continues.
Fine particles and other pollutants irritate the lungs and can affect the heart and blood vessels, worsening asthma, chronic lung disease and heart disease. The World Health Organization identifies children, older adults, pregnant people and those with existing heart or lung conditions as most affected.
A well-fitted, particulate-filtering mask can reduce exposure to some particles, but a loose cloth mask is not a reliable filter for fine particles. Air purifiers with proper particle filters can lower indoor particle levels in a correctly sized room, though they cannot clean outdoor air or fix pollution from traffic and industry. Indoor plants are pleasant, but their effect on room-scale pollution is far too small to replace ventilation or filtration.
Check a recognised local air-quality source, reduce prolonged outdoor exertion near busy traffic, and keep asthma inhalers and written action plans to hand. Reduce indoor sources too, since the WHO notes that tobacco smoke, incense, mosquito coils and poorly vented cooking add to indoor pollution.
Not on ordinary days. Regular activity remains valuable, so choose less polluted routes or times where possible, and ask a clinician for individual advice if you have serious asthma, heart or lung disease. Get urgent care for chest pain, severe breathlessness, blue lips, confusion or a severe asthma attack.