Air quality and asthma

(Division of Environmental Quality Utah)

I live in a very different area, I live inside a "bowl" and am surrounded by mountains. Now that fall and winter are on their way, we are starting to get dirty air that gets trapped in the valley by the mountains.

So, how do you know if air pollution is affecting your asthma or not? There is a great resource on the Utah Department of Health's Asthma Program website. They have a short article and a video that explains air pollution and how it can affect you (the video is pretty entertaining-it's not one of those videos that goes over your head)

The website says that "high levels of air pollution directly affect people with asthma and other types of lung or heart disease. The particulate matter in an inversion acts as an abrasive substance that can cause damage to the lung tissue and aggravate asthma symptoms." Hubby has been complaining about how hazy the air looks, so I thought I better check out the air quality on the official website.

In our state, they rank air quality in red, yellow and green days.

Red means:

• Unhealthy air people with lung disease (such as asthma ) and children and older adults should limit or avoid outdoor activities

Yellow means:

• Unhealthy air for sensitive groups - people with lung disease (such as asthma) and children and older adults should limit or avoid outdoor activities

Green means:

• Good air - no precautions

Here's a link to our Division of Air Quality Website that explains it more. I'm glad I checked the site today, because the air looks terrible, but the tiny particles in the air that can cause damage to the lungs are still in the "good" category. It can be a little confusing. But it's good to know that the hazy days aren't going to cause any problems to me right now. Some days we have a hard enough time as it is just breathing. I don't need dirty air making it worse.

It's looks like we're in the green zone today, so I think I'll take a walk during lunch to stay awake. Then it's back to the computer!