Pollution

[jimrothstein]

I'm middle-aged, healthy but otherwise a newbie with Concept 2 (6 months).

I've been rowing in both Shenzhen, China (humid, heavy pollution) and California.
My Shenzhen results are about 10% off my California times, which I attribute to the difference in diet, temperature, humidity and, crucially, air pollution.

There is another difference. My times may be 10% off in Shenzhen, but I am also "begging for air" in Shenzhen, which seldom happens in California (or I quickly recover).

What is the health effect of "desperately seeking air" in a terribly polluted environment?
Sure polluted environments are not healthy, but am I compounding the risk by this exercise and its intensity?
Should I cut the intensity? (to what level?)
Bring an oxygen tank?

Thanks.

Jim

[carlb]

What I recall from Physics class is that the number of molecules in any gas is constant at a given temperature and pressure. Humidity (H2O) displaces other molecules in the air so there is less O2 to breath. Pollution would also displace O2. When Pollution goes up it also seems to change some O2 to Ozone (O3) which humans can't breath.

I would guess if you Google "does air pollution affect athletes" there are plenty of articles from the Beijing Olympics.

There are takeoff performance tables for most airplanes that have adjustments for temp and humidity that would give you an idea of the impact.

[Bob S.]

What I recall from Physics class is that the number of molecules in any gas is constant at a given temperature and pressure. Humidity (H2O) displaces other molecules in the air so there is less O2 to breath. Pollution would also displace O2. When Pollution goes up it also seems to change some O2 to Ozone (O3) which humans can't breath.

I would guess if you Google "does air pollution affect athletes" there are plenty of articles from the Beijing Olympics.

There are takeoff performance tables for most airplanes that have adjustments for temp and humidity that would give you an idea of the impact.

At 100% humidity and 40°C, the vapor pressure of water is 55torr out of the 760torr norm at sea level, so the O2 pressure would be about 93% of what it would be in completely dry air. Of course, completely dry air would be unhealthy in its own way. For more normal conditions, say 50% humidity and 25°C, the VP of water is 12torr, so the O2 level would be about 98% of dry air. I haven't bothered to figure in the temperature effect on the O2 level - obviously it is lower at high temperatures - about 0.3% for each °C in that range. The altitude effect is much greater. I live at 4,000' elev. and the normal pressure is
656torr, about 86% of sea level pressure.

The effect of pollution depends on the kind of pollution. Particulate matter doesn't figure into it; the particles are far larger than molecules and their numbers are too small to have a significant pressure effect. It is the direct effect of the particles on the lungs that makes them very hazardous. Whether there is ozone or not depends on a very complex series of chemical reactions and may or not be present. There would be no significant loss of O2 due to ozone formation, but the toxicity of ozone is very high.

Bob S.

[Carl Watts]

Temperature and humidity have a massive impact on your times, more than 10% for me.

We have 60-70%+ humidity plus all the time over here and it affects the rate your sweat evapourates.

Temp is a killer, basically when you combine high humidity and high temps you can hardly train let alone race.

Currently it is winter here so temps are about 13 Degrees C so perfect time of the year for PB's over the next 3 months or so.

Would not consider short term pollution a big factor but long term exposure is going to affect your lungs in the same way that smoking does so thats going to affect your performance.

[carlb]

In the news today: China warns foreign embassies not to monitor pollution: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-china-18327865

The Shanghai US Embassy shows the air quality as Good or Moderate, but not Unhealthy, over the last 24 hours. http://shanghai.usembassy-china.org.cn/airmonitor.html

Beijing feed I just looked at ranges from Good to Very Unhealthy http://beijing.usembassy-china.org.cn/070109air.html

Curious if the OP can see these sites or their twitter feeds (twitter.com /#! /cgshanghaiair)?

Wearing an activated carbon filter mask may help prevent long term accumulation. I would want to reduce the long term exposure as much as possible.

[carlb]

In case the OP can't see them....
http://twitter.com/#!/cgshanghaiair

Tweets 27m Con Gen ShanghaiAir ?@CGShanghaiAir
06-05-2012 23:00; PM2.5; 3.0; 10; Good (at 24-hour exposure at this level)
06-05-2012 22:00; PM2.5; 18.0; 57; Moderate (at 24-hour exposure at this level)
06-05-2012 21:00; PM2.5; 18.0; 57; Moderate (at 24-hour exposure at this level)
06-05-2012 20:00; PM2.5; 13.0; 42; Good (at 24-hour exposure at this level)
06-05-2012 19:00; PM2.5; 14.0; 45; Good (at 24-hour exposure at this level)
06-05-2012 18:00; PM2.5; 17.0; 55; Moderate (at 24-hour exposure at this level)
06-05-2012 17:00; PM2.5; 20.0; 62; Moderate (at 24-hour exposure at this level)
06-05-2012 16:00; PM2.5; 27.0; 79; Moderate (at 24-hour exposure at this level)
06-05-2012 15:00; PM2.5; 10.0; 32; Good (at 24-hour exposure at this level)
06-05-2012 14:00; PM2.5; 13.0; 42; Good (at 24-hour exposure at this level)
06-05-2012 13:00; PM2.5; 17.0; 55; Moderate (at 24-hour exposure at this level)
06-04-2012 12:00 to 06-05-2012 11:59; PM2.5 24hr avg; 20.1; 62; Moderate
06-05-2012 12:00; PM2.5; 22.0; 67; Moderate (at 24-hour exposure at this level)
06-05-2012 11:00; PM2.5; 25.0; 74; Moderate (at 24-hour exposure at this level)
06-05-2012 10:00; PM2.5; 10.0; 32; Good (at 24-hour exposure at this level)
06-05-2012 09:00; PM2.5; 9.0; 29; Good (at 24-hour exposure at this level)
06-05-2012 08:00; PM2.5; 8.0; 26; Good (at 24-hour exposure at this level)
06-05-2012 07:00; PM2.5; 8.0; 26; Good (at 24-hour exposure at this level)
06-05-2012 06:00; PM2.5; 9.0; 29; Good (at 24-hour exposure at this level)
06-05-2012 05:00; PM2.5; 18.0; 57; Moderate (at 24-hour exposure at this level)

Looking back a bit there are some Unhealthy readings. Inbetween these it was Moderate.
06-04-2012 20:00; PM2.5; 40.0; 108; Unhealthy for Sensitive Groups (at 24-hour exposure at this level)
06-04-2012 18:00; PM2.5; 38.0; 105; Unhealthy for Sensitive Groups (at 24-hour exposure at this level)
06-04-2012 14:00; PM2.5; 37.0; 103; Unhealthy for Sensitive Groups (at 24-hour exposure at this level)
06-04-2012 12:00; PM2.5; 37.0; 103; Unhealthy for Sensitive Groups (at 24-hour exposure at this level)
06-04-2012 11:00; PM2.5; 41.0; 110; Unhealthy for Sensitive Groups (at 24-hour exposure at this level)
06-03-2012 22:00; PM2.5; 37.0; 103; Unhealthy for Sensitive Groups (at 24-hour exposure at this level)
06-03-2012 21:00; PM2.5; 42.0; 112; Unhealthy for Sensitive Groups (at 24-hour exposure at this level)
06-03-2012 20:00; PM2.5; 41.0; 110; Unhealthy for Sensitive Groups (at 24-hour exposure at this level)
06-03-2012 19:00; PM2.5; 44.0; 115; Unhealthy for Sensitive Groups (at 24-hour exposure at this level)


Air Quality Index (AQI) PM2.5 Health Advisory
---------------------
Good (0-50) None
Moderate (51-100) Unusually sensitive people should consider reducing prolonged or heavy exertion.
Unhealthy for Sensitive Groups (101-150) People with heart or lung disease, older adults, and children should reduce prolonged or heavy exertion.
Unhealthy (151-200) People with heart or lung disease, older adults, and children should avoid prolonged or heavy exertion; everyone else should reduce prolonged or heavy exertion.
Very Unhealthy (201-300) People with heart or lung disease, older adults, and children should avoid all physical activity outdoors. Everyone else should avoid prolonged or heavy exertion.
Hazardous (301-500) Everyone should avoid all physical activity outdoors; people with heart or lung disease, older adults, and children should remain indoors and keep activity levels low.

[jimrothstein]

Dear Bob, Carls:

Thanks for the thoughts and details.
Here's Shenzhen's info, per standard used by China
China might benefit from a bit of soul-searching, but best I leave that for another time and day.

As you've calculated, humidity/temp reduces available O2, which might explain my need to 'gulp air' here but not in California. But I also feel wise to trust my lungs (and teary eyes): the air I'm gulping is dirty air (O3, PM2.5 or just old-fashioned SOx, NOx etc) and this doesn't seem like very bright thing to do.

Perhaps if we had more people rowing ...

http://shanghaiist.com/2011/08/26/shenz ... plunge.php

[kayakr]

Sounds like exercise / pollution induced asthma.
Some times I can get this on the east coast in the summer at the beach.
Midwest coal power plant fumes + heat/sunlight + humidity/seawater + exercise = a tight chest