Kids & Air Quality – How to keep Both Safes

Kids are one category of the age group we all forget when talking about air quality and air pollution. They also should be given an equal amount of priority as the allergy community, elders, and those who suffer from these respiratory problems severely.

Sometimes younger age community is the time period where we can quickly identify most of the symptoms related to most lousy air quality situations. Therefore, characterizing them at an early age is one of the main requirements, and having a proper understanding of them from time to time is counted as a plus point in the future.

So today, know Your Facts, let’s talk about Kids & Air Quality; what can we do to keep them both safe.

At the younger age of a kid, their respiratory system is not fully developed. So same as other kinds of organs, their lungs also are keep growing until they become an adult.

Therefore, in such a case, total defense against any air pollutant cannot be 100% controlled as an older person. But because kids are exposed to higher atmospheric volume than the average person due to their activity on a daily basis, they are also required extra health tips to be followed.

Air pollution with Newborns

When we check the records, we can see there is a direct link between changing environmental conditions and the number of newborn kids’ health problems. Mostly like

1. Brain damage
2. Inflammation
3. Blood disorders
4. Lower-respiratory infections
5. Diarrheal diseases and More

This health condition and other kinds of health abnormities that come from harmful air pollution are leading to over 1.8 million estimated deaths count of newborns and nearly one month of age kids worldwide.

So you can see, it’s nothing but a severe problem which can impact on population growth in one day near future.

Worse case is, if you have got these lousy health problems caused by bad atmospheric conditions, as a pregnant mother, there is always a linkage between your health your newborn kid’s health malfunction.

It Limits the Kids Growth

Records of WHO says, over 93% of kids under 15 years of old are exposed to polluted air daily, and a considerable amount them are dying.

Others are suffering from several health infections. Even you are overlooked, it might come in the form of a lack of your kid’s growth, which is obviously not like the form of the disease.

This can be most noticed in lower or middle-income generating countries due to lack of awareness and disregard the excellent air quality as a basic need of human beings.

According to the latest research, kids’ brain development at their younger ages is susceptible to future growth and decision-making capacity.

Even with small amounts of toxic levels, that can quickly damage without our proper attention. If your kids are exposing polluted atmospheric conditions for a more extended period, his

1. Optimal thinking capacity
2. Learning curve
3. Health lifestyle
4. Memory capacity
5. Linguistic and Motor skills etc. In a severe risk of multiple ways.

Also, another situation case is there are some kids’ performance issues in schools and social backwardness which limit their capacity to enhance their skills. Mostly like

1. Anxiety
2. Depression
3. Memory and intelligence problems
4. attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder
   

These also can be developed in kids, in their growing up process, with the impact of the polluted toxic air conditions.
Apart from mental issues, it can be seen following physics problems too.

1. Irregular heartbeat
2. Difficult in breathing
3. Issues in lung function
4. Issues in organ development
5. Problems in body weights

Other than a grown person, in the development path of kids, any minor deviation can lead to a bad outcome in the future. In such a case, it is creating a proper air atmospheric condition always plays a big task in that process.

It makes Kids Sick too

We all know lousy air levels can lead to bad health, even though you are a kid or grow up adult. But the problem is damage that can cause to kids are higher than an average person.

This is due mainly to their lack of developed immune system, and lower-level experiences face such conditions. As a parent, we need to make them comfortable in the growing-up process and make them vital to develop with a shield of awareness.

1. Asthma

Same as typical asthma, childhood asthma is caused number of triggers like dust, pollen that easily inflame your inner airways, paths, and lungs as a step for human body protection when it goes in over level.

Most of these conditions are identified or developed while kids are in the playground, at sports, school, mainly from the outdoor activities with playful moods.

Other than quick hospitalizations, there might be several “No school days” and emergency visits for kids from time to time. If your kids have got asthma problems, inform the few closest ones of his to take precautions in case of an emergency.

If you got asthma as a kid, it could not be 100% cured. It stays until you are an adult. But it can be easily controlled and applied to your daily lifestyle quickly. Other than extra steps with safety, kids with asthma are just normal all the time.

What can we do

1. Know your triggers and avoid them as possible
2. Take your asthma medications (just in case)
3. Have an Asthma Action Plan
4. Keep in fit
5. Quit smoking
6. Stay away from viral diseases

Actually, most of them are the task you should as an average healthy person to be fit. As an asthma person, this life does not make you an average person. It makes you more than better. ( Reference )

2. Pneumonia

Infections also cause pneumonia in your respiratory system with bad air quality. In this case, your lungs are filling with fluids, and it makes your breathing very difficult. Imagine how hard that is for kids who got a weaker immune system than an average person.

Records of the UNICEF say there is one kid’s death caused due to pneumonia every 39 seconds around the globe. Most of them are preventable.

That might make you how complicated this problem has spread between kids.

Bad air quality invariably leads to pneumonia conditions, and the problem is it can be easily spread through airborne particles like cough or sneeze or sometimes fluids.

Therefore, minimizing associating people with such sicknesses can get infected with pneumonia.

If kids also have such health breakdowns, usage of prescribed antibiotics is one of the good answers. Due to filled fluids, this health condition reduces the oxygen supplement to blood, and a proper cleaning ventilation process is always recommended. (Reference)

What can we do to control or stop pneumonia?

1. Upgrade kids health care
2. Limit them to polluted air conditions
3. Easy reach of families, and to have the proper training, medicines, and diagnostic tools

Apart from these, there are several health conditions caused due to air pollution

1. Coughs
2. Wheezing
3. Lungs with non-Properly working
4. Lung Cancer and more

How to Keep safe kids from Air pollution

If you are a parent, worrying about your kids’ health is recently is a more critical requirement when air quality comes into the stage that has become much wider and advanced.

As a precaution, there are several things that we can manage to set up.

1. Set up and maintain a HAVC system

Records say Indoor air quality is much worse than outdoors due to the limited atmosphere circulating on and on with time.

Setting up a HAVC (Heating, Ventilation, and Air-Conditioning) system is the best option you can have to clean the air quality all the time. After you set up, it maintains and updates the process neglect is the main mistake you make, which worsens the situation.

Filters and other utilities are needed to be updated and replaced with existing season conditions.

Install a new HAVC system is a high-cost process. But it is a long-term investment that adds extra value to the property. But in all the seasons, the comfortable atmosphere it creates and the protection it develops are immeasurable.

That might strongly agree with you if you’re a family person with kids.

2. Minimize Indoor Pollution

As mentioned earlier, indoor air quality is much worse than outdoor. Even though kids are very playful outdoors, they can quickly get sick due to bad indoor air quality. There might be several factors behind this

1. Fuel-burning Combustion
2. Tobacco Usage
3. Building Materials and furnishings
   1. asbestos-containing insulation
   2. flooring, upholstery, or carpet
   3. Furniture and wood products
4. Excess moisture
5. Issues and HAVC systems
6. Issues in personal hygiene
7. Impacts of outdoor sources
   1. Particle matters
   2. Pollen
   3. Pesticides

If you live with kids, maintaining these factors in the least amount is a “must” thing more than adult.
But practically managing them, keeping them in a low count is always beneficial to everyone.

3. Know about AQI level

AQI (Air Quality Index) is a method of reporting air quality in a particular location daily. This record may benefit kids who suffer from a bad respiratory condition on a day out.

1. Ground-level ozone
2. Particle pollution (also known as particulate matter)
3. Carbon monoxide
4. Sulfur dioxide
5. Nitrogen dioxide

According to EPA, AQI level is measured as a numerical value in a particular region.

1. Good – (AQI 0-50) –

Air quality is considered satisfactory, and air pollution poses little or no risk.

2. Moderate – (AQI 51-100) –

Air quality is acceptable; however, for some pollutants, there may be a moderate health concern for a minimal number of people

3. Unhealthy to Sensitive Groups- ( AQI 101-150) –

Although the general public is not likely to be affected at this AQI range, people with lung diseases, older adults, and children are at greater risk from exposure to ozone. In contrast, persons with heart and lung disease, older adults, and children are at greater risk from the presence of particles in the air.

4. Unhealthy-(AQI 151-200)-

Not only Sensitive groups, everyone feels unhealthy air quality, Sensitive groups feel serious health effects

5. Very Unhealthy-(AQI 201-300)-

Severe health impacts for everyone

6. Hazardous-(AQI 300<)

Health warning emergency to the entire population

4. Wear Face Masks

With the pandemic situation, we all started a new culture of face masks to be away from virus attacks airborne. But it is a practical situation of managing and keeping away from millions of health-hazardous air pollutants too.

To kids and the adult community, wearing a mask in daily working routine masks a self-protective atmosphere. There are several kinds of masks in the market.

Masks

1. Cloth Masks
2. Disposable Masks
3. Standard Masks

If a kid is under two years old, wearing a mask cannot be recommended. If you are selecting one, always go with a mask with a size which seals the nose and mouth properly. Managed disposable masks do this job if you replace them from time to time.

Respirators

1. NIOH-Approves Respirators – KN95 / N95
2. Sealed

When you are selecting a respirator for kids, always go with NIOH approved respirators. They primarily have designed for adult workplaces in smaller sizes.

5. Use an Air purifier

An air purifier is the best way to keep you away from several air pollutants. It can manage to set up mobile clean air condition in a limited area. Depending on your requirements, there are several categories in air purifiers.

You can easily manage to set up an air purifier in the children’s bedroom for which increase that room protection to a noticeable level.

Mostly this concept is beneficial with kids who have allergy and asthma sicknesses from time to time.
Even in cars or your limited small room, mobile air purifiers in the markets can be used in several price ranges.

6. Maintain a doctor’s consultancy

If you are a parent with a kid, try to maintain a private doctor consultation service related to this topic. Most of the community disregarded such a consultancy background because it was not on the “old doctor bucket list.”

But with existing conditions, now we have to be worried about many factors that were not big in the past.

If your kid suffers from respiratory system-related sickness, maintaining such guidance might be very helpful in advance steps or emergencies.

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