We've all heard an 'air quality alert' mentioned during a weather forecast but what does it mean and how might it impact your health?
An air quality alert is issued when air pollution is high, so we can adjust our activities and avoid certain things, like being outdoors during the hottest part of the day. When heat and sunlight mix with exhaust from vehicles and industry, ozone levels rise. Ozone is one of five pollutants considered when calculating air quality. High ozone can aggravate asthma leading to coughing, wheezing or chest tightness, and allergy sufferers are impacted by ozone as well.
"For people who are exposed to ozone, there's a bit of a lag effect, so you may not realize in the moment that you are in a high ozone time period but then the next day or the following day, you can have actually heightened effect to allergies, the ozone primes you to be more allergic if you are already allergic," explained Dr. Sumita Khatri, Cleveland Clinic.
Doctors recommend people with asthma pay special attention to air quality and always carry their inhaler when an alert is issued. They should also avoid exercise in high traffic areas and during mid-day heat when air pollution is at its highest.
