Chronic disease continues to increase in the United States. Many people know that poor eating habits, lack of exercise, drinking alcohol and smoking are the main causes of chronic disease. But there is an often overlooked and major cause of chronic disease: environmental toxins.
In America, air pollution is the largest source of environmental toxins, causing more than 100,000 premature deaths each year. Your biggest source of air pollution is your car or truck. Fortunately, there are ways to limit your exposure to this type of air pollution.
Why environmental toxins contribute to chronic disease
Air pollution is loaded with toxic chemicals. These chemicals enter our bodies in obvious ways, like breathing, but also in less obvious ways, like through our skin! These chemicals that come into contact with our skin are called either volatile organic compounds (VOCs) or semi-volatile organic compounds (SVOCs) and can be absorbed directly at levels equal to or greater than inhalation. From there they immediately enter our blood.
Air polluting chemicals also get a second chance to enter our bodies, much like “third-hand smoke” – by entering our homes or workplaces on our hands and clothes. These chemicals don’t just “break down” or magically disappear. They stick to the surfaces we touch, especially food, and are dispersed from our clothes indoors.
Usually, they fall into dust, which can appear anywhere with the slightest wind or air current. This contaminated dust can get into your food, cooking surfaces, dishes and utensils. This means you can pass them through your gastrointestinal tract and into your circulatory system even if you don’t inhale them.
Unfortunately, once these chemicals enter you (and the food you eat), they are stored in fatty tissues, bones, blood, and organs. Over time, they accumulate, increasing the risk of disease and premature death. But these chemicals don’t take years to cause problems. Studies show that strokes and heart attacks in cities increase on days of air pollution and shortly thereafter.
Car air pollution
The biggest source of exposure to these chemicals is your car or truck. Air pollution levels are concentrated around idling cars compared to ambient air pollution, and open air vents and windows while driving exposes you to additional air pollution. Fortunately, you can control and limit these effects.
Reduce vehicle downtime, reduce pollution
While switching to an electric car is one way to reduce your exposure to air pollution, they remain expensive. But there’s one way you can reduce your exposure to air pollution: Don’t let your car or truck idle.
An idling car creates concentrated ground-level air pollution, and choosing to idle reduces exposure to you and others (especially children) around your car. Turn off your car or truck when you are not driving it. It turns out that idling is also bad for your car’s health. Idling for more than 10 seconds will wear your engine – gasoline more or diesel – from turning off and restarting the engine. In cold weather, it is bad to warm up the engine without work, and it is better to drive the car slowly until the temperature gauge changes.
By reducing your idle time, you will not only avoid inhaling unwanted fumes and getting them on your skin, clothing, in grocery bags, etc. You also don’t expose others in your vicinity. Think about kids putting things in the back of the car or taking them out. It’s a win-win all around: turning off your car instead of idling it reduces pollution, extends the life of the car, and also saves money on gas and repairs.
Activate the air repeat button
Another thing you can do is to use the air reset button on your car. The air recirculation button should always be used with the windows closed. This is a symbol on every car with a U-shaped arrow next to it.
The air handling switch is important because it prevents dirty outside air from entering the cabin while also passing the cabin air through your vehicle’s HEPA filter to clean the air. Without the involvement of a HEPA filter, you’re basically collecting ambient air pollution and concentrated exhaust from cars and trucks near your cabin.
There are other benefits as well. In the summer, the air handling button actually cools the cabin air faster because the air conditioner doesn’t have to cool the hot incoming air. Thus, the cabin heats up faster in winter.
Avoid pollution as a pedestrian
While there are few ways to avoid air pollution while walking around the car, there are a few basic tips to keep in mind. First, if possible, walk across the wind from the car smoke so that the smoke does not blow on you. Second, hold your breath as you pass idling cars.
Air pollution is not just an idle threat
The chronic effects of air pollution should not be underestimated. It is associated with many common health conditions, from hypertension and emphysema to lung cancer, dementia, type 2 diabetes, pediatric asthma, and more. Significant health benefits could be achieved if the reckless idling of cars and trucks across America could be avoided, saving billions of gallons of gas and diesel each year.
Talk to your family doctor about air pollution and how to avoid it and possibly prevent or limit the severity of your illness. Staying healthy is a journey, but there are also plenty of creative solutions out there.
About Dr. Kazal
Louis A. Casal, Jr., MD, is a professor of community and family medicine at Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth in Hanover, New Hampshire, board certified in family medicine, and a member of the American Academy of Family Physicians.
