Can Clean air help to deal with stress?

Group 3: Altanhuyag Battsetseg, Kim Seung-Yeon(S.Y), Choi Yu Ri, Yoon Yae Ji, Kwon Sung Jin(S.J)

How the air quality related with stress???

We all have stress sometimes. Long-term stress can increase the risk of diseases like depression, heart disease and a variety of other problems .To live longer and healthier, we need to deal with stress properly. Is clean air really helpful manage stress?

Let’s talk about it !!

Clean air VS

Polluted air

Can clean air help in dealing with stress?YURI: I think the air quality doesn’t affect stress directly. In my opinion, there are others factors causing stress more than air pollution. To support my idea, I found some article about stress; the main causes of stress that arise due to the external environment were studied by Thomas H. Holmes and Richard H. Rahe, from the University of Washington. From the studies conducted by Holmes and Rahe, and also other studies that have been conducted, it seems that following are the biggest causes of present day stress levels in modern societies: Financial Problems, Workplace Stress, Personal Relationships, Health and Irritants.

S.J: I don't think so. People who have lived for a long time in the same place usually don't feel the air pollution because they are exposed for a long time and just adapted to such air pollution. But It doesn’t matter that you feel or not, the important thing is the air pollution can negatively affect your body every time and every where. There is an example I watched from documentary, which was about the difference of a heavy metal density in fat among people who have lived in great cities and the country. It showed me that people who live in more developed cities where air pollution is bad, have more heavy metal in their body. It may not cause stress right now but what about after few years or 10 years later? What if they get disease? It will be one of the reasons which occurs stress.

S.Y: yes, it’s true. When I’ve been to India, the air was really bad. However Indian people don’t feel uncomfortable about the air pollution. But In my case, I was under the stress all the time especially when I take an Autolikshaw. I think Indian people already adapted to bad air condition, so they don’t feel but it affect negatively all the time.

This is an Autolikshaw. There are no doors and windows, so I had to breathe the vehicles emission directly.

Yae Ji: I totally agree with you. People would not easily recognize the air pollution because they are already acclimated to the environment. I know this from my experience. Before going to another country, I never realized the seriousness of the air pollution in our country. For example, I spent my high school life in Australia and when I first went there, I could breathe the fresh air right away. On the other hand, when I came back to Korea for a holiday and as soon as I got off the air plane, I could not breathe properly and I could even smell the dust. I felt like breathing something harmful so I stopped breathing for a while and didn’t want to breathe again. Breathing itself was really stressful for me. In this sense, it is clear that recognizing the air pollution is not easy unless people go to some place where the quality of air is extremely different from the place they used to stay all the time.

YURI: Well, while I lived in New York for 1 year, I felt the air condition was worse than Daegu, however it didn’t bother me that much. Instead, the other elements such as noisy and overcrowding gave me lots of stress. You can see how busy this city is and how stressful it is through this picture.

Walking on the crowded street makes me stressful.

Sally: Because of air pollution, actually I don’t stress down all the time too. But only when I think too much or when I have many things to do, I usually stress down.

S.Y: But breathing air pollution can be very stressful, especially if it smells bad. What if someone smokes besides you, how do you feel?

YURI: I really hate cigarette smoke though. Whenever I smell the smoke, I feel disgusting.

Yae Ji: My neighbor who lives downstairs is a very heavy smoker. So whenever I open the window after washing my clothes, the smoke comes through the window and the odor permeated all my clothes. Perfume doesn’t work to take the smell off. Besides, white clothes sometimes go grey because of the smoke. I am so stressed out all the time and every time when it happens I get very bad-tempered. I am sure I am not the only one who is the victim of the air pollution, in this case, second hand smoke, right?Sally: Yes, in Ulaanbaatar, capital of Mongolia air pollution is very high during winter. When I go out, smoke is quickly absorbed into my clothes. Then when I meet people, I just smell bad and smoke. Because of smell of smoke, I feel uncomfortable and it is very stressful. Actually I hate smell of cigarette too. When I hang out with my friends who smoke, they smoke for whole time. It is very bothersome to me and I couldn’t have fun.

Air quality in Ulaanbaatar

Air pollution during winter in Ulaanbaatar, capital of Mongolia.

S.J: In my case, I had done part time job in the internet cafe. Guests usually were heavy smokers. So I was exposed to smoke for a long time, at first I just hate smell of tobacco, too but after 1 week, I felt dizzy and headache. After 2weeks, I felt like vomiting and pressure on my chest. So, I hate not only smell but also components of smoke.S.Y: Yea, so I think the clean air can help relieve our stress. In 2002, I had to go to military and I was sad and scared. But when I saw the beautiful scenery and breathe in clean air in Jeju Island, I could forget the wariness about military service.

YURI: However, I think clean air can’t help get rid of stress completely. When I stayed in countryside, clean air made me feel great, but it couldn’t get rid of my stress because the main reasons of stress were not removed. In the same way, many people can live with less stress or almost none in the city which air quality is more serious than countryside. Therefore I believe clean air doesn’t have great influence on getting rid of stress.

Yae Ji: It is true that you get stressed not only because of the air pollution. However, unlike other things that put you under stress, serious air pollution makes you both physically and emotionally unhealthy - it can build up more stress. Just think about Yellow dust for instance.

Yae Ji: A month ago, I ran around the school ground in the morning when there was a serious yellow dust. And guess what? After that, I suffered from fatigue and had to take a day off school. Also, when there is a yellow dust, I cannot open the window or go out freely and that just adds up the stress. If you can not even run freely, how can you be emotionally healthy and be free of such a huge stress? I think it is difficult to say that you are not affected and stressed out by the air pollution.S.J: in my opinion, although clean air can't be original solution for your stress, it can be helpful way to alleviate that. When I was a sailor, I could see so many stars in the sky, usually air of the sea far from the land is very clean, and that made me feel happy because I have never seen that many stars in the land where air pollution is so bad.

Yae Ji: Yes, I agree, clean air can surely help you deal with the stress. When I was in Australia, I had a lot of stress because of lots of things other than air pollution such as racism, language barrier, homesick and so on. However, just going out with my friends, going to the beach or wherever there’s a beautiful scenery and clean air, I could refresh my mind and get away from all the stress. Still I couldn’t get rid of all the stress and yet it really worked because fresh air actually cleaned my blood and thinking and as a result, it helped me become healthier both mentally and physically. Therefore, I believe that clean air can be a great solution to handle the stress for a number of people in this complicated modern society.

Roman St parkland (here's photo I took in Australia)

Conclusion

•Air pollution could be one reason causing stress.

•Although the clean air can get rid of stress completely, it can help dealing with stress.

Thank you !