5 Simple Ways to Detox from the Ills of Air Pollution
Whether it’s to upgrade mood, or lose weight, or have a blissful night’s sleep, most of the people in my tribe are on a personal mission to reclaim health and vitality. This can be achieved by using food as information for your hormones, adopting a whole lot of self love and tweaking your lifestyle in a way that will directly benefit you. What many people don’t realize is that harms to your health might be coming from inconspicuous sources, like air pollution.
I write about detoxing from environmental toxins in my all my books, especially Younger and Brain Body Diet. We know that toxins cause major disruptions to hormones and aging, and have been found to increase the risk of stroke.
Nurses’ Study on Air Pollution and Autism
In a recent study conducted by Harvard, researchers found that women who lived in areas with higher levels of air pollution were two times as likely to give birth to children with autism. This extensive study began in 1989 at the Brigham and Women’s Hospital, where I happened to be hanging out as a medical student. It involved 116,430 nurses and from that group, and the authors studied 325 women who had at least one child with autism, compared to 22,000 control women with children who did not have autism.
This study has implications far beyond autism. Mercury toxicity is something I see commonly in my practice, and I’ve experienced it myself. We all have a sense that air pollution is bad for our health, but this is gigantic news because of the direct relationship between the crap you breath and the health of your baby.
In other words: Listen UP!
Researchers looked at levels of diesel, lead, manganese, mercury, methylene chloride and other pollutants and when they took into account factors such as smoking, economic standing, and geography, they found a strong link between levels of air pollution and the percentage of children born with autism.
Oh baby, baby
How was I supposed to know
That somethin’ wasn’t right here
– Britney Spears, …Baby, One More Time
The chemicals listed in the study are known neurotoxins, and are also known to be passed from the mother to her developing fetus.
Home, Toxic Home
What’s especially scary about this study is that I am sure none of these mothers were actively trying to harm a developing fetus. In fact, I’m sure that most of them were taking their prenatal vitamins, exercising, and avoiding fish and alcohol. In this case, it was their environment that was toxic.
This makes the important point that while we may be making smart health decisions within our day-to-day life, there are other important factors to take into consideration. If your town is plagued with smog, or you live near a freeway, or there is a higher-than-average amount of particulate matter in the air you breathe, your decision to live (and drive, and have a family) in that area may affect more people than you know.
5 Ways to be More Careful About Air Pollution Exposure
While I know that we can’t all afford to move to the pristine wilderness (and that it would quickly stop being pristine!), there are still steps we can all take to make ourselves, our future children, and our environments cleaner.
1. Do a little research. See what the EPA says about your neighborhood. Could air pollution or other environmental hazards be negatively affecting the health of you and your family?
2. Remove those shoes. You’ve heard me rave about shoegasms, but keep those shoes at the door. You carry those nasty pollutants into your house, where you spend most of your time and sleep. Keep the toxin count down by keeping the shoes at the door.
3. Buy organic food, clothes, and home furnishings. That includes your sofa (full of flame retardants) and mattress (ditto). Not only will you absorb fewer toxins but hopefully you will help shape an economy in which all businesses are held to the highest green standards.
4. Be a conscientious commuter. Carpool, take public transit, bike, walk, or invest in a hybrid or electric vehicle. Good karma points, and you may burn a few calories in the process!
5. Reduce, reuse and recycle. It isn’t just cars that pollute – manufacturing plants and other factories are a major source of the contaminants in our world. Reduce their output by reducing your consumption.
What steps have you taken to make your environment healthier? Share with me in the comments below.
Sources:
Jurewicz J, Polańska K, Hanke W. Exposure to widespread environmental toxicants and children’s cognitive development and behavioral problems. Int J Occup Med Environ Health. 2013 May 28.
Kim M, Bae M, Na H, Yang M. J Environ Sci Health C. Environmental toxicants–induced epigenetic alterations and their reversers. Environ Carcinog Ecotoxicol Rev. 2012
Roberts AL, Lyall K, Hart JE, Laden F, Just AC, Bobb JF, Koenen KC, Ascherio A, Weisskopf MG. Perinatal Air Pollutant Exposures and Autism Spectrum Disorder in the Children of Nurses’ Health Study II Participants. Environmental Health Perspectives, 2013. http://ehp.niehs.nih.gov/1206187/