How Air Quality Affects Your Ability to Exercise
If the air quality is poor – for example, due to smoke from forest fires – we are not advised to exercise outdoors. Let’s talk about why and what you can do instead.
You Breathe More When You Exercise
Exercise is a particular challenge on smoky days because exercise simply makes you breathe more. The harder your body works, the more oxygen you need and therefore the more air you have to draw in to get it.
Many components of polluted air are harmful to our health, but among the most problematic are PM2.5 particles smaller than 2.5 microns. (By comparison, dust and pollen are generally classified as PM10, ten microns and below.) These small particles can penetrate deeper into the lungs. Smoke or polluted air containing many PM2.5 particles can irritate the eyes, nose, throat, and lungs, and cause coughing and shortness of breath.
Indoor air is usually cleaner than outside.
When the air quality is poor, we are generally prohibited from outdoor sports. However, indoor air quality can vary.
Some houses, especially newer and more energy efficient ones, separate the indoor air well from the outside air, while others have fewer leaks. If your home is older or you are in the habit of keeping windows open, there may also be a lot of particulate matter in the room. Close windows, use appropriate air conditioning vents and an air purifier.
This means that indoor exercise is almost always better than outdoor exercise for air quality, although if indoor air is bad enough it can still irritate your lungs. Now is a good time to find out what workout you can do in the room, whether it’s a video on YouTube , or jumping on a stationary bike . However, on the worst days, it might be better to just take a day off and wait for the air to improve.
How bad is it to do sports?
There is no single definite answer to this question, but here are some recommendations.
First, if the Air Quality Index (AQI) is 50 or below, the benefits of exercise may outweigh the risk of pollution. Research from 2016 and discussed here at Outside shows that short workouts are appropriate for this level. For more information, the Yolo-Solano Air Quality Management area in California has a table to help you decide which exercises are appropriate for different AQI levels.
They say that after 200 you can not do it in the fresh air at all. Between 151 and 200 years old (“bad for everyone”) any exercise done outdoors should have plenty of rest time and it would be best to bring something indoors if you can. Between 100 and 150 (“harmful to sensitive groups”) short outdoor activities are considered acceptable, and team or training sessions should be less intense. Below 100, the chart considers it to be a “good day for walking.”
Know if you are a sensitive group
However, if you belong to one of these sensitive groups, the table advises you to monitor your symptoms as air quality deteriorates. The very young and old – under 12 or over 65 – are vulnerable groups. People with asthma or lung disease, or those who are pregnant should monitor their symptoms and reduce outdoor activity, even if others are okay.
Allergist and pulmonologist R. Sharon Chintraja told Medscape that she is adjusting medications and plans for some patients and asks them to contact them if they have more breathing problems than usual. If you have lung disease or are in another vulnerable group, you may want to talk to your doctor about how you should manage your increased health risks during the bushfire season.
Air quality matters all day, not just when you exercise, so spending time in clean air and even wearing an N95 mask can help reduce the total number of particles you breathe. At the time, cloth masks did not protect anywhere near , like respirators , Chintraja told Medscape, they could be better than nothing.