If you are in good health the levels of air pollution in
the UK are low enough that you should suffer no serious
short term side effects.
On rare occasions very high levels of pollution may cause some
people to feel eye irritation, coughing may occur and
breathing may become painful.
People with lung diseases or heart conditions are at greater
risk from air pollution especially those who are elderly.
Increases in hospital admissions and premature deaths of the
seriously ill can rise with the increase of pollutant levels in the
atmosphere.
Asthmatics may find air pollution can trigger attacks or
cause increased use of inhalers.
However, there is very little evidence that air pollution
causes asthma to develop.
If your child has asthma they should be able to take part in
physical exercise, but they may need to make use of their inhaler
before they start. Children should not need to stay away from
school due to asthma.
Smoking will have a much greater effect on your health than air
pollution. If you give up smoking you are less likely to suffer
from lung and heart diseases which can be affected by the levels of
pollution.
Quitting smoking will also decrease your vulnerability to the short
term effects of air pollution.
