The worst air in the world
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The worst air in the world
Johannesburg, South Africa, had the worst air quality in the world between late July and October 2023.
The city's air quality index (AQI) was 166, which is considered "unhealthy" by the World Health Organization. The main cause of the poor air quality was the burning of coal for electricity and heating. The city's air quality was worse than that of cities like Delhi, Beijing, and Los Angeles.
news24.com ↗ (opens in a new tab)
According to the UN special rapporteur on toxics and human rights, Marcos Orellana, air pollution in the country could be attributed mainly to 90% coal-generated electrical plants and mining.
Health Effects of Poor Air Quality
It is around this time that my health took a tumble. I had been feeling unwell for a while, but I didn't realize how bad the air quality was until I saw the news reports. I started experiencing shortness of breath, chest pain and a host of other Long Covid symptoms.
According to my Garmin watch, my HRV levels were also tanking during this time. Apparently for my age group, my HRV levels should be around 50-70 ms. My HRV levels were consistently below 30 ms during this time.
Covid seems to have done a number on my HRV, as you can see from the graph below. My HRV levels were already low before the air quality in Johannesburg took a turn for the worse, but they dropped even further during this time.
HRV, or heart rate variability, is a measure of the variation in time between each heartbeat. It's an indicator of how well your body can handle stress. A low HRV is associated with poor health and a high HRV is associated with good health.
You can see that by the end of November my HRV levels were returning to the baseline. Unfortunately, I continued to feel unwell for a few more months afterwards.
Note that apparently the Garmin HRV stats can lag quite a lot, so it's not an exact science and the correlation between the air quality and my HRV levels might be slightly off.
Improving My Air Quality
I had to do something about it, and fast. The very next day I did 3 things:
- I invested in an IQAir AirVisual Pro Indoor Air Quality Monitor. This device measures the air quality in my home and alerts me when it's time to open the windows or turn on the air purifiers. It was expensive, but now I knew how bad the air quality was in my home and could take steps to improve it.
- I improved my air quality at home. I installed air purifiers in my bedroom, living room and home office.
- I bump up my oxygen supply at night, naturally, by adding houseplants to my bedroom. These plants that produce oxygen at night include the snake plant, spider plant, aloe vera and the peace lily.
These last two step dramatically improved my indoor air quality and my health. I started feeling better within a few days.
However, I knew that I had to do more to protect myself from the poor outdoor air quality in Johannesburg. I avoided going out during peak pollution hours as much as possible.
Over the next few months the air quality improved, along with my health.
Sources:
- Johannesburg is witnessing the worst air quality in at least five years — what’s happening? (opens in a new tab)
- Air Quality Index (AQI) (opens in a new tab)
- Finding it hard to breathe? Blame it on the coal (opens in a new tab)
- Johannesburg air quality index (opens in a new tab)
- Finding it hard to breathe? Air quality in Joburg worst in the world, according to index (opens in a new tab)