Health issues and costs

 

What impact does poor air quality have on your health?

 

Breathing is an essential part of living; it is vital that we have good quality, clean air.

 

Driving your car causes pollutant issues. In one year a car can produce four times its own weight in carbon monoxide alone.
 

The main pollutants that can affect you, according to the Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs are:

 

• Nitrogen dioxide/sulphur dioxide and ozone gases that irritate the airways of the lungs, increasing respiratory problems such as asthma.
• Carbon monoxide, which is emitted in the exhaust of your car. This reduces the ability of blood to deliver oxygen to the body's vital tissues, affecting the cardiovascular and nervous system.
• Particles. These fine elements can be carried deep into the lungs where they can cause inflammation and a worsening of heart and lung disease.
  

By choosing to walk or cycle for a short journey instead of using your car, you are not only reducing the amount of pollution, you are improving your own personal health.

 

Almost one in four five-year olds and one in three 11 year olds is over weight or obese,  (The Health and Social Care Information Centre). Shadow Health Secretary Andrew Lansley said: "In the last decade British children have got fatter faster than anywhere else in Western Europe. We are at risk of an epidemic of vascular diseases as a result."

 

Children are not the only ones to be affected by excess weight. The National Audit office has stated that obesity in England has tripled over the last 20 years and continues to rise. Most adults in England are now overweight and one in five is obese.