Delhi, one of the world’s most-polluted cities
*“With pollution levels this high, one shouldn’t be moving outside at all.”* Is It Worse to Exercise in Air Pollution Or Not to Exercise at All?
By  JOANNA SUGDEN and  ADITI MALHOTRA
http://blogs.wsj.com/indiarealtime/2015/12/03/is-it-worse-to-exercise-in-air- pollution-or-not-to-exercise-at-all/
*People jogged on a smoggy morning near Delhi’s India Gate monument, Nov. 15.  Agence France-Presse/Getty Images* *What is the greater evil for your health: Exercising in polluted air or not exercising at all?*
*If you live in a polluted city and check air quality readings as a daily ritual, you likely recognize the conundrum.*
*The monitors, which often color-code the likely impact on your health — from green for good to brown for bad — also come with a warning against physical exertion when atmospheric conditions reach unhealthy levels.*
* The elderly and children, as well as those with pre-existing heart and lung conditions, are cautioned not to exercise outdoors and if things get really bad, everyone is advised to keep activities levels low, even inside.*
*“You are breathing more deeply and more often when you exercise, and often through your mouth, so the air doesn’t pass through the nasal passages and doesn’t get filtered as much,” said Cedric X. Bryant, chief science officer at the American Council on Exercise, a nonprofit based in California.*
*Polluted air can contain high levels of nitrogen oxides, sulfur dioxides and ozone.*
*“To compound the issue, a lot of these gases settle on the outside of particulate matter, from diesel and petrol fumes, which can lodge in your lungs, so you are breathing in a mini bomb,” said Keith Prowse, medical adviser for the British Lung Foundation, a U.K.-based nonprofit.*
*Those fine and ultra-fine particles can cause inflammation in the lining of the lungs that can lead to chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, which causes permanent damage.*
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*The more of them you take in, the more dangerous for your respiratory health in the long term, says Dr. Prowse.*
*He advises waiting until the conditions improve before going outside for a long walk, run or game of soccer for example, or to workout indoors instead.*
*But what if the air-quality readings are consistently in the unhealthy to hazardous range as they are for parts of the year in Delhi and Beijing, and you don’t belong to a gym or have space for a treadmill at home? Is it worse for your health in the long-run not to exercise at all?*
*“It’s a bit of a dilemma, because exercise offers a great deal of benefits,” said Dr. Bryant of the American Council on Exercise.*
*The World Health Organization estimates that 3.2 million deaths annually can be linked to the effects of physical inactivity and that one in four adults globally is not active enough.*
*“The sad thing is that there hasn’t been enough high-quality research to really document the risk benefit ratio,” of exercising in polluted air, Dr. Bryant said.*

*One study carried out by researchers from the Netherlands looked at whether the health benefits of cycling outweigh the risks from air pollution and traffic accidents.*
*The research, published in 2010 in Environmental Health Perspectives, a journal published by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Sciences, found that for short trips, going by bicycle instead of in a car resulted in nine times more gains in life-expectancy than the losses in life years due to increased inhalation of air pollution and from traffic accidents.*
*The air quality in the Netherlands however might not be as poor as that in some cities.*
*Another study published in the journal Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise found long-term aerobic exercise could help mice protect themselves from the damaging effects of diesel exhaust particles on their lungs.*
*“Our results indicate a need for human studies that evaluate the pulmonary responses to aerobic exercise chronically performed in polluted areas,” they said.*
*Until there is more research on the subject, Dr. Bryant says therecommendation is to limit exercise to activity that can be done indoors or to do it at times of day when the air quality is slightly better, and avoid areas near roads, especially at rush hour.*
*Even masks worn while exercising outdoors don’t provide much protection, because they don’t stop the most-harmful tiny particulate matter, says Dr. Prowse of the British Lung Foundation.*
*Some lung doctors though recommend wearing disposable N95 respirator masks, which provide greater filtration than surgical face masks. But “even a properly fitted N95 respirator does not completely eliminate the risk of illness or death,” warns the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.*
*One doctor who specializes in treating patients in Delhi, one of the world’s most-polluted cities, puts it bluntly.*
*“Forget exercising,” said Vivek Nangia, director of the pulmonology department at Fortis Flt. Lt. Rajan Dhall Hospital.*
*“With pollution levels this high, one shouldn’t be moving outside at all.”*
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*Forwarded by:*
*Balbir Singh Sooch-Sikh Vichar Manch*
https://www.facebook.com/balbir.singh.355