Is Short-term Air Pollution Making us More Anxious, Forgetful, and Depressed?
Everyday we walk out of our home and breathe in. The problem is we are breathing in tiny particles of pollutants from cars, trucks, manufacturing plants, and even wildfires. You may think it ends up in just a little tickle in your throat, but it’s actually affecting our mental health. A recent study out of Shandong University found that short term air pollution is making us more forgetful, anxious, and depressed.
Globally, mental disorders affect an estimated 140 million older adults over the age of 60 with depression, anxiety, and cognitive impairments. Between 2000 and 2019, we have globally spent $1.7 trillion on mental health disorders.
Due to urbanization and industrialization, ambient air pollution is among the most important environmental risk factors that seriously affect mental health.
The study revealed that multiple air pollutants can induce interactive mental health risks (cognitive impairment, depression symptoms and anxiety) through direct or indirect pathways. Prior studies have found that air pollution triggers depression-like symptoms through inflammation, creates dementia symptoms, and interferes with dopamine signaling. Maybe that’s why we are so addicted to coffee?
Who Is Most Affected By Air Pollution?
The study found that small particles of pollution, called PM2.5, interacts with other pollutants and temperature exposure to mean that people were more likely to forget the correct month or year and appointments. Air pollution also impacted sleep disturbance and led to less interest when people were less social with their peers and family.
More suprising was that certain people were more affected than others. Air pollution-related mental health resilience was relatively worse for females, participants aged 65–75 years, and those with lower education levels.
What are the Solutions?
Fortunately we can take action to reduce impacts of air pollution on mental health. For example, a reduction in the number of pollution days below the median level was associated with a 5% decrease in the chances of forgetting the correct month or year or forgetting appointments. Reducing air pollution significantly can even improve these mental health issues by 50%.
The authors noted that strategies addressing memory lapses (e.g., date/appointment for-getting) could narrow sex/education-related resilience gaps, while interventions targeting depression/anxiety are pivotal for age-related disparities.
Technology-driven memory support such as smart wearables and apps could send air pollution reminders, alongside home automation systems broadcasting daily schedules with air quality updates.
Community-based memory training: could link air pollution awareness to memory skills via interactive modules.
Multi-faceted depression/anxiety interventions such as mobile health apps delivering age-tailored counseling and mood tracking tied to real-time air pollution data.
Wearable devices monitoring physiological signals to trigger automated anxiety relief strategies.
Policy support like subsidized air purifiers for high-risk households and workplace mental health screenings during pollution peaks.
