How can smog weather protect children's respiratory tract?

Since the beginning of this year, smog weather has appeared many times in the central and eastern regions of China. Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei, Pearl River Delta and Yangtze River Delta consume 42% of the country's coal and 52% of gasoline and diesel, and the emissions of sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxides and soot account for 30% of the country. The pollutant discharge per square kilometer is more than five times that of other areas. Monitoring shows that the number of haze days in these areas exceeds 100 every year, and some cities even exceed 200 days.

Recently, smoggy weather has enveloped most parts of central and eastern China, with PM2.5 index reaching the highest level in history and air quality reaching the level of serious pollution. In addition to a large number of pathogens such as bacteria and viruses, smog also contains hundreds of atmospheric chemical particles, such as mineral particles, sulfate, nitrate, fuel, automobile exhaust, etc., which can directly enter and attach to respiratory tract and alveoli, causing acute rhinitis and acute bronchitis. Experts say that it will take at least four or five years for smog weather to be effectively controlled.

There is a clear correlation between air particles and human health. Particle size determines the location and deposition of particles that eventually enter the respiratory tract. Particles larger than 10μm are eliminated by mucus in nasal cavity and respiratory tract, particles smaller than 10μm can enter nasal cavity, particles smaller than 7μm can enter throat, and particles smaller than 2.5μm (i.e. PM2.5) can reach alveoli and deposit, and enter blood circulation, leading to diseases related to cardiopulmonary dysfunction. PM2.5 is closely related to human respiratory diseases. The smaller the diameter, the deeper it enters the respiratory system. Short-term exposure can induce lung diseases, such as asthma, acute tracheitis and respiratory infection, while long-term exposure can lead to decreased lung function and chronic bronchitis.

Spring is the high incidence of respiratory diseases in children, and floating particles in the air make children with imperfect respiratory system more susceptible to various respiratory diseases. In cities, air pollutants are not easy to diffuse, which aggravates the toxicity of sulfur dioxide, carbon monoxide, nitrogen oxides and other substances and harms human health. Compared with adults, children are less resistant to harmful substances in the air.

Because children's body organs and system functions are not fully developed, smog is more harmful to children than adults. For example, smog weather is easy to form secondary organic aerosol pollution, in which sulfate and nitrate are the main components. Sulfur dioxide adsorbed on particulate matter is catalytically oxidized into sulfur trioxide, which forms a very fine sulfuric acid mist with water vapor, which can invade children's respiratory tract more deeply and has a stronger toxic effect on alveoli. Inhalation of sulfur dioxide and particulate matter at the same time will produce synergistic effect, which can lead to pulmonary edema or tracheitis in children in severe cases.

Parents are reminded to pay attention to protecting their children's respiratory system in foggy weather.

Children in haze weather will have the following diseases:

1, acute respiratory infection.

Physiologically, the child's respiratory tract is very delicate and fragile. Infants and young children have no nose hair, and the nasal cavity is shorter and less curved than that of adults. In the face of harmful substances, there is no filter barrier like nose hair, and they are more sensitive to bad weather because of the straight airway and unobstructed airflow. Harmful particles in smog can directly enter and attach to children's respiratory tract and alveoli, causing acute rhinitis and acute bronchitis. If not treated in time, it is easy to turn into pneumonia in children. If it coincides with the epidemic period of respiratory diseases such as influenza, smog weather will further promote the epidemic of such diseases.

2. Chronic respiratory diseases are aggravated.

For children with bronchial asthma, chronic bronchitis and other diseases, smog weather will make the disease acute or acute. Studies have shown that the increase of PM2.5 concentration is significantly related to the increase of the number of patients with respiratory diseases, and the increase of PM2.5 can increase the emergency room visit rate of asthmatic children. It should be noted that 1/3 of children's asthma only coughs without wheezing, which is called "cough variant asthma" and is easily misdiagnosed as bronchitis. Therefore, parents should never buy antibiotics and cough syrup for their children to treat themselves. It is best for children to take medicine under the guidance of a doctor, otherwise it is not conducive to their recovery.

3, conjunctivitis.

In foggy weather, particles in the air attach to the cornea, which may cause conjunctivitis. Conjunctivitis usually does not affect vision, but it is difficult to relieve itself. Therefore, once the child has symptoms such as frequent blinking, rubbing his eyes, rolling his eyes, and red blood in his eyes, he should see a doctor in time. For general eye discomfort, parents can use cold compress to help their children relieve discomfort symptoms.

4. Emotional instability

Cloudy days will also affect the baby's mood, because the weather is gloomy and the sun is dim all day, and the pineal gland in the baby will secrete more pineal hormone, which makes the concentration of thyroxine and adrenaline relatively low. Thyroxine and epinephrine are hormones that stimulate cells to work. Once reduced, the cells will be "lazy" and become extremely inactive, and the baby will appear listless.

5. Infectious diseases have increased.

Ultraviolet radiation in sunlight can promote the synthesis of vitamin D in human body, and the weakening of ultraviolet radiation in long-term smog weather can directly lead to the increase of children's risk of rickets. In addition, ultraviolet ray is the main weapon that nature kills some microorganisms in the atmosphere, such as bacteria and viruses. Haze weather weakens the ultraviolet rays in the surface layer, enhances the activity of infectious bacteria in the air and increases infectious diseases.

6. Children's health and development are impaired.

There are more and more studies on the toxicity of heavy metals in smog particles to children. Heavy metals can combine with hematoporphyrin in blood and damage the liver. After inhaling too much heavy metals, children's blood viscosity increases and oxygen content decreases, which will lead to chest tightness, dizziness and other symptoms. Lead in heavy metals has obvious damage to the nervous system and affects the development of children's nervous system and intelligence.

Parents should take the following measures in foggy weather:

1, try to reduce going out.

Although wearing a mask can prevent some dust from entering the nasal cavity, it can play a certain protective role. However, even professional medical masks have limited resistance to PM2.5, which has caused heated discussion recently, because even professional masks are mainly aimed at inhalable particles above PM3, but the resistance to inhalable particles below PM2.5 is not strong. Therefore, the most direct way to avoid children from being hurt is to reduce going out. Children who have the habit of doing morning exercises should stop in foggy days. Generally, the time from 6 am to 1 1 is a period of serious pollution, and the air at night is relatively clean. Parents may wish to take their children to exercise at night instead.

2, less window ventilation.

You should choose to open the window at noon with more sunshine and less pollutants, and don't spend too long. In addition, you can also plant a variety of green plants on your balcony, terrace and indoors, such as green crown plants such as green radish, evergreen and tiger orchid, to purify the indoor air. Using air purifiers, 80% of the air purifiers on the market mainly purify fine particles, which has a good effect on PM2.5, but pay attention to changing the filter frequently when using it.

Step 3 wear a mask.

Pupils can wear cotton cloth or N95 masks when they go out in the morning and evening to reduce the incidence of respiratory diseases. Tell children to walk as far away from the road as possible, because the concentration of pollutants is the highest when large cars enter the city during rush hours and at night. It is best not to let the children go out too early. The fog is heavy in the morning. As the sun comes out, the smog will ease. Tell children not to do too much exercise to avoid inhaling more pollutants into the lungs when they are short of breath.

4. The diet is light.

Eat less irritating food and more fresh vegetables and fruits, which can supplement various vitamins and inorganic salts, moisten the lungs and remove dryness, eliminate phlegm and relieve cough, and strengthen the spleen and kidney. Work and rest regularly, avoid overwork, drink more water, eat more tofu, milk and other foods. Eat less irritating water and eat more pears, lilies, loquats and diamonds that nourish yin and moisten the lungs. In the foggy season, if you feel dry, you can make your own throat moistening tea.

5. Do a good job of personal hygiene.

In order to prevent children from being infected with various viruses, children should avoid going out in foggy days. Parents should first change their coats and trousers, wash their faces and hands, and isolate the virus outside. When someone at home suffers from respiratory diseases such as colds, don't or reduce contact with children. Myopic children should not wear contact lenses in dusty weather, because dust enters their eyes, which can easily cause friction between dust and contact lenses and cause eye diseases. You can drink plenty of water, rinse your mouth and avoid dry mouth.

6. Keep warm properly.

At home, it is advisable to close the doors and windows and keep the indoor temperature at 18℃-22℃ to avoid excessive temperature difference. Keep the humidity in the children's room at 45%-55%, drink plenty of water and keep the respiratory tract moist.

Finally, I hope everyone will take care of the environment and give their children a bright future.