The air we breathe is a complex mixture of different gases and pollutants. About 78% of the Earth's atmosphere is made up of nitrogen, and of course there is a lot of oxygen in the air we breathe. In addition to these, we inhale water vapor, pollen, smoke, dust, and many other microscopic particles every day. For the purposes of this article, we will be interested in dust, which consists of dead skin cells, tiny fabric fibers, microplastics, and mineral particles like sand and soil. We don't even think about it, but every day we have to inhale countless dust particles. A very interesting question arises: what happens to the body when all this dirt gets into it?
Every day we inhale a huge amount of dust, and the body tries to fight it. Source: southernqualityductcleaning.com
Contents
- 1 How much dust does a person inhale every day
- 2 What happens when we breathe dust
- 3 What happens if you inhale a lot of dust
- 4 Microplastics in the air
How much dust does a person inhale every day
The amount of dust inhaled depends on the surrounding conditions. It is logical that people living outside the city inhale the least amount of pollution because they are in nature. But natural air cannot be called perfectly clean either, because it contains a lot of plant pollen. In cities, the air is especially dirty because factories operate there and millions of cars drive there.
The air in big cities is always saturated with harmful substances due to the abundance of factories and transport. Source: dia-logika.ru
It turns out that no matter where a person lives, he is never protected from dust. The exact amount of dust inhaled by a person is unknown. Some sources say that on average, each person inhales up to 220 million small dust particles daily. Other sources say that a person inhales about 12 thousand liters of air per day, and each liter contains up to 500 thousand dust particles.
Read also: What is dust and is it true that it consists of skin particles?
What happens when we breathe dust
Dust is tiny foreign objects that only cause harm. Therefore, our body tries in every possible way to protect itself from them.
First of all, dusty air enters the nose, which, thanks to the presence of tiny hairs and mucus, is an excellent filter. Most large dust particles settle in the nasal cavity until a person sneezes or blows his nose.
First of all, our nose protects us from dust. Source: kakprosto.ru
Smaller dust particles penetrate further and settle on tiny hairs (cilia) that line the walls of the airways. These hairs then move mucus with trapped dust particles upward for elimination from the body.
If the dust manages to get even further, it gets into the alveoli of the lungs. These are the small air sacs that play a key role in breathing, helping oxygen from the inhaled air to enter the blood and at the same time remove carbon dioxide from the blood into the lungs. The pulmonary alveoli contain special cells called macrophages that destroy the smallest dust particles so that they do not cause inflammation.
Inside the cells there are macrophages that capture dust and bacteria, and then destroy them. Source: rossaprimavera.ru
The immune system also plays a huge role in protecting the body. When we breathe, pathogens always penetrate us, and antibodies with other protective proteins try to destroy them.
What happens if you inhale a lot of dust
In heavily polluted cities, at construction sites and many other places, people inhale much more dust than usual. All of the above filters inside our body fail to cope with protection, which causes serious harm to the body.
First of all, dust that gets into the respiratory tract causes sneezing and coughing because it causes irritation and the body tries to get rid of it in every possible way. Sneezing and coughing are accompanied by mucus secretion, especially in people with allergies – dust often contains microscopic mites and other causative agents of allergic reactions.
Frequent visits to dusty places are detrimental to health. Source: fishki.net
If a person lives in a polluted city or works in a dusty job for a long time, their risk of developing lung diseases increases. For example, if dust affects the respiratory system for too long, a person can develop chronic bronchitis.
Read also: How dangerous is house dust?
Microplastics in the air
Microplastics deserve special attention – this is the name for plastic particles up to 5 millimeters in size. We are surrounded by many plastic things, which, when worn out, pollute the surrounding space with dust particles. According to scientists, every week we inhale so much microplastic that you can make an entire business card out of it. And this information is very frightening.
Microplastics also enter our bodies with water and food. Source: ratnik.tv
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Large particles of microplastics usually settle on the mucous membrane of the nose. But the smallest particles, called nanoplastics, penetrate deep into the lung tissue, where gas exchange occurs. Scientists do not yet know how these particles affect human health in the long term. But there is clearly nothing good about them, because the results of one study showed that microplastics can even change the shape of the lungs.