Health and Wildfire Smoke

It’s pretty clear that wildfires are increasing, and with them smoke and bad air quality.[1] When the air quality drops it can be hard to navigate health and wildfire smoke. Especially for us outdoorsy folks. I wanted to gather a few tips that have helped me to manage my outdoor time despite the wildfire seasons.

 

First off why does is health and wildfire smoke a concern and how does it affect us and our ability to get outside?

 

Let’s start with the obvious- breathing in smoky air sucks. Not only does it smell bad, but it can quickly irritate the lungs. Especially when you are exercising and breathing heavily and deeply.

 

It’s important to note that wildfire smoke can contain a mix of gas and particulates from organic matter as well as chemicals (if human made structures are also being burnt). Gases and fine particulate matter can penetrate deep into the tissues of the lungs. Some of this cause  temporary irritation and inflammation. Some gas and particulates can cause long term health problems. [2]

 

We can’t stop fires or change outdoor air quality. But below are 4 things we CAN do.

 

4 Things WE CAN DO

1. Clean and improve our air WHEN we can

 

You do have control over your indoor air quality. Wildfire smoke can creep inside- especially if you don’t have air conditioning. Many of us are used to cooling by opening windows or using swamp coolers. Both of which will introduce outside air. If you can’t or don’t want to install AC invest in indoor air filters.

 

You can also filter air when outside by wearing a mask. Yes, you heard me. A mask designed to filter out fine particulates can allow you to get outside during extremely poor air quality. Does wearing a mask while exercising suck? Yes, yes it does. But so does cancer or chronic lung inflammation. It’s just a personal choice here.

 

I reserve mask wearing as my last choice option to still get time in nature and movement.

 

**Actionable Tip:** Invest in a high-efficiency particulate air (HEPA) filter for your home. HEPA filters can capture fine particles, including those from smoke. When possible, keep windows and doors closed.

 

For a mask, recognize that cloth wont filter fine particulates. Instead consider an N95 mask. These masks can significantly reduce your exposure to harmful particles when you need to be outside

 

 

2. Timing Matters- Monitor Air Quality

Staying informed about the air quality and even watching weather modeling can help you predict lower and higher days of smoke. I’ve been able to watch weather predictions to figure out what days smoke will be the highest. Pay special attention to shifts in wind directions that can blow in smoke.

 

I also watch the air quality trend throughout the day. Both looking at modeling and actually looking outside throughout the day.

 

In my area I notice that smoke will settle lower at night and slowly rise throughout the day with the increase in temperature. With access to higher elevation trails this gives me a window to get out in early and hike. Even a slight improvement in air quality can help.

 

**Actionable Tip:** Sign up for air quality alerts from local weather services or use apps that provide real-time air quality updates. Various online resources, such as AirNow (airnow.gov), provide real-time air quality information. The Air Quality Index (AQI) categorizes air quality into six levels, from “Good” to “Hazardous.”

 

 

3. Improve your ability to Detox

One way to keep your health with wildfire smoke is to support your natural detox pathways. Hydration and nutrition play vital roles in detox. Drinking plenty of water helps your body flush out toxins and stay hydrated. Your micronutrients (vitamins, minerals & phytonutrients) play an important role in breaking down toxins (in the liver) so that you can eliminate them.

 

A great way to increase micronutrients can be nutrient dense water (check out my article here). Plants, specifically fruits and vegetables are high in all micronutrients. I’m sure that’s not a surprise, but what might be is that animal products are also good sources of some vitamins and minerals. Specifically animal products when the animals have maintained a normal healthy diet (grass or open range eating instead of corn or soy)

 

You can check out more tips for food to support health with wildfires at the Oregon State article.[3]

 

**Actionable Tip:** Try to drink plenty of filtered water every day. Incorporate a variety of fruits, vegetables, and well sourced proteins into your diet. Foods rich in antioxidants, such as berries, nuts, and leafy greens, can help combat the oxidative stress caused by smoke inhalation.

 

4. Breathing exercises to improve health lung function

In addition to the above why not support healthy lungs in general. Taking time to increase lung health can help mitigate damage during fire season and make your lungs function better in general. I highly encourage you to try out some breathing exercises.

 

 

Breathing exercises can strengthen your lungs and improve your lung capacity. Performance based breathing techniques are great ways to improve endurance and lung function.

 

This includes techniques like diaphragmatic breathing, pursed-lip breathing and nasal breathing. The first two increases the volume of air getting into the lungs. The latter has been shown in some studies to increase volume and moisture levels  and to filter air before entering lungs.[4]

 

When not exercising you can still work to improve breathing through breath work at home. There are a variety of breathing exercises you can try. Box breathing, breathing meditation or even hyperventilation- popularized by Wim Hof.

 

**Actionable Tip:** Spend a few minutes each day practicing deep breathing exercises. There are great free resources online and guided exercises. Try a few out and figure out which ones feel good for you.

 

 

In conclusion

Living in high wildfire smoke areas isn’t something we have a lot of control over. However, we can do things to mitigate the impact.  We can work to improve our air quality and monitor and time our activities.  We can also build more resilience in the body by helping support our ability to detox and improving our lung function and breathing. These steps can allow us to still get some much-needed time outdoors and can improve your overall health.

 

[1] Why it’s increasing and what we should do about it- are important topics that should be explored- just not in this article.

[2] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4499779/

[3] https://extension.oregonstate.edu/catalog/pub/em-9419-food-fight-wildfires

[4] Breath: The New Science of a Lost Art by James Nestor.