Did you know that Diesel Fumes are destroying our Health? Most of us today drive, and in many families each member possesses their own vehicle, and being honest we too can be counted in this category.
Ted and I have our own cars and so does the eldest daughter, the youngest will be starting driving lessons next week on her seventeenth birthday and would love her own car, and I guess we are just like every other family up and down the country.
But do we really need them? If we all knew the damage that we are doing to ourselves perhaps we might think twice and cut back.
With the amount of cars and lorries on the road today, especially in towns and cities, we all know pollution from fumes are bound to build up, but did you realise that our health suffers, our arteries are being clogged up by these fumes, leading to an increase of strokes and heart attacks.
Pollution is causing deadly hardening of the arteries through a chain reaction in the blood, from the exhaust emissions of cars, busses and lorries.
This is really bad news for people who suffer from chronic heart disease and lung conditions.
Staying outside when pollution levels are high for any period of time should be avoided, to minimise any problems.
I find this quite disturbing as although I feel and look completely healthy, through contracting bronchial pneumonia as a teenager and having a really nasty chest infection two years ago, I am now considered to have COPD - chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.
I am so pleased that the new 'no smoking in public enclosed areas' has become law, so now we can enjoy having a drink, eating a meal or dancing in a club, with clean air around us and our clothes and hair still smell fresh.
More importantly not breathing in second hand smoke.
I have never smoked a cigarette in my life, but I do wonder how many I have passively smoked without knowing it and how its damaged my health.
For some time now scientists have known about the link between strokes and heart disease with pollution, but only recently have found through a new study that blood vessel inflammation is caused by fine particles of diesel pollution, these particles 'work' with an artery clogging cholesterol which then switch on the genes to cause the inflammation.
I think we all know that we are guilty of causing pollution, but we have grown up enjoying our freedom, myself too, and it is so very hard to give up or change out ways, but small changes really do help.
There are several schemes where people can share driving into work; I do this with my friend three days a week.
Not only is it beneficial to the environment, it saves money through only one parking and petrol payment and obviously less wear and tear.
The school run is one of the biggest offenders, when our vehicles probably are lucky to get off choke.
We were lucky with our primary school being only 800 metres or so from home, that we always walked, but the pressure was there from the children who saw others being ferried by car, living just a couple of doors away, who did not get cold or wet.
So some days it was a battle but the only time I gave in was due to illness.
Park and ride schemes are good, keeping more vehicles out of our town centres helping to eliminate some of the pollution.
Unfortunately in our area these services do not run on Sundays or bank holidays, when nowadays towns are just as busy as a regular working day.
Not only does the pollution cause us great harm, but also our wildlife and plants.
Many trees in cities and towns are dying because of the fumes.
We really do need to act now, however small, to try and curb some of our wasted journeys.
I have heard people saying, we do not have to worry as we live in the country side and the air is of good quality, but if we all think like this and carry on as we are the country side is going to suffer as well.
For our health and our children's health we really should all be trying to cut back, a study found that new asthma cases are on the increase in general but has sharply elevated in children over the last decade.
These findings were especially high in areas where there is more pollution from exhaust fumes.
Do not forget good food is good health
Ted and I have our own cars and so does the eldest daughter, the youngest will be starting driving lessons next week on her seventeenth birthday and would love her own car, and I guess we are just like every other family up and down the country.
But do we really need them? If we all knew the damage that we are doing to ourselves perhaps we might think twice and cut back.
With the amount of cars and lorries on the road today, especially in towns and cities, we all know pollution from fumes are bound to build up, but did you realise that our health suffers, our arteries are being clogged up by these fumes, leading to an increase of strokes and heart attacks.
Pollution is causing deadly hardening of the arteries through a chain reaction in the blood, from the exhaust emissions of cars, busses and lorries.
This is really bad news for people who suffer from chronic heart disease and lung conditions.
Staying outside when pollution levels are high for any period of time should be avoided, to minimise any problems.
I find this quite disturbing as although I feel and look completely healthy, through contracting bronchial pneumonia as a teenager and having a really nasty chest infection two years ago, I am now considered to have COPD - chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.
I am so pleased that the new 'no smoking in public enclosed areas' has become law, so now we can enjoy having a drink, eating a meal or dancing in a club, with clean air around us and our clothes and hair still smell fresh.
More importantly not breathing in second hand smoke.
I have never smoked a cigarette in my life, but I do wonder how many I have passively smoked without knowing it and how its damaged my health.
For some time now scientists have known about the link between strokes and heart disease with pollution, but only recently have found through a new study that blood vessel inflammation is caused by fine particles of diesel pollution, these particles 'work' with an artery clogging cholesterol which then switch on the genes to cause the inflammation.
I think we all know that we are guilty of causing pollution, but we have grown up enjoying our freedom, myself too, and it is so very hard to give up or change out ways, but small changes really do help.
There are several schemes where people can share driving into work; I do this with my friend three days a week.
Not only is it beneficial to the environment, it saves money through only one parking and petrol payment and obviously less wear and tear.
The school run is one of the biggest offenders, when our vehicles probably are lucky to get off choke.
We were lucky with our primary school being only 800 metres or so from home, that we always walked, but the pressure was there from the children who saw others being ferried by car, living just a couple of doors away, who did not get cold or wet.
So some days it was a battle but the only time I gave in was due to illness.
Park and ride schemes are good, keeping more vehicles out of our town centres helping to eliminate some of the pollution.
Unfortunately in our area these services do not run on Sundays or bank holidays, when nowadays towns are just as busy as a regular working day.
Not only does the pollution cause us great harm, but also our wildlife and plants.
Many trees in cities and towns are dying because of the fumes.
We really do need to act now, however small, to try and curb some of our wasted journeys.
I have heard people saying, we do not have to worry as we live in the country side and the air is of good quality, but if we all think like this and carry on as we are the country side is going to suffer as well.
For our health and our children's health we really should all be trying to cut back, a study found that new asthma cases are on the increase in general but has sharply elevated in children over the last decade.
These findings were especially high in areas where there is more pollution from exhaust fumes.
Do not forget good food is good health
Source...