Tips to fight the SMOG

Air Pollution in Delhi and NCR is going out of control with each passing day. Pollution from the firecrackers on Diwali has intensified the smog. The presence of harmful gasses like Nitrogen Oxides, Sulphur Dioxide, carbon monoxide, Carbon dioxide, and ground-level ozone is making a poisonous mix that can cause serious health issues.
Children’s lungs are not fully developed until their late teens and they breathe more air per kilo of body weight, therefore they are the ones who get most affected by air pollution. 

School going students need to take extra precautions in order to avoid problems like uneasy breathing, nausea, headache, cold and cough, chest pain and more. So, it is better to take some protective measures before the smog affects your health and fitness. 

Tips to protect yourself from the harmful air pollution:

1. Take a healthy diet
   Another effective way to keep yourself safe from the harmful effects of smog in Delhi is by taking a healthy diet. Include foods that have Vitamin C, A, magnesium, omega fatty acids in your diet. These food items help in beating the ill effects of air pollution, fight allergies and infections. You should also have some jaggery or Gur after meals as it flushes out pollutants from the lungs.

2. Avoid physical activities
   Limit the amount of time that you spend outdoors until the smog settles. Early morning and late afternoon and evenings are the times when the pollution is at its peak. So, If you have any football or cricket coaching classes, make sure that the timings are moved to late mornings.

3. Practice Breathing Exercise
   To combat the harmful effects of air pollution prevailing in the city, you can practice a few breathing exercises. Do exercises like Bhastrika pranayama and Kapalbhati to keep your lungs strong, healthy and clean.

4. Go Green
   Try to make your home a little greener. Ask your parents to bring home some air-purifying plants like Aloe Vera, Ivy and Spider Plant which suck up all the pollutants.

5. Drink Herbal tea
   Make it a routine to drink herbal ginger and tulsi tea twice a day. It is extremely healthy and helpful for minimizing pollution effects!

And of course, ask your parents to buy high-quality breathing masks. It is one thing that can surely help breathe clean as it purifies the polluted air to a great extent.
When buying a mask, look for either N95 or N99 rating. Also, make sure that the mask fits you perfectly and there are no gaps to let outside air in. If there’s a gap, it will negate the effect of wearing a mask.

We hope that these remedies will help you in the fight against air pollution. If you have some more tips that can help combat this problem, do share with us in the comment section.

Happy Learning!
Team Meritnation