A recent article from The New York Times suggests that the conversation about indoor air quality has entered the collective consciousness. That is to say, beyond physical health risks, indoor air quality effects on our mental capabilities as well.
For the last fifty years, builders and contractors have focused on eliminating the threats of outdoor air pollution while inside. Building codes require sealing that reduce the amount of air flow in exchange for better greater efficiency for heating and cooling systems. However, these sealing processes have created dangerous indoor climates. When we sit in sealed room toxins from chemical product treatments and our own human breath build up and create harmful environments.
Studies have demonstrated the detrimental effects that indoor air toxins pose to brain function. In 2009, William Fisk, a mechanical engineer at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, experimented with indoor air pollution and found that people performed far worse when exposed to levels of carbon dioxide at 2,500ppm than those exposed to 1,000ppm of carbon dioxide. The New York Times stated that these levels are not usual in crowded spaces.
Since Dr. Fisk’s study, other scientists have taken up the issue of indoor air pollution. A Harvard study tracked its participants over a six-day period. They found that over the time span, as the levels of carbon dioxide grew from 500 ppm to 1,400 ppm, participants test score plummeted. The scientists were stunned by the results, not because of the decline in mental functions, but because the carbon dioxide levels they experimented with were not unusual. The levels of carbon dioxide they tested could be found in most indoor settings.
Although these studies demonstrate a negative relationship between indoor air quality and cognitive performance, the evidence is still far and few between. As The Times pointe out, other experiments have not met the same conclusion. The truth is that if you’re not looking for the effects of indoor air pollution, then you will not find them. Indoor air pollution is a silent killer.
Ultimately, we spend most of our times indoors and most of the time, our most important decisions are made indoors, often in small rooms with no ventilation. The New York Times’ article, “Is Conference Room Air Making You Dumber?” begs the question.
Other evidence suggests, “increasing the ventilation rate in schools can raise children’s scores on tests and speed at tasks, and reduce absences.” If we are already designing spaces for maximum performance and productivity, then these studies suggest going the extra mile to account for the factors that we cannot see.
The article concluded, “without a specialized sensor, you can’t really know how much carbon dioxide is building up while you hunker down in a small room for a long meeting.” If we only change the things that we can see and measure (think heating and cooling efficiency) than it is imminent that we invest in tools to make the invisible visible. Accounting for air quality in the spaces we spend the most time in will improve our health, cognitive functions, and our peace of mind.
“Is Conference Room Air Making You Dumber?” The New York Times
Written for FutureAir by Mollie Wodenshek
Image Credit: Hanna Barczyk