Everything you need to know (and likely didn’t) about indoor air pollution

Air. You can’t see it, you can’t taste it (though if you do, that could be a major problem) and lucky for us we don’t have to even think about breathing it. Here’s a fun fact about air: when your lungs take in a breath of air they are also taking in argon, which doesn’t get absorbed into the human body. Instead, it gets breathed right back out and returned to the air around us to only be breathed in and released all over again. What this means, is that when you take a breathe of air your body could be interacting with the exact same argon that the dinosaurs or even Jesus breathed in thousands to millions of years ago. Pretty neat, huh?

Alright, so why the heck am I even talking about air in the first place? Air pollution is the answer. The whole point behind the argon factoid was to demonstrate the idea that what we breathe in is far more than just the oxygen our bodies need to function. It’s actually a whole slew of gases and chemicals, and depending on where you live, the air you breathe could be pretty toxic. Just check out the following info-graphic to learn more about indoor air pollution.