Tag Archives: breathing
What You Can Do for London's Lungs
Posted in London, Pills	by carolcooper
Take a nice deep breath. For thousands of people living in London, that's a luxury.
With its plethora of parks, our capital may be one of the greenest cities. But it's also one of the most polluted. For the last five years, London has been in breach of EU safety limits on NO2.
I've noticed it getting worse. For an instant lesson in air quality, head for the outer reaches of one of the Tube lines and see how fresh the air feels when you step outside.
Pollution isn't just an irritant to the throat, nose, or eyes. It's damaging to health, increasing the risk of lung cancer and chronic lung disease, and driving up hospital admission rates for those with pre-existing lung or heart disease.
Children's lungs are most vulnerable, yet around 330,000 London kids go to school in areas with illegal levels of pollution.
Pollution has also been linked with damage during pregnancy, including low birth weight and pre-term birth.
I'll cut a long story short: at least 9,500 deaths a year in London are linked with air pollution.
We may not have the pea-soupers of the 1950s that smothered London in soot and sulphur dioxide for days at a time. But we have a haze of small particles, especially PM2.5s, along with the toxic gas nitrogen dioxide NO2 (not to be confused with laughing gas because this one isn't funny).
PM2.5s are fine particles, less than 2.5 micrometres in diameter. They come from things like motor vehicles, power plants, and wood-burning, and they're harmful because they're small enough to reach the deepest recesses of the lungs.
Nitrous oxide comes largely from diesel cars, lorries, and buses. It follows that pollution is worse near busy roads, which is often where less advantaged families live. But even short-term exposure to air pollution can damage.
Why am I banging on about it now?
Because on May 5, London elects a new Mayor. As a parent, a doctor, and a Londoner, I whole-heartedly support The British Lung Foundation's #Londonlungs campaign. It calls for the next Mayor and Assembly members to prioritise lung health.
So much could be done, from tree and hedge planting schemes to improving transport strategy and extending the ultra-low emission zone (ULEZ) eastwards – where there's a lot of deprivation and air pollution.
You too can help by getting on board and asking all the mayoral candidates whether they pledge to protect Londoner's lungs. You could also share the campaign on social media with the hashtag #Londonlungs.
What else can you do?
There are obvious individual steps to help protect the lungs and heart, like not smoking.
Driving less, for instance by sharing cars or using public transport, helps drive down vehicle emissions. If you're buying or leasing a car, choose a low-emission model.
Take the longer route on foot or cycle via a less polluted area if you can. You may be interested in the Clean Space app.
The British Lung Foundation has some great tips for when air pollution levels are very high. You can find them here.
#Londonlungs, air pollution, asthma, breathing, British Lung Foundation, car, Children, emission, Health, heart, London, lungs, mayor, smoking, Social media	6 Comments
How to Save a Life Using Just Your Hands
Posted in Family life, Pills	by carolcooper
At 8am on Tuesday morning, junior hospital doctors were due to take industrial action. Just for one day, they'd only treat emergencies.
That's now off, pending further talks. But does the average Joe know what an emergency is? I can't help speculating. My experience of working in A & E suggests otherwise. Yes, there are heart attacks, car crashes, and fractured femurs galore.
Alas, there's also no shortage of folks who pitch up for a second opinion on a runny nose, or who demand to know, at 4am, why they've had hiccups for two years.
Tragically, the reverse is also true: "I thought she was just sleeping."
If it's that hard for the man in the street to recognize an emergency for what it is, it's even more challenging to deal with it.
Forgive me for going all serious today, but research for St John Ambulance shows that almost four fifths of parents (79%) wouldn't know what to do if their baby was choking to death. That's despite it being a major fear for 58% of parents. In fact no less than 40% have witnessed choking.
So kudos to those who've learned what to do, like the two people who saved a tot's life in Hampstead a few weeks ago.
As you can imagine, the toddler's mother is incredibly grateful to the passers-by who leapt in and did CPR. They're unusual, because most people, as the research showed, wouldn't have a clue.
We hear a lot about defibrillators in public places. Of course they're a great idea. But while defibrillators help save adult lives, they're not that useful for a baby or child. That's because most little ones have breathing emergencies, not cardiac ones.
The good news is that their lives can be saved with nothing more than your hands, once you know how.
So I wonder why basic life support isn't taught more in schools. And why parents and carers don't often bother to learn how to save their own child's life.
About five years ago, I was involved in Tesco's BabySafe campaign. There were free sessions around the country designed to teach parents, carers, and others the basics of dealing with common but serious emergencies like choking and burns. People left with basic skills and the confidence to use them.
You can learn to save a baby or child's life from the British Red Cross or St John Ambulance.
These organizations have online information too, but it's so much better to do a hands-on course if you can.
Accident and Emergency, baby, basic life support, breathing, child, course, CPR, defibrillator, doctor, emergency, hands, industrial action, junior hospital doctor, parent, Red Cross, St John Ambulance	4 Comments