Air Pollution Protection for Your 30s and 40s
As a digital nomad physician I travel a lot and from Tehran to Santiago de Compostela, I breathe in all sorts of stuff.
UPDATED: September 14th, 2025
Welcome to the Healthy Aging Newsletter, a free publication translating trustworthy medical research into simple habits to age well, free of chronic disease. I’m Dr. Ashori, a family medicine doctor turned health coach.
2 topics that have gotten a lot of press recently are microplastics and PM2.5 air pollution. Here are the 3 questions I always ask about any health matter:
What can I do about it?
What can someone else do for me?
What can clinical medicine do for it?
Fire Season in Bend, Oregon
Bend is beautiful but pretty much most of the summer season we inhale the forest fire fumes from nearby. Of course, summer is the best time to be outdoors for the healthy UV rays, the forest bathing, hiking, stand-up paddle, and outdoor rock climbing.
One option is to stay indoors, blasting an air purifier. But wait, how leaky are your windows, baseboards, door jambs, and insulation? Chances are quite leaky. So you’d need quite a beast of an air filtration system to get good indoor air quality.
And what about the exercise and sun rays you’re not getting? PM2.5 and NO2 can’t just be considered in a vacuum - that’s not how health works.
Traffic & Refinery Pollution in Tehran, Iran
When I was traveling through Iran I spent quite a long time in Tehran. Tehranians don’t have significantly higher rates of asthma, lung disease, cancer, or heart disease once you factor for their higher stress and inactivity levels.
Forget PM2.5, Tehran’s average daily air pollution is far, far higher than some of the worst days we’ll get in Los Angeles. I had my bloody noses and wheezes but that’s how the body responds to environmental pollutions.
On some of the worst air quality days, however, people did actually stay indoors and schools were closed. People still walked to get groceries, their barbari bread, and fresh fruits and veggies.
Poor Air Circulation in Bologna, Italy
The Po Valley is surrounded by the Alps and Apennines. I lived in Bologna for 3 months and don’t recalls any good-quality air days. Air pollution was a daily thing because of the way that area is situated.
People walked, smoked, drank, and socialized as the Italians do, even on the worst air quality days.
The things about air quality is that we usually don’t have much control over it. Of course, for those with severe asthma, COPD, or heart disease it’s helpful to avoid the worst days. But the walking, socializing, exercise, shopping, and just enjoying life is in a way protective against air pollution in ways an air purifier simply isn’t.
Giving Your Lungs a Break
Here are a few things you can do to protect your body from the harm of air pollution.
Get regular aerobic training to keep your vessels healthy
Eat a balanced diet that’s nutrient rich, not calorie-rich
Make sure you get enough omega-3s from your diet
Make sure your metabolic health is good to prevent excess damage
Get enough veggies and fruits to get your daily flavonoids
Escape to nature regularly to give your lungs a break
Don’t skip on sleep and cut back on cigarettes on the worst days
Run a HEPA filter or even a non-HEPA in your home on the worst days
Create a “clean-room” on the worst quality air days
Make sure your vent hood works properly over your gas stove
Consider a well-fitted N95 mask if you are at high risk from air pollution
Keep your car’s cabin filters in good shape and get good quality one