Heating up in my hometown and the morning radio show issued the blanket standard "The NWS released an air quality warning and recommends limiting strenuous outdoor activity." Never having heeded the warnings or felt any noticable side effects after ignoring the warnings over the years... I am curious about the actual side effects - long term and short term - if anyone has true knowledge of what ozone can/will do biochemically. Thanks in advance.
Ozone is a lung irritant. If you run in the morning, ozone levels are not an issue as ozone requires the heat of the day to form. If you run in the afternoon, you may run into high ozone levels. But, ozone moves with the winds. So, if you live in a big city with lots of traffic and industry on the south side of town, if you live on the north side and there is a north wind, chances are that the ozone levels won't be so bad where you are as the ozone is down wind. Most cities have air monitoring stations that can be accessed online to see exactly where ozone concentrations are at their worst. On a bad ozone day, a hard workout can be like smoking a cigarette in terms of irritaions on your lungs.
Galen, is that you?
Sol man wrote:
Galen, is that you?
I deserve that.
Precious Roy - thanks very much for your info. When you characterize ozone as an irritant is it something that is irritating and the irritation subsides directly as your exposure to ozone decreases? Or perhaps the irritation tends to persist past the exposure for some period of time? Does Ozone affect or interfere with the oxygen transport system? IE - does ozone compete with oxygen for hemoglobin binding sites?
ozone is a very strong oxidizer (chemically that means it removes one or more electrons from a compound). so this means it can react with tissues, such as your lungs. when it reacts with the cells it damages them.
short term cells are dying, that's why breathing ozone is uncomfortable...so if you damage cells in the lungs you get an inflammatory response (eg fluid build up), and this is going to inhibit oxygen transport; though unless you have asthma (or it is a really, really bad day) you probably won't notice more than an initial irritation (and you'll "get used to it"). long term you're looking at scar tissue build up and reduced elasticity of the lungs, so won't be able to breath as well. i don't know if any of this damage is reversable or not. i want to say somewhat reversable, but i can't remember.
Many many thanks. I obviously don't know anything definitive about the long term side effects but fortunately that is not a realistic risk at this point.