Protect yourself from air pollution this week

People who may be affected by poor air quality are being urged to take some simple steps over the next few days. The warning comes after a rise in pollution levels in parts of Eastern England due to a mix of fine sand in the atmosphere from the Sahara, prevailing weather conditions and particles from traffic and other activity. While there is no major adverse health impact from the dust long term, and many people will not notice much difference other than haze, people who have asthma or get breathless are particularly vulnerable to the dust causing some short term avoidable problems, which could be serious in some cases. If you have asthma, a heart condition, are very overweight or have another long-standing health problem which may leave you breathless, it is particularly important that you do not engage in strenuous activity like running or cycling until the pollution clears and check the conditions on future days. If you are worried ring and are likely to experience breathlessness or have symptoms call for advice on 111. DEFRA advises that for high levels of pollution adults and children with lung problems and adults with heart problems, should reduce strenuous physical exertion, particularly outdoors, and particularly if they experience symptoms. People with asthma may find they need to use their reliever inhaler more often. Older people should also reduce physical exertion. You can get more information from UK Air, which is a DEFRA website http://uk-air.defra.gov.uk/ The conditions are expected to improve by Friday.