#TheHindu #Editorial Every breath they take

While mega cities experiment with radical measures to deal with crippling air pollution, many people are beginning to change their exercise routines

Spread over 197 acres, Cubbon Park is one of the green lungs of Bengaluru. On any given day, joggers, runners and children are out enjoying the pleasant nip in the air. But now, one might see them sporting a “fog mask”.

In what seems to be like a synchronised switch, but far away, joggers at New Delhi’s Jehanpanah forest and the famous Lodhi gardens can be seen doing the same thing. Wearing protective gear while exercising is now an everyday reality for those who like the outdoors.

Tanu Kulkarni

Vidya Krishnan

According to a scientific officer with the Karnataka State Pollution Control Board (KSPCB), which runs monitoring stations in the Bengaluru, the highest pollution levels are recorded between 1 a.m. and 8 a.m. “During the day, because of the heating up of the city, there is [a] vertical movement of polluting gases. It tends to move upwards and dissipate. In the night, due to cooling, the distance the gases travel is halved and most of the gases get concentrated on the surface of the city,” he said.

The president of the Cubbon Park Walkers’ Association, S. Umesh, has noticed a drop in the number of people, especially among senior citizens, using the park to exercise. The irony is that many people are discovering that working out indoors is healthier or at least easier on their lungs, he says, commenting on a trend that has been observed by doctors, gym instructors and yoga teachers.

Global comparisons

According to a study conducted in May by Plume Labs, a Paris startup that debuted earlier this year, Paris is twice as polluted as San Francisco while Beijing is 10 times more polluted than London. And, topping this chart is New Delhi, which is twice as worse as Beijing. In the same study, Kanpur, Ludhiana, Delhi, Lucknow and Indore are the worst polluted cities in India.

Given the circumstances, doctors are advising their patients to exercise indoors as the polluted morning air can cause long-term damage to the lungs. “Most people get updates on apps about the levels of pollution these days. [The] Best [thing] is to check that and exercise at a time when the particulate matter in the air is lesser. Mornings are better. I am in fact, recommending to my patients that they do not work out outdoors in the evenings. More importantly, whether you exercise indoor or outdoors, it is important to do some breathing exercises,” says Dr. Rajesh Chawla, Respiratory Medicine, Indraprastha Apollo Hospitals.

Carbon dioxide levels

While air pollution levels in Bengaluru are not at as high as in Delhi, the figures are still cause for concern. The average annual values of air pollutants during the 2014-2015 show that the Respirable Suspended Particulate Matter (RSPM) has exceeded the national limit of 60 micrograms per cubic metre (ug/m3) in 13 out of 15 neighbourhoods. KSPCB, which released these figures, attributes the high RSPM levels to vehicular movement, road dust and construction activities. A study last year by the Indian Institute of Science, which collated data between 2008 and 2011, found that the carbon dioxide levels reach 490 parts per million (ppm) between 5-7 a.m. The evenings recorded levels of 395 ppm. (The study was published in the international journal, Environmental Science and Pollution Research.)

Acknowledging the rising pollution levels in the city, the Horticulture Department along with the Bengaluru city police, in a recent initiative, has banned vehicles from entering Cubbon Park on Sundays and every second Saturday. The park authorities have also written to KSPCB urging it to analyse the benefits of traffic-free days in the park.

B.R. Ramesh, consultant pulmonologist at a Bengaluru-based private hospital says that patients living in the centre of the city, where pollution levels are high, are more at risk. “Walking or jogging on the roads in not advisable. Locating a park where pollution levels are low has also become difficult,” he said. Asthmatics and people who suffer from bronchitis are particularly vulnerable to the combination of early morning winter mist and high pollutants.

He has also noticed that over the past two years, many of his patients have shifted from outdoor to indoor activities because of pollution-induced allergies. As always, it’s people from lower income backgrounds who suffer the most as they are unable to afford memberships to gyms, fitness and yoga centres. The good news is that those living in Bengaluru’s suburbs, which, for the most part, remain free from high vehicular traffic and have green lungs, can exercise outdoors.

Delhi has already started exploring ways to breathe more freely. Last week, after the Delhi High Court called the city a “gas chamber”, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, in a drastic measure, has decided to experiment with restrictions on cars from January 1, 2016; cars with even and odd registration numbers are to ply on alternate days. Such experiments have been conducted in Beijing and Delhi will be the first Indian city to try this.

With mega cities experimenting with radical measures to deal with crippling air pollution, for now, doctors say that it is time to revisit basic ideas of exercise.

tanu.kulkarni@thehindu.co.in

vidya.krishnan@thehindu.co.in

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