Abstract
Air pollution is a serious concern to people who want to engage in physical activities to improve and maintain their health. However, air quality data collected at the nearest monitoring site may not be the best source of information because the data may be incomplete (e.g., some pollutants are not monitored) or not representative. This paper puts forward a method that uses air quality data from a large area to derive a diurnal profile of air quality variation for that area and identify the time window in which the air quality is typically the best during a day. If people exercise in that time window then they can minimize their exposure to air pollution. Three years' worth of air quality data in five California counties were analyzed to identify the general pattern of diurnal variation of air quality. The analysis shows the pattern of air quality variation is very similar among those five counties which represent diverse geographical and meteorological conditions. The analysis further reveals that in California air quality is generally the best in early mornings; as such, people should exercise in the early morning if their daily schedule allows it. A similar analysis can be performed for other areas to help people choose the best time window to exercise.
Highlights
Air pollution is a serious concern to the general public, in particular to those who are engaged in physical activities such as cycling, walking, and running, etc
It is clear that the index has a substantial diurnal variation and is the lowest in the early morning, suggesting that exercising in the early morning hours will be subjected to the least impact from air pollution
Based on the analysis of air quality data from multiple years and multiple counties in California, a diurnal pattern of index of unhealthiness is found to be valid in all counties from which air quality data are analyzed, and air quality in the hour from 5 a.m. to 6 a.m. is generally the best
Summary
Air pollution is a serious concern to the general public, in particular to those who are engaged in physical activities such as cycling, walking, and running, etc. It is well established that physical activity improves people’s health; at the same time, physical activity increases intake of air pollutants. A review article [2] presents findings that aerobic exercise increases the overall inhaled air pollution dose, potentiates the diffusion of pollutants into circulating blood, augments oxidative stress and inflammation. A comprehensive study [3] (and reference therein) demonstrates that in general the beneficial effects of physical activity outweigh the detrimental effects associated with the increased intake of air pollutants. A similar conclusion is reached [4] from a systematic review of online
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