Brunswick Remedial Massage: Should I wear a face mask to protect myself from bushfire smoke?

Waking as much as a haze of smoke is turning into an eerily acquainted sight to folks throughout the nation.

This week, Sydney is once more blanketed in smog thanks to the spate of bushfires burning across NSW, and final month the Queensland hearth emergency left Brisbane’s air quality worse than Beijing.

Many Australians in outer-suburban, regional and rural areas have been contending with bushfire smoke and mud for weeks.

The well being results of poor and dangerous air high quality are actual, and already being felt.

Bushfire smoke is thought to annoy the respiratory system, and accommodates fantastic particles that may journey deep into the lungs, inflicting harm.

Whereas most wholesome folks can tolerate non permanent publicity air air pollution (although it might trigger itchy eyes and throat irritation), smoke particles can worsen current coronary heart and lung situations — and put susceptible folks in danger.

One of the simplest ways to keep away from inhaling bushfire smoke is keep inside with the home windows and doorways closed.

However once we step outdoors, are face masks price contemplating? We requested the consultants.

Just one kind of masks helps

“Facemasks are the least helpful measure, as a public well being response,” mentioned Fay Johnston from the College of Tasmania’s Menzies Institute for Medical Analysis.

“There’s just one kind that truly helps — that is the P2 masks. They’re the one ones that may filter out a significant stage of air air pollution.”

Respiratory protecting tools — the mud masks and respirators you may see builders or landscapers utilizing — are rated by their stage of particle safety. P1 gadgets present low ranges of mud safety, whereas P2 masks are higher at filtering out particles.

You should buy them from hardware shops, however they should match accurately to be efficient.

“They solely work with a very hermetic seal that it’s a must to preserve — in case you’re a person with a beard, it is inconceivable. And if air leaks across the sides you may as properly not have one,” Dr Johnston mentioned.

Do not trouble with fabric or paper masks

Whereas fabric and paper masks can cease aerosols and water droplets — which can in some instances be useful for stopping the unfold of infections — they do not filter properly sufficient to be of use towards the microscopic mud particles that make bushfire smoke harmful, she mentioned.

Professor of World Well being on the Australian Nationwide College, Sotiris Vardoulakis, agreed.

“They don’t seem to be designed for air pollution. They’re will not be very efficient at eradicating particles from the air stream … they do not match correctly across the face, there’s lots of leakage,” he mentioned.

A British examine printed final yr found the face masks used by residents of Beijing to guard towards that metropolis’s excessive ranges of air air pollution did little or no.

“[Even] a masks with extremely environment friendly particle-filtering materials could confer little safety when worn,” the authors wrote, partly as a result of the masks usually match poorly and moved round whereas they had been strapped to somebody’s face.

Different methods to guard your self from bushfire smoke

An air air purifier within the house can provide some reduction, Dr Johnston mentioned, although consumers must be cautious they’re getting one thing that works.

“It is advisable verify it is received a HEPA filter — there’s lots of issues offered as air purifiers that do not filter particles. It is advisable verify on the field that it is bodily rated to take away particles from the air,” Dr Johnston mentioned.

It is also a good suggestion to reap the benefits of durations of fresh air to ventilate your private home, as smoke can take a while to disperse except the home is opened up.

However when air high quality is low, staying inside is the best safety, Professor Vardoulakis mentioned.

“I feel the overall message is we have to minimise publicity and there are alternative ways of doing that — on days with excessive air air pollution, it is higher to spend extra time indoors, much less time outside, particularly to people who find themselves delicate,” he mentioned.

“For individuals who have a pre-existing sickness, comply with your medical plan, have entry to your medicine, to your inhaler, and be sure to do not exit for a jog.”

That recommendation additionally applies to wholesome folks: you need to keep away from exercising outdoors when you possibly can see smoke within the air.