We ask a lung disease specialist how the smoke sky affects health

It is another foggy week in Minnesota, where the Hashim smoke is suspended from Canada on the state.

The conditions are not healthy to everyone from Thursday morning, and alerting air quality is valid until Saturday evening. The Minnesota pollution agency recommends that people be limited to their time in the open air when the atmosphere is like this.

But what is the lengthy exposure to the wild smoke of your health? Lung Dr. Andrew will see themA lung and disease doctor at Allina Health, joined the MPR News Cathy Wurzer host in Morning Edition to explain.

The following was released lightly for length and clarity. Listen to the conversation by clicking the operator button above.

What happens to your lungs and your heart when assaulting the smoke of the wildfire for several consecutive days?

It goes without saying that the lungs do not like it much. When you inhale, especially these fine particles as we see them in smoke, they can even enter a deeper part of the lungs. Then it causes inflammation of many people, as well as some allergies irritation for different people. Thus, the lungs see interacting with that. They can be inflated and can cramp, causing symptoms that we may get to know about in yellow and coughing, especially in vulnerable people.

Then the heart and lungs work a lot side by side. Thus the lungs do not work well, the heart sometimes tries to capture the additional recession. Thus, you can start seeing the heart that works more than it is used to. Then some of these particles can enter the bloodstream and affect the blood vessels and blood vessels, and make that cramping and irritation as well, which is not good for the body as well.

How quickly are these health consequences?

There is a mixture of short -term and long -term problems. Like many people, when my family goes out on a day like today, I have one of my children who will start, within minutes, to get irritated throat and liquid nose, and you can start hearing them. Then I have another child, you may not even say anything happens. So in many ways, it really depends on the person and his ability.

The state provides some directives, for example, for children’s care centers. And these days when the air quality index is above 150, healthy people can be affected by the bad air quality. They recommend that they are not in the open air in days like today, when we are at risk and anyone can irritate air quality.

We see a lot of chronic lung disease who have reported that this was a difficult summer, and they can feel more chest, and more zero in the hospital and at ER, where we see people who have increased respiratory complaints as well.

What kind of protection and protection steps are there?

The N95 mask can protect you from some molecules in the air. The problem can be a seizure really, and the preservation of N95 and a tight -face mask can be difficult for time, and then things can leak across the side. But it would be useful for some.

Close the windows, use the air conditioner or purify the air – all are reasonable things to do. Wrap the windows on the car. Avoid using your car during the day, if you can, and reduce these trips so that we do not contribute additionally to bad air quality. These are all the things we can do to help.

Examine Current air quality conditions And finding more resources about staying in good health during days with poor air quality From MPCA.