Study Says Air Pollution Affects Brain and Math Skills Too

All we have known till now is that the air pollution affects just the heart and the lungs. But a new study suggests that brain could be affected by it too. The elderly could suffer more because of it. The pollution can affect so much as to make you struggle for words or do basic maths. The joint study by Yale and Peking Universities says that long term exposure to air pollution can majorly impact your cognitive skills. The study was published in the Proceedings of National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) journal. There was a significant reduction in the verbal and math skills of people who have been exposed to air pollution for a long time. The effect was more in men than women - and the worst results were obtained for the elderly.

Around 32,000 Chinese people were included in the survey between 2010-2014. After calculation of the impact of short term and long term exposures, it was found that the decrease was much steeper for verbal scores when compared with the math scores. The findings could be true for India too. India and China have same trajectory for development so the scores of pollution can be compared too.

Cognitive decline or impairment can increase the cases of Alzheimer's and other kinds of dementia in both the countries.

By: Neha Maheshwari

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