Fine dust, polluted air make memory decline horrible how?

Researchers at the University of Warwick, UK, found that human memory is severely impaired when living in areas with fine dust (PM10) and high nitrogen dioxide (NO ₂ ).

The memory of those who breathe the polluted air will be reduced.

By comparing memory with people in the freshest air, the researchers found that the memory of those who breathe in polluted air decreases. Similar results were found in laboratory studies of mice and other animals.

Professors Nattavudh Powdthavee and Andrew Oswald are the first studies to confirm the correlation between air pollution and memory in humans, published in the journal Ecological Economics. Researchers sampled from 34,000 people across the UK. All participants were asked to remember 10 words in a word repeating test.

Although memory declines as people age, researchers estimate that people living in the most polluted areas of the UK will have similar memory as those 10 years older than them living in where the air is fresh.

Daily Mail quoted Professor Andrew Oswald as saying: "When you need to remember a series of words, 50-year-olds living in polluted air like Chelsea will have the memory equivalent of 60-year-old people living in Plymouth.

1. Detect ominous effects of polluted air on the brain
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