Exercising Outdoors in Major Cities May Not Be A Walk in the Park

You don't exercise to get sicker. But that's the price many pay to use the outdoors in America's big cities as a venue for brisk sports. Blame air pollution for the bad news.

Air pollution affects members of the population who have underlying respiratory problems such as asthma, bronchitis, and emphysema. However, people who do not have respiratory problems may be at risk, people who power walk, jog, rollerblade or cycle in the city environment which contains many environmental irritants that affect the lung and respiratory system.

We often think of these exercise enthusiasts as being afflicted with musculoskeletal and orthopedic problems such as foot, knee, and back pain, yet there is serious concern for the development of these more serious cardiopulmonary maladies.

How many times have we seen people rollerblading, cycling, or jogging on a busy street behind a bus which is emitting all of this black exhaust and smoke? How beneficial is this otherwise healthy physical activity in this dangerous setting? Does exercise in the presence of these potentially dangerous conditions make it unhealthy?

"Outdoor air pollution is the result of automobile and industrial emissions. The major culprits are ozone, fine particulate matter, and carbon monoxide. Epidemiologic studies have linked these pollutants to increased exacerbations of heart and lung disease, emergency hospital admissions, and deaths", says Dr. Joseph Cooke, a pulmonary specialist and Associate Professor of Clinical Medicine and Public Health at New York Presbyterian- Weill Cornell Medical College.

Ozone concentrations are of major health concern during the summer months. This compound is a large component of the smog found in Los Angeles. Sunlight interacts with chemicals found in car exhaust known as hydrocarbons and produce ozone. Carbon monoxide needs no introduction. It is everywhere and is known to arise from cigarette smoke and car exhaust. What makes carbon monoxide so dangerous is its tremendous ability to squeeze oxygen out of our circulatory system. It combines with hemoglobin 200 times faster than oxygen. It is often fatal and overexposure may lead to headache, dizziness, confusion and dangerous increases in body temperature.

Dr. Cooke observes that pollutants affect the lungs by causing inflammation or irritation of the airway lining. This, in turn, increases the production of mucus and phlegm, and small muscles surrounding the airway respond by squeezing down. The airway becomes smaller, and it becomes more difficult to move air in and out of your lungs. Your body works harder to breathe, and it becomes more difficult to get oxygen into your body. As a result, exercise becomes stressful and performance suffers.

The normal response to exercise is to breathe deeper and faster. This will increase your exposure to pollutants and their effects. Dr. Cooke warns that "common symptoms of this pollution exposure include chest tightness, cough, shortness of breath and wheezing." So what's the fix?

Dr. Cooke recommends that if a person has heart or lung disease it is best to exercise indoors, in an air-conditioned environment if possible. If you must go outdoors, the early morning or evening is best. It will be cooler, the sun is not at its peak, and the ozone levels will be at their lowest."

Here are some helpful hints to keep exercise healthy in the city:

Avoid roads which carry heavy truck traffic. "Work out" when there is less vehicular traffic, such as during very early morning or later in the evening.

Exercise indoors if at all possible.

Most importantly, if you experience any difficulty breathing, stop your exercise activity immediately and see a lung specialist.

Even the experts assert that exercise is keenly needed, but also maintain that exercise must be modified in the city to reflect true world conditions. You can have the best of both worlds, accordingly.

Comments

[realitytrumpsbull]

Get honest day job=lose weight=don't need
fitness counselor, who now also has to find day job...

[Raspberry Corona]

Joggers prefer to jog in urban settings so that he or she can be observed by the greatest number of people. Public exercise is principally a mode of self-display.

[KindAndThoughtful]

Exercising indoors is safer, especially in the winter.

[workingboy]

afternoon of 9/11/01, saw people jogging on west st., less than two miles from ground o. air was being infused with lethal cocktail of smoke, asbestos, concrete, etc. urban outdoor exercise activity seems to invite dissociation with common sense. runners on streets and sidewalks are rewarded with foot, knee, leg, and hip problems. car drivers seem to have lost it to SUV arrogance: bike riders are perceived as potential road kill. there's a reason God invented bar stools!

[scipio242]

I have been smoking for over 40 years and I will be the first to admit it is a dumb habit and is just bad for you. That being said every time I see a jogger running along with traffic I have to laugh because these are the same people who love to tell me how stupid I am because I smoke. When I point this out they get bent out of shape. Exercise is great but listen to the doctor...head for the trees and stay away from the traffic.

[Triastro]

The good news is that being the world"s fattest nation means we"re less likely to exercise and this helps article helps support that rational.

[Nyland8]

Exercising indoors simply isn"t the same. There is something about the ever changing vistas that makes outdoor exercise more inspiring, so people are both more likely to work out and to exercise longer. Why walk on a treadmill when you can walk in a park?

In Bergen County, New Jersey where I live, I am just a short walk from a county greenway that stretches for miles. This linear park exists in the interstitial spaces and is, at times, not more than a few meters in width. But when you"re skating or cycling on it, you"re left with the impression that you are in another world, devoid of traffic and pollution.

http://www.co.bergen.nj.us/Parks/Parks/maps/Saddle%20River%20Bike%20Pathway.jpg

Allow me take your blog to the next logical step. Americans need more greenways. We need to reclaim nature, especially in urban environments. If we can cultivate more spaces that are relatively free of pollution, we all stand to benefit. I am also fortunate enough to work right on the greenway that circumnavigates Manhattan. From there I can skate or bike for miles without coming into contact with vehicular traffic, and the air that comes off the river is much better than the air near the Island"s center.

http://www.nycgovparks.org/sub_things_to_do/facilities/images/manhattan-waterfront-greenway.pdf

Even a very perfunctory examination of local maps usually reveals plenty of suitable places for linear parks. I know that Northern New Jersey abounds with unused gas pipe, railroad and power line right-of-ways. I see them everywhere I drive. Add to that the outer perimeters of every industrial park, every college campus, every lake and reservoir, every public park and golf course, every shopping mall, etc. etc. Now link all of these paths with the natural greenway that runs along every river and stream and you have many, many interconnected miles of interstitial park path to exercise on without sucking on someone"s exhaust fumes ¦ which means less danger to people"s health.

http://www.railtrails.org/index.html

http://www.greenways.com/

8

[USMCMUSTANG]

Neither is riding a motorcycle in San Diego no matter how careful you are. Our hobbie out here is dodging muffies on cell phones either in their car or walking into the street.

[wordvarc]

"Nay-sayer research"

Scientists at Caltech, after "Earth Day" in the early seventies, described a sideways vortex of gas and particle toxins effective a mile on both sides of freeways.

Toxicities of auto exhaust are well known.

Toxicities of diesal emissions have been suppressed by the same monied leverage by the trucking industry and promoters of NAFTA which allow unregulated Mexican trucks to pulverize our roads and poison our bodies with unlimited, unregulated diesal fumes.

Recent Scandinavian research allowed treadmill users to inhale small quantities of "very clean" Volvo diesal engine emmissions and found that previously undetected ultra fine diesal engine emited particles caused the (blood) serum to thicken posing a greatly inbcresed risk of heart attack/disease.

Ou roads, freeways, and cities are the coal mines of the early 1900's. Further reseach, if not squelched by corporate influenced government, will show that just by living and breathing the air poisoned by diesal trucks lives are greatly shortened.

.

[wordvarc]

"Nay-sayer research"

Scientists at Caltech, after "Earth Day" in the early seventies, described a sideways vortex of gas and particle toxins effective a mile on both sides of freeways.

Toxicities of auto exhast are well known.

Toxicities of diesal emissions have been suppressed by the same monied leverage by the trucking industry and promoters of NAFTA which allow unreguled Mexican trucks to pulverize our roads and poison oou bodies with unlimited, unregulated diesal fumes.

Recent Scandinavian research allowed treadmill users to inhale small quantities of "very clean" Volvo diesal engine emmissions and found that previosly undetecded ultra fine diesal engine emited particles caused the (blood) serum to thicken posing a greatly inbcresed risk of heart attack/disease.

Ou roads, freeways, and cities are the coal mines of the early 1900's. Firther reseach, if not squelched by corporate influenced government, will show that just by living and breathing the air poisoned by diesal trucks lives are greatly shortened.

.

[VictorLudorum]

Nice ! jogging has been around now.this thrifty workout really bacame a worldwide passion ...
i feel that long running or jogging /walking etc are much better at earliest hours of morning .Or its better to be at the games in the evening , gymnastics,boxing,football,hockey,everything is there!
its up to city authorities to spray water around public jogging tracks in the afternoon to aviod CO2 loads or dust Etc..

[brooklyncitizen]

One nice thing about the Nation's Capital (one) is the separation of circulation. The bike paths are great and mostly set apart from vehicular traffic and designed to be within the many parks that surround DeeCee.You can ride for miles and not be near a car.

I would think that our bodies adapt to being in an urban environment.

[grainger5]

Maybe joggers should wear oxygen masks. This may sound funny, but I believe we'll be seeing it soon.

[adamcc]

Another aspect to this is joining an advocacy group that pushes for more human-friendly cities. For example, in NYC the city has routed traffic through the park along the main running and biking circuit. Taxis and cars speed past people trying to get a peaceful work-out.

Transportation Alternatives is one group that promotes sane use of our parks and streets, in a city that is quickly accessible by bike. If every runner, biker & skater joined a group like this maybe there wouldn't be so much traffic in the cities in the first place.

[prochange]

Cities are built for cars and cars only. If you are a human being on foot, bicycle, roller-blades, etc. you are constantly in danger.

The most ridiculous thing I have seen in my city that they built a bicycle path parallel to the freeway. Not only is it ugly like hell but you get the noise and the pollution from the freeway.
The developers have free hand to squeeze the last penny out of every place they develop. Children and elderly people, who are not able to drive a car are completely neglected. Our society has become an enemy of humankind, but it is no wonder if god is money.

[NotBob]

That goes for Las Vegas too. They've started to add bike lanes to streets, but then your riding block to block in a city where most drivers run red lights if it just turned red.

There are billboards advocating riding you bike to work here but there is no infrastructure for that. No safe way to get across freeways, no way to get to where the majority of the jobs are (the Las Vegas Strip) without having to ride through heavy industrial areas with big trucks and bad streets.

I work at night so I tend to right late at night when traffic is at its lowest. I have to trade in congestion & pollution for visibility.