Pollution in cities is making us dumber and a scientific study proves it

Arises a scientific study In principle, it proves the impact that pollution in cities could be having on the intelligence and cognitive capacity of its inhabitants. In other words: the smog is making us fools.

There are multiple studies of academic rigor where the impact of pollution on the environment has been analyzed in depth.

Even in recent times we have seen how the research community has become obsessed with climate change, global warming and the impact it has had on the planet and multiple entire ecosystems.

But few had stopped to observe and study carefully how this phenomenon would be impacting a vital element for the full existence of any human being: their brain.

A recent study has focused on trying to verify how the smog in cities is impacting the human mind and intelligence. Unfortunately the news is not exactly good.

Pollution in cities is affecting the brains of the people who live in them

A group of researchers from the University of British Columbia and the University of Victoria have just published the results of their latest study project in the latest issue of Environmental Health.

Where they show that cognitive abilities and essential brain functions can be affected in a matter of a few hours when an individual spends prolonged periods of time exposed to the usual pollution of a city:

“For many decades, scientists thought that the brain might be protected from the harmful effects of air pollution.

This study, which is the first of its kind in the world, provides new evidence supporting that there is a real connection between air pollution and the cognition of the mind.”

This is what the study’s lead author, Dr. Chris Carlsten, professor and head of respiratory medicine and Canada Research Chair in occupational and environmental lung diseases at UBC, points out in statements collected by ScienceDaily.

To verify this connection, the researchers exposed 25 adults to a series of diesel exhaust fumes and filtered air from the car, common elements of pollution in any city. And from this they measured their brain activity before and after the session.

In the end, they verified that two hours of exposure to these gases were enough for their brains to present faults or abnormal patterns in areas related to memory, internal thinking, cognitive performance, and symptoms of depression.