Exposure to air pollution may alter regions of the brain that control emotions and promote the risk of anxiety and depression, according to a meta-analysis.
- Air pollution with fine particles is responsible for 7 million deaths per year, according to the WHO. Including more than 40,000 in France, according to Public Health France.
- In France, one in ten people has already experienced a major depressive episode in the last twelve months (Santé Publique France).
It has been known for years that air pollution has harmful effects on our physical health, increasing the risk of cardiovascular disorders and respiratory pathologies such as asthma. But it is only recently that scientists are beginning to list the consequences on our brain and our mental well-being. According to a new meta-analysis, published in the journal NeuroToxicology and spotted by the independent media The Conversationbreathing stale air could in particular make us more unhappy.
More mental disorders if you breathe polluted air
As part of their work, psychiatric researcher Clara Zundel and her team at Wayne State University (United States) have compiled more than a hundred studies conducted on animals and humans on the effects of air pollution. external air on mental health and more specifically the three main regions of the brain that regulate emotions: the hippocampus, the amygdala and the prefrontal cortex.
They found that 73% of studies showed that symptoms of mental disorders were higher in human volunteers and rodent models that had been exposed to above-average levels of air pollution, but also to levels considered ” safe” by American standards of theEnvironmental Protection Agency. Worse: 95% of research has found significant physical and functional changes in brain regions that regulate emotion in people exposed to increased levels of air pollution.
Air pollution causing mood swings and anxiety?
In question : “Air pollutants, such as ultrafine particles from vehicle exhaust, which affect the brain either directly, by traveling from the nose to the brain, or indirectly, by causing inflammation and altered immune responses in the body that can then pass through the brain”can we read in a communicated researchers. According to them, these physiological changes could be the cause of mood swings and make people more likely to develop anxiety and even suffer from depression.
This is not the first time that studies have linked air pollution and mental illness. According to various studies, breathing stale air is thus responsible for serious mental disorders in children, depressive symptoms in adolescents, and even anxiety among the general population. At a time when nine out of ten people are exposed to polluted air, according to the World Health Organization, the researchers call on the authorities to regulate carbon emissions more. In particular to ensure the well-being of children, whose brains are not yet fully developed and who are therefore more sensitive to the ravages of fine particles.
