It’s amazing: trees can save thousands of people from asthma! American scientists have found that green spaces, namely, trees that clean the air from dust, pollution, excess carbon oxides, on average, save the lives of 850 Americans from death. Moreover, they prevent more than half a million cases of acute respiratory attacks in chronic asthma and allergies. And not only from asthma, but also from COPD, bronchitis and other diseases. Every year, trees clean the atmosphere from more than 700 thousand tons of air pollution. Hence the conclusion: be more often in nature, and plant trees in cities!
In the leaves of any ordinary tree, chlorophyll grains always absorb carbon dioxide and then release oxygen. In summer, under natural conditions, any tree of small size per day releases as much oxygen as needed for the breathing of four people. It is known that one hectare of plantations absorbs about eight liters of carbon dioxide in one hour, and then releases the amount of oxygen into the atmosphere. This is quite enough to sustain the lives of thirty people. Trees are also beneficial – they purify the surface layer of air, approximately up to approximately forty-five meters thick.
There are tree species that are used for greening cities. All of them are beneficial. For example, take an ordinary chestnut. It has many useful properties. It neutralizes exhaust gases over large spaces. A unique tree – poplar, resistant to pollution. Poplar absorbs carbon dioxide and releases oxygen. Such a tree, twenty-five years old, is seven times superior to spruce, and in terms of how it humidifies the air, almost ten times. Elm leaves and lilac leaves are good at holding dust. So, planting about 400 young and beautiful poplars during the summer time captures about 340 kilograms of dust, and elm – almost six times more. Acacias, unpretentious fast-growing wild roses and a number of other useful plants also have similar necessary properties. In addition, trees significantly reduce the temperature in the heat. Therefore, it is so pleasant to breathe and walk in parks, and it is useful for asthma!
Green spaces are especially useful for cities. Since atmospheric pollution by chemicals from industrial enterprises and road transport is the most dangerous factor for human life. You should know: everything that a person inhales eventually enters the body – into the digestive tract. The immune system suffers greatly from this, which means that diseases of the respiratory system and other systems develop. The level of morbidity is especially high in the cities of the region, on the territory of which industrial enterprises, large highways, and railways operate. For Russia, these are industrial enterprises of the Urals and Siberia. And in Moscow, the air is especially not so clean. More than a million tons of pollutants fall into the atmosphere of Moscow every year – from industrial enterprises, vehicles and landfills.
Therefore, for urban landscaping, poplar is often chosen more often – the champion among trees in cleaning the air from dirt. Although the landscaping of the city is not limited to one poplar. Birches, maples, conifers – that’s what saves the townspeople and makes the air of cities cleaner and healthier. Especially for people with asthma and other lung diseases. Plant trees!
Asthma attack from suspicion
An asthma attack in asthmatics, as scientists have found, in many cases can be provoked not only by allergens and other triggers, but also by smells. Moreover, it is not necessary that a specific smell be present. Often, asthmatics only need one suspicion of an “unbearable” smell, and then everything develops according to a trigger mechanism. The mechanism of how an asthma attack develops on suspicion is not yet fully understood. But most likely, it develops according to a conditioned reflex mechanism discovered by the physiologist Pavlov.
Reflex – a stereotyped reaction of the body to a certain effect, taking place with the participation of the nervous system. Reflex is the most correct, most common reaction of the body to external stimuli. The hemispheres of the brain – their cortex and the subcortical formations closest to it – are the highest department of the human central nervous system. The functions of this department are the implementation of complex reflex reactions that form the basis of the higher nervous activity of the body.
An attack of suffocation with a suspected smell can develop when an asthmatic has a real smell, for example, perfume (Chanel No. 5) caused a reflex spasm of the bronchi during an exacerbation. It’s certainly not an allergic reaction. Just in an exacerbation of the disease, an asthma attack can be provoked by increasing the reactivity of the bronchi. An incompetent patient, who did not know the mechanisms of the development of allergies, interpreted the asthma attack as an allergy to Chanel.
And that’s it. From now on, a conditioned reflex formed in the brain will introduce an asthmatic into an attack of suffocation every time he encounters a package of this perfume, or even when he is reminded of Chanel No. 5.
There is even a joke on this topic: an asthma attack in the country
An asthmatic friend comes to visit the summer resident. After walking in
the garden, he returns to the house delighted:
– Oh, what life-giving air, for the first time I breathe deeply. We sat, drank,
ate, went to bed. Suddenly, in the middle of the night, a roar, the sound of
broken glass … The asthmatic explains: – An asthma attack in the middle of
the night. Stuffiness, dampness, and even your cat seems to have run through
here. And I have allergies. I decided to open the window – to breathe in the
life-giving air, but the latch jammed. With the last of his strength, losing
consciousness, he broke the glass … and immediately breathed deeply. The
owner sighed so hopelessly and asked in surprise: – I still don’t understand
why you broke the bookcase door …
In general, everything is like Pavlov’s dogs with their conditioned reflexes.