Why Summer Is the Worst Season for Your Lungs
Wednesday, July 8, 2026
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What the Air Quality Index Actually Measures — and Why Summer Is the Worst Season for Your LungsThe AQI in your weather app converts measurements of five different pollutants into a single number — and on most summer days, the one driving it is ground-level ozone, which forms fastest on hot, sunny, stagnant days. The conditions that produce the worst air quality look exactly like a beautiful summer afternoon. → Ozone peaks between 2 and 7 p.m. — morning exercise exposes you to significantly lower concentrations than the same workout in the afternoon → Wildfire smoke can produce PM2.5 concentrations that dwarf local emissions — and upper-level winds can carry it thousands of miles from the source → Temperature inversions trap pollutants near the surface overnight — AQI often rises fastest in the hours just after sunrise before heating breaks the inversion PM2.5 particles are small enough to cross from the lungs into the bloodstream — contributing to cardiovascular disease and stroke, not just respiratory effects. |
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posted by Myrna Sophia at 10:07 AM
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