Stating that air pollution has negative effects on brain health, experts point out that polluted air triggers migraine headaches. According to experts, heavy metal pollution is also associated with motor neuron diseases such as epilepsy, dementia and Parkinson's disease, affecting the brain development of babies in the womb.

July 22 was declared World Brain Day by the World Federation of Neurology (WFN) in order to draw attention to the importance of prevention of brain-related diseases and brain health. This year's theme is "Clean Air for a Healthy Brain".

Üsküdar University NPISTANBUL Hospital Neurology Specialist Prof. Dr. Sultan Tarlacı underlined that air pollution has significant effects on brain health.

Polluted air causes brain damage

Drawing attention to the fact that air pollution is a source of danger for the brain, Prof. Dr. Sultan Tarlacı said:

"Air pollution is an invisible danger from the sky for both physical health and the brain in particular. It is calculated that all environmental pollution causes the death of 9 to 15 million people every year in the world. After all, the brain is an oxygen-using organ and in fact it is the organ that consumes or requires the most oxygen in the body. Normal breathing air on this planet has an ideal mixture of oxygen, nitrogen and carbon dioxide for breathing and for our body. When this balance is disturbed in a negative way, damage occurs because the body and brain cannot respond to its ideal demand. In other words, pollution is the deterioration of the natural content of the air. As is known, the most important cause of air pollution is human activities."

Particulate matter causes ghost deaths

Stating that carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide, sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxides are released into the air by human hands, Prof. Dr. Sultan Tarlacı said, "In addition, CFCs that make ozone hole called chlorofluoro carbon, heavy metals that directly damage the brain and substances we call particulate / particulate matter are also released into the atmosphere with our hands. Particulate matter causes invisible, ghostly deaths. Particulate matter refers to solid particles and liquid droplets in the air. They pollute the atmosphere as a result of human activity or natural events. Particulate matter is divided into two main groups. The first group is fine particles, which are below 2.5 microns and are the result of combustion and industrial processes. The other group consists of coarse particles. These are slightly larger. This is the type of dust that is seen everywhere from crushing, grinding and roads. Even the difference in size between these two causes different levels of damage to the body and brain. Large particles often get stuck in the air filters in our nose. They can't get down to the lungs, but the small ones get into the deepest parts of our lungs and even into our blood and brain. We all contribute to this with polluted gases, exhaust fumes, construction dust and industrial waste. We create an invisible killer."

Neurological problems arise

Stating that a pollution reaching the brain and vascular system damages the vessels, brain cells, brain support cells and chemical order in the brain and neurological problems occur according to the degree of losses, Prof. Dr. Sultan Tarlacı said, "Our brain weighs approximately 1300-1400 gr in the bone-protected skull. This weight constitutes approximately 2-3% of our total body weight. Despite this, our brain uses 20% of the energy in the body at rest. The brain uses -20% of the blood and oxygen that the heart pumps with each beat. This corresponds to almost 1 liter of blood per minute. It means 1 carboy of blood and oxygen in 20 minutes. This naturally needs to be clean."

Migraine is associated with air pollution

Stating that almost all kinds of neurological disorders have been found to have a significant relationship with air pollution, Prof. Dr. Sultan Tarlacı said, "The most well-known one for years is migraine headaches. In particle pollution, dust and low oxygen trigger migraine headaches. In addition, heavy metal pollution has been associated with degenerative dementia, Parkinson's disease and motor neuron diseases."

Causes an increase in the frequency of epilepsy

Stating that another invisible situation is related to vascular health, Prof. Dr. Sultan Tarlacı said, "It disrupts vascular health. All the types of pollution I mentioned above, including large and small particles, have been associated with an increase in the frequency of epilepsy. Heavy metals have been found to be associated with autism, although genetic characteristics are at the forefront. Immune diseases such as multiple sclerosis also attack or occur more frequently in places with air pollution. In particular, the presence of particles as fine as 2.5 microns and even below 0.1 microns in the air at the pollution level is closely associated with dementia and Parkinson's disease."

Clean air means a thicker brain shell

Pointing out that air pollution starts to affect people in the womb before they are born, Prof. Dr. Sultan Tarlacı said that air pollution affects the thickness of the brain shell of babies in the womb. Prof. Dr. Sultan Tarlacı said the following:

"There is a study published 3 months ago this year. It was conducted on 783 school-age children between the ages of 6 and 10, born in Rotterdam, the Netherlands between 2002 and 2006. When these children were in their mothers' wombs, the degree of air pollution to which their mothers were exposed was compared with their intelligence and brains in later life. The result showed an incredible danger. Children who were in the womb when fine particles in the air increased were found to have thinner brain shells. Exposure to these fine particles was also shown in psychological tests to weaken the brain's control mechanisms during work or homework in the same children. This means that brain development is so sensitive that brain structure changes in relation not only to what the mother is fed in the womb, but also to what she breathes. Clean air means thicker brain shells.

Air pollution impairs intelligence development

A study on children in Mexico City, Mexico, a city famous for its pollution, showed in 2008 that pollution impairs the development of intelligence. Even research on dogs showed that brain damage was more common in the same area. After all, they breathe the same air. Polluted air affects the brain severely and insidiously, as the brain is the organ that uses the most oxygen. This means that mothers should not only eat healthy food during pregnancy but also breathe healthy air. If there is no clean air, then pregnant women should escape from polluted cities to places with clean air."