Planning a pregnancy – Safeguard from Air Pollution

Planning a pregnancy is the most delicate thing in the world and it begins even before conception. Planning ensures that you give birth to a healthy baby and have a healthy pregnancy. If you are planning to have a baby or just thinking about it, you should consider each and everything which can affect your pregnancy. While there are many things like food, drinks, behavior, thoughts which have their own impact on your body, there are other things too which may be not visible to your eyes, but has an equal and drastic effect on your body and pregnancy.

Air Pollution is one of them. Although air pollution affects every living being on earth, it has some severe effects on women who are pregnant or planning to get pregnant. According to a study conducted in Beijing, prolonged Air Pollution exposure can cause Low Birth Weight in newborn babies. It can also lead to Pre-Term Birth in some cases. According to The Stockholm Environment Institute, nearly 3 million babies are born prematurely each year because of air pollution. Moreover, Air Pollution is the biggest reason behind babies who are born with Autism.

Women who live near highways or expose to high particulate matter during their pregnancy are twice as likely to deliver a child with autism. Asthma is something which lives with you your whole life. Air Pollution has the power to breach the placenta, which means that excessive exposure to it can increase your baby’s chances of developing asthma later in his/her life.

What can you do for a healthy pregnancy?

• Discussion - Open a detailed discussion with your partner and family members about Air Pollution and how it impacts your health. Make them aware that it’s a serious problem that could affect your pregnancy or ability to get pregnant in a substantial manner.
• Take care of your health – It might possible that Air Pollution is already affecting your well being. To erase any effect from your body, it is important that you eat right, drink right and do plenty of exercises. This will make sure that you detoxify your body at the right time and can get ready for a healthy pregnancy.
• Get a Pollution mask & Air Purifier - Because just eating right is not enough when you are planning to get pregnant. Use protective equipment like N99 masks and air purifiers to limit your exposure to bad air. These devices eliminate everything from smog to germs from the air and make your surroundings healthier for you and your baby to grow.
• Indoor Plants – plants in your indoor space will increase the oxygen levels which help with fetal growth. There are some varietals of indoor plants that are better than others – areca palm, money plant, and mother in laws tongue and a few of them.
• Choose Smart – All Air Purifiers are not same, not even close. There are basically two types of Air Purifiers which are selling in the market right now – Active & Passive. Active Air Purifiers generate ozone which in return does more harm to your body than any good. Go for a Passive Air Purifier which contains a pre-filter, HEPA filter, and an activated carbon filter. These Air Purifiers are scientifically proven to remove any particle down to a size of 0.3micron with 99.97% efficiency, without generating ozone in the environment.