Assessing the impact of the recent smoke exposure

Assessing the impact of the recent smoke exposure

Everyone living in the Bay Area or anyplace within 100 miles of the recent fires has been exposed to unprecedented poor air these past couple of weeks. Aside from dealing with the tight lungs, burning eyes, sore throats and stir crazy kids and pets, families are worried about potential lasting impact that this might have on their children’s health. Chronic exposure to pollution can lead to issues with our hearts, our bones, and our lungs among other things. There are some anxiety provoking studies out there suggest that a fetus is not immune even though they are not directly breathing the air. I tend not to let different studies cause too much of a stir. Studies on things that we have no control over can get people spinning. One headline this week claimed that exposure to this unhealthy air was the equivalent of smoking 10 cigarettes. Gee, thanks for that extra dose of terror. Of course we would have had to have been outside, without a mask for an extended period of time to be affected like that. Please keep in mind: Millions of people live in large cities where this terrible air is the norm. Here in Northern California, we only had to deal with it for just a few weeks. I imagine that we all breathed some nasty air, but hopefully most of us were able to limit our outdoor exposure. Assuming that the air quality index is no longer in the red zone, take a deep breath and prepare to review an important life lesson; my mom had a saying that she would repeat frequently “It is what it is. You do the best you can.” There are some things that are within our control and some things that are not. We need to be able to identify which is which Lets focus on things that are in our control. Being kind Being honest Friends we choose Taking care of ourselves Working hard Apologizing Asking for help How we respond to others What we do in our free time Things Out of our control Others being kind Others being honest Others forgiving us Who likes us The family we were born into The color of our skin Past mistakes Natural disasters Death Taxes Are you beating yourself up because you stayed in town? Really? Assuming you had the time, the money, the ability and the fortune telling magic to know how long this bad air was lingering, was hightailing it out of here the right solution? Are you feeling like a terrible parent because you couldn’t stand being cooped up and you let your kids run around outside for a bit and now you are worried? It’s easy enough to be the Monday morning quarterback. ‘Woulda Coulda Shoulda’ are simply not worth much. My husband was an executive for many years and his employees knew that after bitching about something or another that had happened, they would inevitably hear him say: “you can’t manage the past” My daughter Alana who is now a therapist here in SF taught me that Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT) refers to my mom’s “it is what it is” as radical acceptance. There are an infinite number of things that cause pain, suffering and anxiety, but only 4 different actions that we can take: Problem solve: Is there something within your control that you can do? Find the silver lining or lesson :There is always a lesson but sometimes the silver lining doesn’t become apparent until sometime in the future, if at all. If you look hard enough there is usually at least a sliver. Practice radical acceptance: It is what it is and you do the best you can (Just like mom...repeat this frequently) , or Stay stuck While we can’t problem solve past exposure to poor air quality away, what we can do is learn any lessons that may come in handy in the future. It is safe to say that this could happen again. We need to make sure that we are prepared. Order masks in advance so that you have them on hand if the need arises. Have a HEPA air cleaner (change the filter periodically. We just changed ours and it was beyond gross). My sister-in-law and brother-in-law just purchased one of the newer ones that gives you a reading of the air quality in the area of the machine. Before they even plugged in it, the air in their house rated just fine. Being inside does make a huge difference. Have an evacuation plan for your family. Earthquakes are just as much an issue as fire. Now is the time to check your earthquake kit and update it as needed. Get familiar with local resources that can help you out in an emergency. For those of you in the Bay Area, this is an important site for guidance in case of all sorts of emergency situation: https://www.sf72.org/ If you are looking for some more benign and possibly helpful actions? Personal Lets tend to our bodies. Stay hydrated Decrease mucus producing foods (Dairy products are often the biggest offenders) There are multiple sources that claim different foods can help keep lungs healthy. That list includes pineapple, garlic, ginger, turmeric, dried figs, tomatoes, apples, green tea A steamy shower with essential oil (like eucalyptus) Get or give a massage with warm oil. This will relax and open the airways Do some good deep belly breathing Global Be a voice for to help protect our ailing planet from climate changes. This should not be a partisan issue. If there are tangible, sensible things that we can do to minimize pollution everyone should be on the same page. I reached out to my dear friend Brenda Ekwurzel who is a senior climate scientist and the director of climate science at the Union of Concerned Scientists and asked her for advice on a good fund to donate to. She suggested theNature Conservancy Climate Changes Everything is another good site to check out. This is a friend of a friend who has taken on climate change as his personal mission. Check it out. Or you might give money to folks impacted. Charity Navigator can help you research effective organizations to make donations to. In any event, taking some sort of positive action can help us not 'stay stuck.' Don’t be afraid to have conversations with your kids. Here is the situation. These are the things we can do. The review of things in and out of our control is an important one. It is the rare child under 5 who will get it, but you are the model. They will learn by example.