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Jai Dhar looks out the window of his home in New Delhi and sees the thick smog that has enveloped the city. With his severe allergies and asthma, the pollution makes it difficult for him to breathe. It also leaves you feeling sad.
“Suddenly the whole city has changed. It looks like a ghost town,” says the 52-year-old.
When temperatures began to drop in mid-November, the air quality index (AQI) in India’s capital moved into the severe category. According to the World Health Organization, an AQI above 300 is considered dangerous. In the two weeks beginning November 13, New Delhi The average AQI was 492..
Ranked as one of the most polluted cities in the world, New Delhi’s 20 million residents have experienced a rise in respiratory illnesses and other problems such as allergic rhinitis, headaches and skin problems.
Now, experts say the effect of air pollution on mental health is also becoming a cause for concern.
Dhar, who describes himself as an “air pollution victim,” said he constantly has to use a nebulizer, a small machine that delivers medication in the form of a mist, which triggers his health anxiety and affects his everyday life.
Winter, with worsening air quality, leaves you depressed and helpless and you no longer even enjoy the Hindu festival of Diwali. The celebration usually takes place just before the temperatures drop and burst of firecrackers contributes to the deterioration of air quality.
“Air pollution makes everything worse.”
Physical and mental health cared for in new clinic
An anti-pollution clinic, the first of its kind in Delhi, was inaugurated in October 2023 at the city’s Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital. In addition to doctors who deal with respiratory, skin and eye problems, the clinic also has psychiatrists, a decision motivated by growing evidence. Linking air pollution to mental health.
“The idea was to bring all interested specialists, including mental health specialists, under one roof and make it easier for patients to seek help,” said Dr Amit Suri, director of the clinic.
On December 5, Delhi was allowed to relax the strict emergency restrictions implemented on November 18 to address rising air pollution. Some of the measures in Stage 4 of the Graduated Response Action Plan (GRAP) included the closure of schools and universities and the suspension of non-essential construction.
The clinic’s senior resident psychiatrist, Priyanka, who only goes by her first name, says mental health problems primarily affect children and older people, but all ages can experience changes in mental well-being as a result of their reactions. physiological to pollution.
Fine particles in the air, often called PM2.5, can cross the blood-brain barrier causing inflammation and changing the chemical reaction of the brain, he said. PM2.5 refers to particles less than 2.5 microns in diameter. The width of a human hair is around 75 microns.
In children, pollution has been linked to impaired neurodevelopmental growth, impacting skills such as memory, learning and speaking. They may feel dizzy and sad and may experience difficulty coping with their studies, he said.
In older people, contamination affects your cognitive declineresulting in forgetfulness and loneliness, he said.
Priyanka said there is a lack of awareness about mental health issues in India, as well as a social stigma that prevents people from seeking professional help.
“People who already face mental health problems are more vulnerable to pollution,” he added. “It can exacerbate your stress and anxiety and lead to depression.”
New research
Uttara Balakrishnan is a senior research economist at the American Research Institute based in Virginia, whose work often looks at specific situations in developing countries.
In 2021, Balakrishnan was the lead author of a study on the impact of air pollution on mental health in India. It found that exposure to air pollution in a specific calendar year significantly worsened mental health in the following year.
“It was an understudied topic and we wanted to complete the causal link, not just the correlation, between air pollution and mental health,” said Balakrishnan, who did part of his studies at the University of Delhi.
Balakrishnan said the team’s approach looked at variables that can affect exposure to air pollution, such as where people live, their working conditions and their physical health.
“Mental health also correlates with poverty and income,” he said. “Any developing country, such as India, Pakistan and Bangladesh, would have high levels of mental health problems because poor mental health results in lower labor force participation and higher health care utilization and could perpetuate poverty” .
In 2023, Cambridge University Press posted a review which assessed existing research on air pollution and mental health, and suggested some priorities for future studies.
“When it comes to the correlation between mental health and air pollution, the scope of such studies is limited,” said Dr. Pallavi Rajhans, a Delhi-based psychiatrist who was not part of the review. “As air pollution is becoming a major concern, more research needs to be conducted in this area.”
Mental health problems were also identified in a Delhi government. report on air pollution that was filed in April before the National Green Tribunal, India’s environmental court. According to media reports, the government recommended measures such as being active or talking to a therapist to combat feelings of sadness, cognitive difficulties and a reduced ability to cope with life’s challenges.
“I don’t know what the future will be like”
Aparna Aggarwal is shocked by the situation in the city.
For weeks, her two children, Avni, six, and Avir, 4, had difficulty breathing and needed to use the nebulizer every day. They have been irritable with aggressive behavior and mood swings.
She feels “helpless and agitated.”
Before schools closed in mid-November due to GRAP 4 restrictions, her son’s teacher told her that Avir had complained of being sad and unhappy, but she didn’t know why.
Deteriorating air quality meant they couldn’t go out to the balcony or park, she said. “They have complained of constant headaches. Most of the time they are inside and feel constricted.”
After weeks of virtual classes, missing friends, and limited outdoor activities, air quality has improved and many restrictions have been lifted. But it is “a temporary relief,” Aggarwal said.
“Seeing that air pollution is slowly killing my children, I don’t know what the future will be like.”
