A DEFINITION OF INDOOR AIR QUALITY

Indoor air quality (IAQ) is the quality of the air inside a building. It is defined on the basis of the concentrations and levels of incoming chemical and biological substances and the comfort-related factors which affect people and processes. The quality of indoor air is a factor that is often neglected and that has an impact on people’s health, well-being and performance.

Indoor pollution can be up to one thousand times more hazardous than the outdoor variety. This is because when particles and other substances pass into indoor air they combine in new ways with the substances and particles already present inside buildings. The combinations that can occur may be much more aggressive and, therefore, more harmful to us.

LOW LEVELS ARE BEST

We could protect ourselves fully from air pollution by spending all our time in clean rooms where the air is in principle completely purified. But we should not be aimingto achieve clinically clean indoor environments. That would not be good for us. In order to maintain a healthy immune system, we need to be exposed to a certain level of particulates, bacteria and other substances which reach us via the air and contact with other people.

 A GUIDE FOR ELITE ATHLETES

The requirements for creating a healthy indoor environment vary depending on where we live. The outdoor air is the factor which plays the most important role in this respect. By filtering out a significant proportion of the particles in the air which comes in from outside and using an air purifier to remove the pollution from indoor sources, the indoor air quality (IAQ) can be improved considerably, even in places where the outdoor air is heavily polluted. A good guideline is that the air indoors should be around 50–70% cleaner than the outdoor air for reasons of health and comfort.

The purpose of this guide is to help you as an elite athlete to gain a better understanding of how air affects your body and, therefore, your performance. The guide also explains how you can obtain simple and effective protection against air pollution, which is particularly important because you are training and competing at the highest level and breathing in a larger volume of air each day than “ordinary” people.