When a heatwave hits, your biggest problem may not be the heat or the humidity. The sun doesn't only threaten you with a bad sunburn, or even heatstroke, but it could make it hard to breathe - especially if you have asthma or other respiratory problems. Intense heat and sun mixes with pollution to cause ozone, a respiratory irritant that triggers a variety of breathing problems even in healthy people.
In the upper atmosphere "good ozone" acts as a filter that keeps harmful UV rays from reaching us. Ground-level ozone ("bad ozone") is formed when heat and sunlight create a chemical reaction with air pollution. While many people refer to atmospheric ozone and ground ozone differently, they are exactly the same. They just affect people differently depending on where they are.
Motor vehicle exhaust, gasoline, and volatile organic compounds such as paint and household cleaners pollute our atmosphere. When these things react with ultraviolet light, ozone is formed. Because these pollutants are more common in cities, there is more ozone pollution in urban areas than in rural ones. However, wind can quickly spread ozone. Since intense heat and sunlight has a hand in creating ozone, it's worse during the day, but ozone smog can linger into the night.
Inhaling ozone can trigger all sorts of of health problems, including chest pains, coughing, throat irritation, and congestion. It can also worsen bronchitis, emphysema, and asthma. While breathing in ozone is bad for people with respiratory problems, it can even affect healthy people. Ozone also damages plants and makes them more susceptible to disease, insects, and weather.
To avoid exposure to ozone, limit outdoor activity, especially strenuous activities, to the early morning. Most weather reports also post advisories when the ozone levels are projected to very high. An index of ozone levels is also available from AIRNow.
You can help reduce ozone by keeping your car well-tuned, using mass transportation when possible, and being careful with VOCs such as paint and cleaning products (or using non-VOC products when possible).
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