If you are anything like myself, you like to start out your day with a run in the beautiful city you live in. I had never thought that the great outdoor would be dangerous to my health. Prior to moving to Salt Lake City, UT it was not my main concern to look up the air quality each morning before leaving my apartment for a run. I started to notice that it was harder for me to do something that has been apart of my routine for what seems to be forever. I quickly learned that with Salt Lake City’s horrendous inversion it was actually hurting my lungs to go on my usual run. I did not want to move indoors for my runs, so I needed to learn to live with this inversion. I decided that I needed to learn how to help protect my body from the harms that the air can bring upon it. I found that there are three useful tools that have helped me understand and track the air surrounding me. These include the Utah Department of Environmental Quality, United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), and a smartphone app called myAir.
Utah Department of Environmental Quality produces hourly updates of the air quality index (aqi) on their website (http://air.utah.gov). The Utah government is able to give an idea to it’s residents what the environment air around them is. The United States Government also gives regulations and insights into every aspect of air quality and air pollution. Their website (http://www.epa.gov/learn-issues/learn-about-air) provides countless of helpful information about air quality and what air pollution is. In addition, the EPA is able to provide a map of air quality in the United States. This site is also able to provide environmental effects that are pollution caused. Air pollution impacts us in ways that we are not always aware of.
I recently learned that I can now track Utah air with an easy to use app called myAir. This app is able to calculate the minutes that you are able to exercise outside based on the area air around you. This has become incredibly useful to me. I am able to adjust the length that I am running based on what this app calculates for me specifically. I just have to enter a few pieces of information about myself and my body and it’s ready to go. It took me a total of 3 minutes to download and enter my personal information in.
One of the effects of population that is very important to myself and my daily routine is the air quality. Without giving attention to this problem it could seriously damage the health of my lungs. With the three tools that I listed I am able to gauge how realistic it is for me to do certain physical activities outside with the air that surrounds me. This has made my daily runs much more enjoyable. Salt Lake City is such a beautiful city, how can I not enjoy it in all it’s glory.
Carissa Wilcox