2 Things You Can Do to Mitigate the Ill-Effects of the Haze on Your Body

Singapore's Merlion Looking Out Toward a Hazy Bay (Photo Credit: Straits Times)

My Facebook and Twitter feeds are flooded with updates on the latest PSI reading, which keeps ticking up.

People wearing masks are no longer shunned. No one wonders "What's wrong with them?", because we all know - it's the haze in the air.

Mere mortals like us cannot do anything about the fires in Indonesia causing the pollution.

But we can and should do whatever we can to limit the impact on our bodies of inhaling the polluted air in this haze.

We're familiar with the official advisory by now, i.e.

• Stay indoors (with windows and doors closed)
• Avoid strenuous activities

Here are 2 things that you can do to mitigate the ill-effects of the haze on your body:

1. Breathe in and out only through your nose

The air smells bad.

It is tempting to breathe through the mouth to avoid detecting the foul, smoky smell in the air.

However, our nose was built precisely for the purpose of breathing.

The nose:

• Filters particles from the air we inhale, preventing them from entering our lungs
• Humidifies the air, adding moisture to keep your airways from drying out
• Warms the air to body temperature before it reaches the lungs

Breathing through your mouth instead of your nose bypasses much of the body’s natural air filtering and treatment. This can allow germs, allergens and other pollutants to get inside your lungs, where they can damage delicate tissues.

With the haze right now, it is even more important that we allow the nose to perform its function (especially its function as a filter) - so, please breathe through your nose!

(Do remember to clean your nose too. Just as a vacuum cleaner with the dirty filter cannot pick up much dust from the floor, a dirty nose can't do as good a filtering job as a clean nose.)

2. Drink more water

This sounds really generic.

(a) Ensures that the filter in your nose keeps working

When you breathe through your nose, the air goes past your nostrils into an open area inside your head called the nasal cavity, before heading down the esophagus and into your lungs through the windpipe.

The whole system of airways is lined with a thin layer of sticky mucus that traps dust particles, bacteria and other pollutants. Tiny hairs called cilia sweep mucus from the nasal cavity into the back of the throat where it can be swallowed and neutralized in the stomach.

Mucus is constantly being produced (2-4 cups per day) so that the cycle can go on.

With the unusual load of particles in the air that need to be removed, the mucus membranes are working in overdrive to produce more mucus than usual.

(b) Ensures that your have enough tears to wash out the dirt out of your eyes

With more dust particles coming in contact with our eyes, tear production is increased to flush out the dirt. The blinking reflex in the eye allows the lashes and lids to move tears, bacteria and debris out of the eye.

Sure, eye drops work. Use them when necessary. But fluids in the body can only be replenished by drinking water.


Drinking enough water ensures that the body can produce enough mucus and tears, so that your body's systems can work in the optimal way to protect your health.

Take care, everyone.