Is Conference Room Air Making You Dumber? (nytimes.com) 112
schwit1 shares a report: At least eight studies in the last seven years have looked at what happens specifically in a room accumulating carbon dioxide, a main ingredient in our exhalations. While the results are inconsistent, they are also intriguing. They suggest that while the kinds of air pollution known to cause cancer and asthma remain much more pressing as public health concerns, there may also be pollutants whose most detrimental effects are on the mind, rather than the body.
So can you trust the decisions made in small rooms? How much does the quality of air indoors affect your cognitive abilities? And as our knowledge of indoor air's effects grows, do we need to revise how we design and use our buildings? Buildings in the United States have grown better sealed in the last 50 years, helping reduce energy used in heating and cooling. That's also made it easier for gasses and other substances released by humans and our belongings to build up inside. Although indoor air quality is not as well monitored as the air outdoors, scientists and ventilation professionals have extensively monitored carbon dioxide indoors. Higher CO2 levels -- say, above 1,200 parts per million (ppm) -- often indicate a low ventilation rate. Worrisome substances emitted by new furniture, office supplies and carpets could be accumulating in the air.
So can you trust the decisions made in small rooms? How much does the quality of air indoors affect your cognitive abilities? And as our knowledge of indoor air's effects grows, do we need to revise how we design and use our buildings? Buildings in the United States have grown better sealed in the last 50 years, helping reduce energy used in heating and cooling. That's also made it easier for gasses and other substances released by humans and our belongings to build up inside. Although indoor air quality is not as well monitored as the air outdoors, scientists and ventilation professionals have extensively monitored carbon dioxide indoors. Higher CO2 levels -- say, above 1,200 parts per million (ppm) -- often indicate a low ventilation rate. Worrisome substances emitted by new furniture, office supplies and carpets could be accumulating in the air.
Re:This article made me dumber (Score:4, Funny)
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Not the air... (Score:5, Funny)
... but what they *say* in the conference, however, certainly makes you dumber...
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It is not just the air. Neckties also make them dumber [news-medical.net].
What would happen if all conference rooms had O2 scrubbers [wikipedia.org]? Or maybe the entire office should be scrubbed. What would be the collective effect on our economy if every enclosed workspace was scrubbed?
Re:Not the air... (Score:5, Funny)
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It is not just the air. Neckties also make them dumber
That's why wearing neck ties is a requirement for managers, obviously.
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It would be far easier and cheaper to just bring in more outside air.
Also, if you rely on CO2 scrubbers rather than ventilation, you only take care of CO2, and not other indoor pollutants.
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No, it's making *you* the dumber!
I think I need to take a walk outside.
We just need some creative solutions (Score:5, Funny)
We can solve this easily [dilbert.com], we just need the will to do so. Also, don't forget how often cube farms get reconfigured with new walls that are outgassing all kinds of wonderful petrochemical effluents. Maybe NASA's research [nasa.gov] on this can provide some potential solutions, too.
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Moss is actually pretty good for your indoor environment. Very easy to keep alive, and provides some decent air scrubbing.
I use an electronic air cleaner, with HEPA filter and ion generator. I keep one on my desk at work too, and it's entirely anecdotal but I seem to get ill less, particularly common airborne diseases like colds.
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They generate positive and negative ions, which kill bacteria and viruses. In other words smells and things that make you ill. They also help stop things like mould growing.
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There was a test of them on the TV many years ago. Can't say how well controlled it was, it was on NHK so at least not commercially motivated. Anyway, they got some different models and some sandwiches.
They put one purifier and one sandwich in a large box with some small holes to allow air to flow, and filmed them over several days. The control sandwich got mouldy pretty quickly as expected, the ones with ion emissions just dried out but didn't start to change colour or stink.
If you are interested two big b
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but why would you want to generate ions to breath in?
Because it smells like after a heavy rain or thunderstorm.
Curse sealed closed office building windows (Score:3)
I want fresh air, dammit.
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I want fresh air, dammit.
Nearly all modern HVAC systems include fresh air intake [contractingbusiness.com] as an important aspect of their indoor air quality, in addition to heating and cooling the office space.
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That air is no longer fresh when it reaches the room through a system of dusty plastic pipes and biofilms on filters. Fresh air means opening the window for a minute whenever you feel the need.
In a pinch, you always have the option of defenestration.
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Now dusty metal ductwork, missing filters, and biofilms on the cooling coil, I've seen plenty of times. Still, even in those conditions, the outside air being brought in helps.
BTW, the use of the term "fresh air" was deprecated decades ago. The HVAC industry generally uses the term "Outdoor Air" or maybe "Outside Air", as there's no guarantee that the air outdoors is fresher than the air indoors.
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And since it slightly increases the cooling bill, closing the fresh air intake is the first thing that happens when the building owner needs a new winter yacht.
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And since it slightly decreases the overall performance of the air conditioner, it is sometimes closed by the repair company's technician at the first service call for "not cooling/heating properly".
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I want fresh air, dammit.
There's nothing wrong in general with having windows that can be opened.
But you also want a high quality internal circulation system, and sometimes you don't want the windows open.
For several months after a major wildfire near my workplace, I could tell the difference between the air quality at work, and the air quality in my apartment. At work had a typical internal circulation system. In my apartment, I had high quality air cleaners running 24/7. It was an incredible difference.
I'm pretty sure the time
Astronauts notice elevated CO2 levels (Score:5, Interesting)
The ISS keeps its CO2 levels below 1%, but well above the 0.04% (400 ppm) in Earth's atmosphere, because extracting CO2 from the station's atmosphere is a very energy-intensive process with diminishing returns. This may have the effect of causing astronauts' blood vessels to dilate and fill with fluid, to compensate for increased CO2 levels and keep blood pH down, but also causing increased blood pressure in the brain (also exacerbated by living in microgravity).
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I saw an interview with Chris Hadfield (astronaut from Canada, former commander of the International Space Station), and he remarked that, as CO2 levels fluctuate on the space station, the astronauts notice the effects on their bodies and moods.
This same exact thing happens to Submariners. In the mid/late 80's, I took some training cruises on US Navy Submarines. The air quality, including the CO2 levels, were shown on a monitoring device that anyone could go by and look at. O2 Levels were always within normal levels but we, the crew, could always tell when the CO2 levels were higher than normal because we felt like crap. That was also the reason why anything with caffeine (coffee/coke) was consumed in large quantities.
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I don't know (Score:2)
Could you summarize this in a PowerPoint presentation?
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It is perfectly fine for government workers. All that happens at about 5000ppm is the cessation of higher brain functions, the vegetative functions can be sustained for much longer.
Profound Clickbait (Score:2)
Truly the most click baity headline I have seen all year.
Mobil Oil Corp. ... (Score:2)
... in Dallas was the most "meetingest" goddam place I've ever been.
One time at band camp ...
No, it was right before a meeting, the manager called us all together so we could talk about our Power Point slide decks and I said, "Fuck! It's a goddam meeting about the goddam meeting."
We never got anything done at those meetings.
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Thanks to No Smoking Rule (Score:1)
CO2 is not a main ingredient in exhalations (Score:2)
CO2 only account for about 4% of what we breathe out. Nitrogen gas remains the main ingredient by a long shot.
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heating, VENTILATION, air conditioning (Score:2)
HVAC uses make-up-air fans and exhaust fans to prevent these problems. If the CO2 levels are too high, there is a problem with the building.
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It's not the air (Score:2)
It's not the air, it's mind-numbing stupidity of the participants making moronic suggestions and pontificating at length on subjects upon which they know little or nothing about.
I thought it was just a saying, but it turns out you really can feel your eyes glazing over.
Also in theaters (Score:2)
I've noticed, when I go to a play or classical music concert, I feel more sleepy. I often doze off during the first act of a three-act play. I've suspected that it was related to elevated CO2 concentrations.
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I sometimes get the same but wonder if it's related to the amount of dust in those places. It quickly builds up and starts making it harder to breath, as in I have to work harder to force air through my partially blocked nostrils. Then I start to feel sleepy until I can clear them.
beware (Score:2)
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There is no way the typical air-conditioned office building has 17% oxygen while the outside air is 19%, not if there's any ventilation at all. Now if you meant 2% of the 19%, or 18.6% oxygen, I could believe that.
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You completely overestimate the size of a typical meeting room for 20 people and you completely underestimate the amount of CO2 20 people produce.
Hint: if the room was sealed of hermetically the 20 people would not survive more than roughly a day or two. (And I heavily doubt the two days).
No (Score:2)
Usually it's the idiots demanding we hold conference meetings over the most trivial of shit that's making us dumber.
No one can f*cking make a decision these days without calling a meeting together and arguing about it for months.
Hell, it's so bad they call a MEETING to get everyone's input on what the best days and times are to hold meetings :|
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But if they needed to add an outside air intake to meet the codes or standards, then they really did need to add an outside air intake, and should have done it before the company occupied the space.
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Egh (Score:3)
They're inconsistent because they're probably wrong.
Mountaineers regularly climbing above altitudes where there is less than 45% oxygen. Yes, we also sleep up there too. For Everest base camp, you regularly sleep in small rooms with multiple people.
Unless you're running around in a tiny box, I can't really see the amount you exhale having much effect on the O2 content. Your diet would probably have a much bigger impact
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Who is talking about O2? We're highly sensitive to CO2 at what amount to trace levels when compared to normal O2 levels.
Unless I'm horribly misinformed, you're not even talking about oxygen levels. You're talking about a decline in the oxygen partial pressure relative to sea level, which directly correlat
Meetings make you dumber (Score:2)
Just . . . any meetings. Meetings are a waste of time, breath, time, energy, and time.
Multiple studies have multiple findings. (Score:2)
This'll take care of it... (Score:2)
CO2 scrubbers in every airconditioner [wired.com]
Now what about the methane from 50 years of farts?
Re:Pollutant (Score:5, Funny)
Only an asshole millennial would think CO2, required for breathing, is a pollutant.
I think you are breathing wrong. Either that or you are a plant.
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Don't be so hard on him. We still like him.
Especially in Spring when he's in bloom.
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Actually, a certain amount of CO2 is required to keep you breathing properly. That's why a common treatment for hyperventilation is to have the victim breathe into a paper bag or other closed container until the symptoms subside.
The trick with hyperventilation is because they are hyperventilating, so they need lower O2 levels or they are overoxizing their blood. If you start breathing extra fast on purpose you will also feel lightheaded and ironically feel out of breath as your blood is overoxidated. If you then panic and start breathing faster because you feel out of breath then you are hyperventilating.
Feel free to correct me if I am wrong, but I dont think we can absorb CO2 in any way. What makes for instance CO(1) so dangerous,