Health News Share Email Print Make summer easier on your lungs With summer here at last, chances are you and your family will be spending a lot more time outside. But breathing in polluted air can irritate your lungs and make asthma worse. Unhealthy air can also raise the risk of lung cancer and even trigger heart attacks. Pollutants: 5 ways to protect your lungs Check the daily air pollution forecasts in your area. Listen to local weather reports, or check online at airnow.gov. When pollution levels are high, exercise indoors. Move your workouts to a gym, nearby mall or your home. Limit the amount of time kids play outdoors when the air quality is unhealthy. Don’t exercise near high-traffic areas. Vehicles on busy highways can create high pollution levels up to 1/3 of a mile away. Ask your doctor how else to stay safe from air pollution, especially if you have a chronic lung or heart problem. If you have asthma, steering clear of triggers is one way to fend off an attack. How much do you really know about what a trigger is and how it works? Test your knowledge with this quiz. Reviewed 8/28/2023 Sources AirNow.gov "AirNow Main Page." https://www.airnow.gov/. American Lung Association. "10 Tips to Protect Yourself from Unhealthy Air." https://www.lung.org/clean-air/outdoors/10-tips-to-protect-yourself. American Lung Association. "Particle Pollution." https://www.lung.org/clean-air/outdoors/what-makes-air-unhealthy/particle-pollution. American Lung Association. "Toxic Air Pollutants." https://www.lung.org/clean-air/outdoors/what-makes-air-unhealthy/toxic-air-pollutants. Related stories Health information main Health tools go Select a health topic ADHD Aging Alcohol use disorder Allergies Alternative medicine Alzheimer's disease Arthritis Asthma Babies Backs Bladder Bones Brain Breast cancer Cancer Cancer prevention Caregiving Cervical cancer Children and parenting Cholesterol Colds Colorectal cancer Coronavirus Dental care Depression Diabetes Disaster preparedness Down syndrome Ears Eating disorders Emergencies End of life/Palliative care Environmental health Epilepsy Eyes Fall prevention Family and relationships Feet Fitness and exercise Flu Food safety Hair Headache Health assessments Health calculators Healthcare Heart attack Heart health Hepatitis Hernia High blood pressure Hips HIV/AIDS Holiday health Hormones Imaging Incontinence Joints Kidneys Knees Leukemia Liver Lung cancer Lungs Medications Men's health Menopause Mental health Multiple sclerosis Nails Nose Nutrition Obesity Oral cancer Ovaries Pain Parkinson's disease Pets Pneumonia Pregnancy Prostate cancer Rehabilitation Reproductive health Safety School health Sexuality Sexually transmitted infections Skin Skin cancer Sleep Smoking Sports injuries Stomach pain Stress and anxiety Stroke Substance use disorder Summer safety Surgery Teen health Throat Thyroid Travel Vaccines Vascular health Violence Vitamins and supplements Weight management Winter health Women's health Workplace health Wound care i Providers Family Medicine Internal Medicine Pulmonology Internal Medicine and Pulmonology i Services Lung Screening Pulmonary Services RSS If you have questions or comments, please contact Randolph Health. Problems reading or opening a page? Legal restrictions and terms of use applicable to this site.