With a considerable rise in temperatures in the past decade or two, air conditioners have become an integral part of our lives. We spend a large part of our day in air-conditioned environment, but there’s just one little problem. Prolonged exposure to A.C’s actually does more harm than good. It affects our health in ways that are not always visible. Here are five harmful effects of being in an air-conditioned room, all day.
1. Breathing issues:
Industrial air conditioners, the type that are used in factories and large offices need to be serviced regularly. The vents and filters of air cons can be breeding grounds for black mould. You’ll often find moisture on their ducts and coils, which can cause air-borne diseases. This obviously causes breathing issues and health conditions such as pneumonia.
2. Fatigue sets in:
You know that ill feeling you get when you walk into an air-conditioned room? That’s because there’s no air circulation and that can cause headaches and a sense of exhaustion. It’s also called the “sick building syndrome” – a situation in which the occupants of a building experience acute health or comfort-related effects that seem to be linked directly to the time spent in the building.
3. Contamination occurs:
Staying in closed air-conditioned rooms for a long time can expose you exposes you to pollutants inside rather than outside the room. How? For starters, the central air conditioning does not bring in fresh air keeps circulating old air, which means that if someone sneezes, the germs will remain in the air.
4. Skin troubles:
Spending long hours in an air-conditioned room can make your skin dull and dry. According to some studies, on the internet, being in an air-conditioned room also affects the health of your hair.
5. Eye problems:
Sometimes air conditioning can also be the cause of eye conditions such as conjunctivitis and blepharitis (eyelid inflammation). Also, prolonged exposure to air conditioning is not advisable for people who wear contact lenses, as they require more moisture to keep lenses from falling off, but moisture easily dries off in an air-conditioned room.
