They often go unnoticed, so it may come as a surprise to hear that we take almost 20,000 breaths a day. That’s right, 20,000 breaths! If you’ve never thought about clean air before, use this number as a good jumping off point. Given the sheer volume of how much air we inhale every day, it’s important to make every breath as pure as possible. Let’s take a look at why.
Behind Each Breath
For never paying attention to it, breathing is really quite a miraculous process. With every inhale, our chest muscles expand as they move up. Simultaneously, the diaphragm moves down, allowing our lungs to fill up with air. Once the air is in the lungs, it moves to the alveoli, tiny air sacs where the oxygen passes through into the blood so that it can be transported to every cell in the body.
The alveoli also absorb carbon dioxide from the blood. When the diaphragm moves up and the chest muscles contract and move down, this forces air out of the lungs. It also allows humans to expel carbon dioxide from the body.
With all of these organs working together, an average child and adult will breathe about 12-20 times a minute.
Inhaling Polluted Air
According to NASA, this respiratory rate means a human adult will inhale more than 3,000 gallons of air every day. Each breath contributes to our survival, but given potential pollution, it can also do the opposite.
Between burning coal, manufacturing our favorite products, and even getting caught in traffic jams, human activities are responsible for a lot of air pollution. Just imagine all of that possibly polluted air we inhale, every single day!
Would you knowingly eat or drink three—let alone 3,000—gallons of contaminated food or beverages every day?
Roughly 99% of the world’s population is breathing air that exceeds internationally approved limits for air pollution. With every breath we take, most of us are inhaling particulate matter, nitrogen dioxide, volatile organic compounds (VOCs), and other contaminants. Contributing to both acute and chronic sickness and impacts on mental health, our exposure to polluted air also increases our risk of pneumonia, stroke, heart disease, lung disease, and cancer.
And if you think polluted air is limited to hazy cities and cars shared by smokers, think again. As Americans, most of us spend 90% of our lives indoors—where the air can be up to 100 times more polluted than what’s outside.
Make Every Breath As Pure As Possible
Every day, we have 20,000 chances to clean purer, safer air. AirDoctor is here to make that possible. Because every breath counts, we’ve created top-of-the-line purification systems. Every AirDoctor purifier machine will help you breathe safe and healthy air. You have enough on your plate already—with AirDoctor, you won’t have to add worries about 20,000 clean breaths to the list.
