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I like it when things are simple. Also, 7 other things.
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Sometimes, things are simple. I like simple.
So this is a story about a simple solution to an obvious problem. It comes from researchers at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, who wanted to find out if there's a connection between air quality in offices and the cognitive function of the people who work there.
Short answer? Yes.
Not only is there such a connection, but there are some easy ways to improve air quality and, as a result, measurably improve the focus and response times that people demonstrate at work.
Lead author Jose Guillermo Cedeno Laurent and colleagues say they recruited 302 office workers between ages 18 and 65 for their experiment, who lived and worked in six countries including the United States.
They outfitted the subjects with sensors to record the temperature and humidity in their offices, along with the amount of carbon dioxide and fine particulate matter in the air.
Then they followed them for a full year, from 2019 until just before the pandemic in March of last year.
The researchers also gave the subjects an app that ran on their phones, which offered two types of cognitive tests when the carbon dioxide or fine particulate matter numbers breached certain thresholds.
The first type of test included something called the Stroop color-word test, which asked the workers to identify the color of the text of a word when the word itself literally spelled a different color.
(Example: The word "pink," written here, displays in a black font, even though the word itself spells a different color. The point of the test is to measure attention and the ability to disregard irrelevant data.)
The second type of test simply asked subjects to add and subtract two-digit numbers, measuring their cognitive speed and working memory.
Overall: Small differences in the levels of carbon dioxide and fine particulate matter in the air led to a measurably varied performance on the cognitive tests.
As an example, an increase of about 500 parts per million of CO2—which the study suggests is roughly the difference between inside office air and the air outside (which has about half as much CO2, in general)—was associated with between 1% and nearly 8% less efficient cognitive responses on the tests, depending on which cognitive attribute we're focusing on.
"We have a huge body of research on the exposure to outdoor pollution," Cedeno Laurent told the news site France24, which reported on the study this week, "but we spend 90% of our time indoors."
The data from this study, which can be found in the most recent edition of the journal Environmental Research Letters, came from just before the pandemic. But with COVID-19 still raging, along with mask and vaccine debates and the question of whether employees should go back to the office or not, it's even more relevant now.
So, let's go to the practical takeaways and advice.
First, air filtration and ventilation are worth paying attention to, and perhaps spending a bit of money to fix. Upgrading a building's systems might be a worthwhile investment, along with good quality portable air filters.
But, there's also a less expensive solution—frankly, the simple one that got me excited about this whole thing to begin with. It’s also one you can implement even if you don't have the ability to overhaul your building's ventilation system.
Given the lower rates of CO2 and fine particulate matter outside, just get used to working with the windows open.
Problem solved. Or at least, improved.
7 other things
It’s “(Alleged) Conflict of Interest Day!” First, 131 federal judges allegedly failed to recuse themselves from cases in which they had financial interests. Next, the presidents of the Boston and Dallas federal reserves both resigned Monday, after allegations regarding their stock market trades. (CNBC)
Simone Biles: “I should have quit before the Tokyo Games.” (Reuters)
John Hinkley, who shot President Ronald Reagan and three others in a 1981 assassination attempt, will be granted an unconditional release by a judge, likely making him the first person to ever shoot a president and live to see freedom again. (WashPost)
Missouri hospital plans to give panic buttons to its ER staff after a surge in violent outbursts by patients. (HuffPost)
A German hamster named “Mr. Goxx” runs an independent portfolio that trades cryptocurrency from a high-tech cage called the Goxx Box. His trading sessions are live-streamed on Twitch: first, the hamster runs on an "intention wheel," which spins around and chooses a cryptocurrency; then it scampers through either a "buy" tunnel or a "sell" tunnel. It’s up 16% since June…beating most professional traders. (CNN)
Not in China, though: All use of crypto, from Bitcoin payments to mining, has now been banned. (NYT)
Lou the coonhound has set the Guinness world record for longest ears on a dog. Well-earned, as the picture demonstrates. (Click through.) (Fox News)
Thanks for reading, as always. Photo credit: Pixabay. I wrote about some of this before at Inc.com. Want to see all my mistakes? Click here.
Unfortunately, newer office buildings have no openable windows along with inefficient air/ heat/cooling as well.
Bill, most all HVAC units have dampers that allow for fresh air to come in. Techs change the amount of fresh air in the building by opening the dampers. This happens virtually every day. It is not hard to bring in more fresh air through the system - that air just then needs to be treated (heated or cooled). Since many of us do not have the luxury of opening windows (high-rise offices or my case is fixed windows), we can bring more outside air in. Your point about filters is also very good.
It is hard to believe that we have not thought or considered this before given how many people work in "closed" environments! Thanks for alerting us to the issues.