Flickering a candle at home can influence your mental acuity.
Studies indicate that indoor air pollution from cigarette smoke, combined with inadequate ventilation, can impair our ability to concentrate.
The research involved a study of 26 individuals who were placed in a room with a blown-out candle for a period of one hour, and also in the same room with clean air for the same duration on a different day.
Volunteers underwent testing both before and after their entry.
Four hours after being exposed to candle smoke, individuals performed more poorly in a test that required them to concentrate on a picture and disregard distractions.
Research suggests that even brief exposure to air pollution can have detrimental effects on brain functions necessary for everyday tasks.
‘It highlights the significance of ventilating a space, such as after extinguishing candles on a cake.’
The study, published in the journal Nature Communications, evaluated individuals' ability to selectively focus on a face while disregarding distracting stimuli.
Their performance significantly declined after exposure to polluted air, unlike their performance after being exposed to clean air, when asked to quickly press buttons in response to 120 different facial pictures.
When the volunteers inhaled indoor pollution, they performed more poorly when asked to determine whether pictures depicted people who were happy or were experiencing fear.
According to experts, pollution may trigger inflammation in the body, which in turn affects the brain.
Airborne pollutants can also enter the bloodstream via the lungs and breach the protective barrier surrounding the brain.
Read more