Benefits of Fresh Air in Buildings

Fresh air can be described as the air that is pleasant to breathe. Air is the most vital component for a living, breathing being in order to sustain life. Often the importance of fresh air is looked over, but contrarily fresh air has numerous health benefits. In this concrete world, we are trapped between walls majority of our time. Our fast pace of lives intertwined with technology that provides everything at the touch of our fingertips can be extremely harmful to us beings in the long run. If we can't take a step outside every now and then, we need to look at alternative methods: the primary step being, incorporation of fresh air into all kinds of building structures. 

Fresh air has benefits that are unaware of common men. Educating ourselves regarding why we need a certain element inculcated in our daily lives is vital. Follow are the benefits mentioned below:

• Impurity Control :-  Through research, scientists have found out that air indoors is drastically impure as compared to the air outdoors. Hence, incorporating fresh air through ventilation means you are automatically breathing air, which is purer and far less contaminated. 
• Fewer allergies :- Allowing fresh air to enter close doors also means keeping fungus and mold at bay. A lot of times, mold can cause allergies. Fresh air can stop the process of condensation, which prevents further mold build-up.
• Fresh air helps with learning :- Breathing fresh air allows people to think clearly and feel more optimistic. It regulates and encourages productivity. On the other hand, closed spaces encourage laziness and irritation, lapses in judgment, and a curb in creativity and concentration.
• Helps with lung functions :- Lungs have a protective lining, which keeps airways clear from mucus and dirt. This allows humans to breathe easily and without any irritation of obstruction. It also helps with cleaning the respiratory tract. Fresh air helps regulates all these functions in the lungs efficiently and smoothly.
• Controls anxiety :- Fresh air scientifically improves anxiety levels by boosting the production of Serotonin. Serotonin increases with the amount of oxygen you intake. Serotonin is a neurotransmitter, which affects social behavior in humans. Increase levels of serotonin, in turn, means increasing levels of happiness and decreased levels of anxiety.
• Good for blood pressure and heart rate :- In order to have good blood circulation, we must breathe well and breathe fresh. Oxygen present in the air purifies the blood, which encourages good energy.
• Helps our immune system :- Fresh air is known to boost your immune system. It assists your immune system to battle diseases because of healthier white blood cell generation. When oxygen that is clean is supplied to the immune system, it works together to fight and destroy the unnecessary viruses, bacteria, and germs.

On the other hand, what could be a worst-case scenario if fresh air wasn't available? There are significant challenges faced in this particular area too. Some of the challenges are as follows:

• Fatigue : - Lack of fresh air can often cause people to feel more tired than usual. The reason for this is the lack of oxygen supply reaching their lungs. When there is no oxygen, there is no way to be energetic, because oxygen works like fuel. 
• The dullness of mind and irritability :- When you are in a productive environment, the two elements you want to stray from is dullness of mind and irritability. Lack of oxygen causes both of these problems.
• Sick Building Syndrome :- One of the most drastically harmful challenges faced by a lack of oxygen is Sick building syndrome. The term "sick building syndrome" (SBS) is utilized to describe situations in which building occupants experience acute health and comfort effects that appear to be linked to time spent in a building, but no specific illness or cause can be identified.

A 1984 World Health Organization Committee report recommended that up to 30 percent of new and redesigned structures worldwide might be the subject of over the top objections identified with indoor air quality (IAQ). Frequently this condition is brief, yet a few structures have issues that last for long terms. Majority of the time, issues are seen when a structure is maintained in a way that is conflicting with its unique plan or working techniques. Now and then indoor air issues are an after effect of poor structure plan or inhabitant exercises.
There are reasons that cause Sick Building Syndrome: Inadequate ventilation, chemical contaminants, and biological contaminants. Inadequate ventilation is known to be its prime factor, and here's why.

Inadequate ventilation:- In the early and mid-1900s, building ventilation principles called for around 15 sq. feet for each minute (cfm) of outside air for each structure inhabitant, principally to weaken and expel personal stenches. Because of the 1973 oil ban, notwithstanding, national vitality preservation measures required a decrease in the measure of open-air given to ventilation to 5 cfm per tenant. As a rule, these diminished open-air ventilation rates were observed to be deficient in keeping up the wellbeing and solace of tenants. Insufficient ventilation, which may likewise happen if heating, ventilating, and cooling (HVAC) frameworks don't viably disperse air to individuals in the structure, is believed to be a significant factor in SBS. With an end goal to accomplish satisfactory IAQ while limiting vitality.

For the reasons mentioned above, every structure should have adequate ventilation and fresh air. Adequate fresh air encourages numerous health benefits, which is good for human beings of all ages. Some of the structures that primarily include ventilation of fresh air are: 

Schools: Ventilation is necessary so that fresh air has its way into school classrooms, auditoriums and gyms. Every space in a school structure should have enough windows and ventilators on ceilings. This will efficiently help pure air enter and impure air escape through outlets. 
Offices: The process involved in ventilation helps in diluting the contaminants. If the supply of outdoor air is enhanced, there is a reduction in indoor air issues. However, there are various other processes related to ventilation that are equally essential. Buildings which have a sufficiently great ventilation system might face indoor air problems because of the distribution of air in an uneven manner. An HVAC system that is accurately designed, installed, operated, and maintained can promote indoor air quality. When proper procedures are not followed, indoor air problems may result. To eliminate indoor pollutants by diluting them, HVAC systems must ensure an accurate amount of outdoor air. However, because it is an expensive affair to make the cold winter air slightly warm and to cool down the hot air of the summer, a few building engineers design structures to decrease the outdoor air brought into the system during hot and cold spells; this allows polluted air to get concentrated inside, this increases the amount of pollutants. Therefore, a regular supply of fresh air is necessary. 
Hospitals: Hospitals are on call 24x7, all days of the week. Hence ventilation in areas like this is extremely necessary and important. Health care facilities that lack proper ventilation can lead to the spread of airborne diseases. Hospital patients with compromised immune systems could be additionally affected as well. Or there could also be a possibility of pathogens spreading to the rest of the hospital. 
It goes without saying that fresh air is critical for our well being. Since we spend the majority of our time indoor, significant measures need to be taken regarding the same. If not, consequences will have to be faced when they could have simply been avoided.