Slashdot Mirror
Lower Air Pollution Means Longer Life
thefickler writes "A new study by the US National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS) has found a strong link between air quality and life expectancy. The researchers looked at air pollution, deaths and census data for 51 metropolitan areas between 1978 and 2001, and what they found was a direct correlation between improving air quality and extending life expectancy. People lived about 2.72 years longer over that time span and at least 15 percent of that increased life expectancy was from a decrease in air pollution."
More recently than that, actually. The Great Smog of 1952. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_smog
It's more than that. While "lower air pollution equals longer life" is a safe assumption at this point, "A decrease in air pollution amounting to 10 micrograms per cubic meter of of (sic) particulates in the air led to an additional .61 years of life" is not so obvious, nor is it even obvious how direct or significant the correlation would be.
*pats you on the back*
Don't have any links at hand, but there is some research that concluded that urban-life induces stress. Apparently, some people naturally go into stress mode in crowded places, which are fairly common in urban environments. All the noises, moving vehicles, flashing lights, etc can also induce additional stress.
It only takes one man to change the Wisdom of the Crowd to Tyranny of the Masses.