As climate change makes wildfires more frequent, researchers from the University of New Mexico say the smoke — which can drift for thousands of miles — is linked to worse mental health.
The new study, published in the journal “Respiratory Health,” found a week after exposure to wildlife smoke participants’ mental health scores were at their lowest, but after three weeks scores were close to normal.
Dr. Shuguang Leng, an associate professor with UNM and lead author of the study, says the negative effects can occur even when the smoke is so thin it’s barely visible.
“When you live next to a burning spot, yes, it's very smoky — suffocating,” he said. “Most of the time, it never gets to that level.”
Leng said the United States made large advances fighting air pollution — like the Clean Air Act — which have been effective in getting particulate matter out of the air. Since 2016, however, wildfires have halted or reversed much of that progress.
Leng’s study also found physical effects from the smoke exposure that can actually last longer than the mental health effects, often for a month or longer.
Leng recommended using websites like Air Now’s fire and smoke map to track wildfires and plot where the smoke plume is drifting, especially for people with asthma, or other respiratory issues.
Support for this coverage comes from the W.K. Kellogg Foundation.
