A study conducted in London in people over 60 showed as short a period as two hours walking along the busy Oxford Street could be detrimental to health.
The ones who experienced the effects were not only the participants who already suffered from a medical condition (ischaemic heart disease and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease), but also perfectly healthy participants, who constituted the so-called “control group” for the study.
Walking is good for us, and has well-established health benefits. But the London study showed the beneficial effects are reduced by the detrimental effects of inhaling polluted city air, with effects mainly including reduced function of the lungs.
