Air pollution and exercise: Think before jogging at 5 pm when pollution is high

I was doing a search on the environmental effects of diesel vs. gasoline (I started in TOXNET and then quickly reverted to beloved PubMed, specifically the MeSH Database accessible from the left side of the screen. I used the Medical Subject Heading (MeSH) "Vehicle Emissions/adverse effects"[MAJR] OR "Vehicle Emissions/toxicity"[MAJR] (I love subheadings like adverse effects or toxicity: they really cut to the chase). Obviously this search strategy and database are clinically biased, but the first result which popped up was related to pollution and urban exercise. It's a letter to the Medical Journal of Australia and worth a read.

When I used to cycle as a kid, I couldn't believe how dusty my hair (yes, hair) was by the time I would travel from one area in NDG to another -- and NDG is bordering on being a suburb in my adult mind; it's certainly not downtown Montreal. My lungs didn't feel so hot either. Cycling vs. walking reminds me of that debate about whether you get wetter running in the rain or walking, which has actually been studied (persistent link to Proquest Research Library). I'll stick to walking to work, thanks. It may be that "commuter-cyclists have 40% lower mortality than drivers", but what about us pedestrians?