New Research: Exhaustion Is in the Air
Most parents of older children have experienced first-hand one of the iron rules of adolescence: Age is inversely related to velocity.
In real life situations, this theory predicts that as a child advances into the teenage years, speed, motion and acceleration all begin to slow. Like an object hitting the event horizon of a black hole, the act of a teenager landing on a couch freezes time. True to the laws of physics, the adolescent at rest tends to remain at rest.
But new scientific research is giving sluggish teens the perfect alibi for inertia, fatigue and a moody demeanor: It may not be hormones, fast food, pop culture or an inherited languor gene that is shaping this familiar personality — the air itself may play a role.
According to a study published this month in Scientific Reports, “adolescents with ongoing physical complaints reported greater fatigue and emotional distress on days that the air contained higher levels of nitrogen dioxide (NO2) and carbon monoxide (CO). Regardless of physical complaints, adolescents on average also reported greater fatigue the day after NO2 levels were higher.”
The research team, led by developmental psychologist Emma Armstrong-Carter, currently a National Science Foundation postdoctoral research fellow at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, followed 422 Los Angeles-area adolescents over a period of two years. Beyond quantifying heightened levels of fatigue and changes in mood among this group, the team also suggested ways nitrogen dioxide and carbon monoxide may trigger and aggravate these symptoms.
“Air pollution may impact adolescents’ mood via several biological pathways,” they wrote. “One pathway is inflammation, which taxes the body physiologically and can contribute to feelings of fatigue. Air pollution increases humans’ levels of circulating inflammation in the blood, such as C-reactive protein. In turn, inflammation is robustly linked to heightened symptoms of exhaustion, anxiety and depression in both adolescents and adults.”
Inflammation has a cascading effect throughout the body. “All of these biological pathways are physiologically arduous for the body and can contribute to feelings of fatigue. Moreover, exposure to air pollution also impairs the immunological, neuroendocrine and autonomic pathways which promote healthy physiological homeostasis, rest and sleep, which can further contribute to fatigue. … In turn, fatigue reduces adolescents’ capacity to effectively self-regulate difficult emotions and maintain emotional wellbeing throughout the day.”
Meanwhile, a study published in March by the American Psychological Association demonstrated a link between ozone and depressive symptoms for adolescents, even in areas that meet air quality standards.
Here, too, increased inflammation was found to be the pathway air pollution uses to create mood changes in adolescents. And it didn’t require much exposure for these effects to become apparent.
“It was surprising that the average level of ozone was fairly low even in the communities with relatively higher ozone exposure,” said lead researcher Erika Manczak, a clinical psychologist and Assistant Professor at the University of Denver. “This really underscores the fact that even low levels of ozone exposure have potentially harmful effects.”
