Proper use of air conditioners key to health
Print Edition
Air conditioners are godsends on hot, sultry days, but their use or misuse can be detrimental to the health of some people.
Many people claim summer colds and flu are caused by moving between cold air-conditioned rooms into hot outdoor temperatures.
Then again, the absence of air conditioning can also be hazardous to health.
Earlier this month, a 29-year-old migrant worker from Hubei Province died of heatstroke days after giving birth to her second son in a hospital in Fengxian District. Her family kept her wrapped up in a thick quilt in a room that was 38 degrees Celsius and the air conditioner turned off during yuezi — the traditional month of confinement after delivery.
This month is usually characterized by wholesome foods, warmth and comfort to ensure new mothers recover quicker from delivering a baby and avoid illnesses.
Zhang Yun, head nurse at the Gynecology and Obstetrics Hospital of Fudan University, said new mothers are weak and keeping them too warm is not advisable.
“Room temperatures should be kept at around 25 degrees Celsius on very hot days,” she said, “Air conditioning is actually better than electric fans.”
Traditional customs against bathing, drinking cold water and brushing teeth during yuezi are rooted in bygone days, when hot water wasn’t available and public knowledge about health care was scanty, she said.
“Sticking to these traditional concepts can harm the health of a new mother,” Zhang added.
Asthma sufferers have a different set of concerns during hot summer days.
The incidence of asthma among children has grown every year in Shanghai since 1990. The ratio was 1.9 percent of children under 12 years old in 1990, rising to 10 percent in 2010.
Pediatricians say asthma attacks can be triggered by improper use of air conditioners and by eating too much ice cream.
Dr Tang Xiaoping, a pediatrician at Shanghai Ren’ai Hospital, attributed the rising incidence of the ailment to changes in environment and lifestyles. Children’s asthma can be caused by dust mites, mold and flower pollen that stick to filters in air conditioners and are released in the air when air conditioners are turned on.
“Asthma sufferers who go from air-conditioned rooms into outdoor heat suddenly or who eat too much ice cream may increase stimulation of their air tubes and cause a asthma attack,” Tang said.
“For allergic children, big temperature gradients between indoors and outdoors can result in coughing and shortness of breath,” she said, “Parents should keep the temperature difference within five degrees Celsius and not expose children to direct wind from air conditioners. People also should clean their air conditioners periodically.”
Doctors said people with asthma should avoid cold food, seafood and spicy foods. Young people who spend days and nights in air-conditioned rooms are also showing more symptoms of neck arthritis, doctors said.That is especially true for those who crane their necks constantly to look at computer screens and other digital devices, they said.
Dr Wang Kai at Shanghai Changhang Hospital said the incidence of people coming in for outpatient or emergency care for symptoms of neck arthritis has increased 30 percent recently.
“Having the wind from air conditioners constantly on the back and neck can cause muscle convulsions and swollen nerves, resulting in pain in those areas,” Wang said, “Previously this condition was seen more commonly in elderly people, but nowadays, people in their 30s and 40s account for 50 percent of our patients.”
The problem is exacerbated by hunching the back over a desk for hours at a time, which can cause tension in back muscles and fatigue in cervical vertebra, Wang added. Wind from air conditioners can chill the body, worsening the effects.
Doctors suggest traditional Chinese medicine massages and proper diets, like congee with reed root and steamed garter snake, to relieve rheumatic pain in the body.
Children’s skin problems also increase in summer like mosquito bites, eczema, prickly heat and dermatitis.
Dr Guo Yifeng from Xinhua Hospital said infants are more likely to be bitten by mosquitoes as they sweat more than adults.
“It is important to keep a comfortable room temperature to drop baby’s skin temperature and use a mosquito net over their bed,” Guo said. “Some parents use creams for adults on mosquito bites. These usually contain alcohol, which isn’t good for a baby’s sensitive skin. Parents can try some anti-itch and anti-bacteria products made with Chinese herbs.”
Tips:
Foods that help reduce the effects of summer heat: green beans, watermelon, pears, millet and water chestnuts as well as teas made with herbs like mint, reed root and hyssop.
Foods to aid the spleen and mitigate dampness: wax gourds, balsam pears as well as traditional Chinese medicines like bighead atractylodes, poria cocos and rhizome discoreae.
Foods helping to generate saliva and slake thirst: lemons, pineapples, hawthorn, apricots and the traditional medicine rehmannia glutinosa libosch
Foods for qi: soybeans and fungus, and teas made with American ginseng or astragalus mongholicus.
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