Health
How to Protect Yourself From Wildfire Smoke if You’re at High Risk of Health Effects
As wildfire smoke blankets large swaths of the eastern United States, many people are experiencing physical symptoms, like prickling, stinging eyes; a scratchy throat; a runny nose; and some coughing. For those without underlying conditions, this will largely be a passing source of irritation. “You’ll be miserable a little bit, but you’ll be able to brush it off,” said Dr. Panagis Galiatsatos, a pulmonary and critical care medicine physician at Johns Hopkins Medicine.
But for those who are most vulnerable, even brief exposures can have immediate ramifications, as exposure to toxins in the smoke can trigger inflammation and exacerbate existing health issues. This group includes children and adults with respiratory or cardiovascular conditions. “For vulnerable populations, the brevity of exposure may be enough to flare up underlying lung issues, or conditions overall,” Dr. Galiatsatos said. Babies, young children, older adults and pregnant women are also at higher risk of serious health effects.
Everyone may want to take precautions, but doing so is particularly critical if you are vulnerable. Here’s what health experts advise to minimize your risk:
Monitor air quality.
“Don’t let your eyes be the sole deciding factor” to determine the air quality, Dr. Galiatsatos said. Monitor the local Air Quality Index, which can be found at AirNow.gov.
If the air quality is poor, stay inside as much as you can, said Dr. Samantha Green, a family physician at Unity Health Toronto. If the air quality is moderate and you have underlying conditions, you may want to continue to take precautions and minimize your time outside. Air Quality Index values above 100 mean that the air is unhealthy, and values between 51 and 100 are considered moderate.
“These toxins — if you can avoid them, avoid them,” Dr. Galiatsatos said. “Staying at home, windows closed, that would be the most ideal situation.”
Take precautions if you need to go outside.
Don’t exercise or perform strenuous activity outdoors, said Laura Corlin, an assistant professor at Tufts University School of Medicine. If you need to go outside, wear a tightfitting mask, like an N95. When you return home, change your clothes, Dr. Galiatsatos said.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention notes that dust masks, surgical masks and bandannas are not sufficient to protect children from smoke, and that N95 masks are typically not fitted for kids and may not provide adequate coverage. (Another well-fitting mask, like a KF94, can help.) The agency also said that breathing through a wet cloth would most likely not protect children from smoke.
Make your indoor space as safe as possible.
Experts advised keeping your windows closed. An air purifier like a HEPA filter can help, especially if it is in the room you spend the most time in. Dr. Corlin recommended minimizing activities that could interfere with indoor air quality: Don’t burn candles or use a fireplace, and don’t fry or broil meat.
Limit time with large groups.
Our immune systems work less effectively after we’ve been exposed to high levels of fine particulate matter in the air, said Dr. Francesca Dominici, a professor of biostatistics, population and data science at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. If you are immunocompromised, you may want to limit unmasked indoor time with large groups of people, since you may be less able to fight off a virus someone passes to you.
Monitor your health.
Exposure to toxic air pollutants can raise the risk of heart attacks. If you are experiencing chest pain or shortness of breath, seek emergency attention.
For people with underlying respiratory conditions, like asthma or chronic bronchitis, watch out for exacerbated symptoms, like difficulty breathing or more intense coughing, Dr. Dominici said. If you are experiencing heightened symptoms, contact your doctor, who might suggest increasing medication.
Watch babies and young children to make sure that they are not struggling to breathe or excessively coughing, Dr. Dominici said. Parents may want to contact their children’s doctor if a child has asthma to see if they should alter their medication.
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Ivanka Trump, the daughter of incoming President Donald Trump, has been known to lead an active life.
As the mother of three kids and a lover of outdoor sports, the 43-year-old is always on the move, recently adding jiu-jitsu to her mix of physical activity.
In a recent appearance on The Skinny Confidential Him & Her podcast, Trump shared how her daughter, Arabella, expressed interest in learning self-defense when she was 11.
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“I’m just so in awe of [her],” Trump said about her daughter. “She came to me and said, ‘As a woman, I feel like I need to know how to defend myself, and I don’t have a confidence level yet that I can do that.’”
Ivanka Trump plays with her daughter, Arabella Rose Kushner, in the Rose Garden during a Congressional Picnic on the South Lawn of the White House in June 2017. (Alex Wong/Getty Images)
Trump responded, “At 11 … I was not thinking about how to physically defend myself, and I thought it was the coolest thing.”
After researching self-defense options, Trump enrolled Arabella, now 13, in jiu-jitsu (martial arts) classes with the Valente Brothers in Miami, Florida – and soon the whole family joined in.
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“[Arabella] started asking me to join – I joined,” she said. “Then my two sons wanted to do what their older sister was doing. Then my husband joined … It is good for everyone.”
“It’s almost like a moving meditation.”
Trump, who is now a blue belt in jiu-jitsu, described that she likes how the sport “meshes physical movement.”
“It’s almost like a moving meditation because the movements are so micro,” she said. “It’s like three-dimensional chess.”
“There’s like a real spiritualism to it … The grounding in sort of samurai tradition and culture and wisdom.”
During President Trump’s first term in the White House, Ivanka Trump noted that she had very little focus on fitness, only taking weekly runs with husband Jared Kushner and “chasing the kids around the house.”
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Trump shared that she was “never a gym person,” but always loved sports, which still holds true today.
She said she enjoys skiing, surfing and racquet sports like padel tennis (a hybrid of tennis and squash) and pickle ball, which she described as “fun and social.”
Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner are seen out for a walk with their children on Dec. 10, 2022, in Miami, Florida. (MEGA/GC Images)
‘Elevating awareness’
On the podcast, Trump said she was drawn to jiu-jitsu because it combines physical fitness and philosophy.
It also focuses more on how to extract yourself from a dangerous situation before having to harm someone who’s a threat, she noted.
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“Having these skills makes you less likely to get into a fight, not more likely to,” Trump went on.
“Once you have the confidence that you can sort of move out of a situation, there’s a real focus on elevating awareness.”
Ivanka Trump waves as she arrives at Joint Base Andrews in Maryland for US President Donald Trump’s departure on Jan. 20, 2021. (ALEX EDELMAN/AFP via Getty Images)
In a previous interview with Fox News Digital, Rener Gracie, head instructor of jiu-jitsu at Gracie University in California, stressed that the only truly reliable skills are those that have been “mastered into muscle memory.”
This occurs through extensively practicing self-defense methods like Brazilian jiu-jitsu, which are “leverage-based and don’t rely on you having a physical advantage over the subject,” he noted.
“Having these skills makes you less likely to get into a fight, not more likely to.”
“And by that, I mean strength, speed, power and size — because in almost every case, the attacker is going to target someone who they feel is physically inferior to them.”
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Gracie, whose family created Brazilian jiu-jitsu and the UFC (Ultimate Fighting Championship), shared that jiu-jitsu is “highly sought after” because it only takes weeks or months for someone to “develop the core skills that could keep them safe in a violent physical encounter.”
‘Transformative’ strength training
In addition to mastering self-defense skills, Ivanka Trump recently revealed a shift in her fitness routine to include weightlifting and resistance training.
On Instagram, Trump posted a video displaying different exercises with various equipment in the gym, noting in the caption that she used to focus primarily on cardio, yoga and Pilates.
“Since moving to Miami, I have shifted my focus to weightlifting and resistance training, and it has been transformative in helping me build muscle and shift my body composition in ways I hadn’t imagined,” she wrote.
“I believe in a strength training approach built on foundational, time-tested and simple movements – squats, deadlifts, hinges, pushes and pulls. These are the cornerstones of my workout, emphasizing functional strength for life.”
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Trump added that prioritizing form is “essential” to ensure results before adding on weight.
“This ensures a safe and steady progression while maintaining the integrity of each movement,” she continued. “I incorporate mobility work within my sessions to enhance range of motion.”
“I believe in a strength training approach built on foundational, time-tested and simple movements – squats, deadlifts, hinges, pushes and pulls,” Ivanka Trump wrote in an October Instagram post. (Ivanka Trump/Instagram)
“Weightlifting has enhanced not just my strength but my overall athleticism and resilience,” she added.
Trump said she dedicates three to four days a week to strength training, including two solo sessions and two with a personal trainer.
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She also said that increasing her protein intake has also been “critical” to her progress.
“I now consume between 30 and 50 grams of protein a meal,” she said. “It works … I’ve never been stronger!”
Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump are seen arriving at the beachside eatery on May 2, 2024, in Miami Beach, Florida. (MEGA/GC Images)
Trump also still enjoys weekly yoga sessions, spending time outdoors with her children and playing sports with friends, she said.
“I also incorporate a couple of short (10-minute), high-intensity interval training sessions (such as sprints) each week to keep my cardiovascular fitness sharp and dynamic,” she noted.
“This balanced approach has infused new energy into my fitness routine and yielded great results.”
Fox News Digital reached out to Ivanka Trump for comment.
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