WHO: Breathe Life - How air pollution impacts your body?

Air pollution is like tiny invisible cars that ride on your breath and make your body work harder.

Imagine you're playing outside, and there are a bunch of little cars floating in the air, not real cars, but tiny ones made of dirt, smoke, or chemicals. When you breathe them in, they go all the way into your lungs, like tiny guests who don’t want to leave.

These tiny cars can make it harder for your lungs to do their job, kind of like when you're trying to blow out birthday candles, but someone is holding a balloon in front of your face. Your lungs have to work extra hard to push the air through all those little cars, and that makes you feel tired or coughy.

Sometimes, these tiny cars can even get stuck deep inside your lungs, like when a toy gets stuck in a tube. That's why people with asthma might feel worse on days when the air is polluted.

Your body is smart, though. It tries to clean out those little cars, just like you might try to clean up spilled juice from your floor. But if there are too many of them, it can get overwhelmed, and that’s how pollution starts to affect your health.