What is well-being? And how do ventilation and air quality impact well-being?
Build Equinox mission is developing technologies that contribute to our health and well-being in a sustainable manner. Our preventilation concept summarizes these goals. A description of preventilation is included at the end of the article.
Health and Well-Being
Health is perhaps easier to understand than well-being. Good health indicates that we are not sick, injured, or battling an affliction such as cancer. Well-being is tougher to define because it connects our inner self with our physical and social surroundings. We can be healthy, but not in a state of well-being. Health and well-being are often linked together, but we can have any combination of health and well-being. One does not have to be healthy to achieve well-being and vice versa.
Austin Powers’ “mojo” is synonymous with and perhaps a better way to describe well-being. Depression, fatigue, anxiety, or a combination of all three take away our mojo. We don’t feel like socializing, we have little or no interests, we lose energy to do the simplest tasks, and we’re filled with worry about everything. In our dark periods, we may not be able to see any light at the end of an endless tunnel, and we may just want to give up. Beyond ourselves, when we don’t have well-being, others are impacted by our lack of happiness, joy, and productivity as our family, friends and co-workers worry about us, are annoyed at us, and work extra to make up for our reduced productivity.
DAMPs, MAMPS, PAMPs and Inflammation Correlated Depression
Research within the past 10 years is connecting the dots showing how our physical and mental states are interconnected. It is complex, but as in all of Nature, logical.
Engrained in us are a multitude of protection mechanisms rooted in our prehistoric ancestors’ biology. As ancient humans battled dangers in their microbial world (fungal, bacterial, and viral) and macro-surroundings (conflict and hunting), their immune systems kicked into action.
Armies of chemical agents within us are sent to fight local (eg, a wounded foot or damaged organ) and global (whole body infection) attacks. DAMPs (Damage-Associated Molecular Patterns) identify large scale damage while MAMPs (Microbe-Associated Molecular Patterns) identify micro-scale attacks to our periphery. PAMPs (Pathogen-Associated Molecular Patterns) is an alternative term for MAMPs. As our body’s attackers are identified, immune system compounds are produced and sent to locations where needed to fight and heal.
Our brain can prepare us for anticipated attacks, too. In today’s modern times, physical conflict and microbial attacks are not frequent (we hope). Instead, mental stress inducers such as social conflict, preparation nervousness for a presentation to a boss, or other worries can trigger an anticipated need for immune system response.
The body can be divided into the central nervous system (CNS) and the periphery (everything else), with the blood brain barrier (BBB) separating and providing a protective layer between the periphery and brain. Cytokines are powerful chemicals produced by both CNS and periphery system for many purposes including immune system response to attacks to the CNS and periphery. Pro-inflammatory chemicals are produced as part of the body’s cytokine response to microbial infection and physical injury.
Our body’s preparation for potential infections and need for inflammatory responses require a lot of energy. The production of cytokines may contribute to fatigue as our body diverts energy away from normal physical functions.
Production of other chemicals, such as the “feel good”, socializing compound, serotonin, are reduced or inhibited, causing us to retreat to a quiet place away from others. Isolation and reduced desire to socialize may lower the chance for additional attacks and decrease the chance of spreading or acquiring an infection.
“Fight or flight” substances such as cortisol are increased as socializing compounds are reduced. Anxiety from these substances compound the effects of fatigue and isolation. Overall, stress, fatigue and isolation are tough on our bodies, and can be difficult to reverse.
Our body’s immune responses are multi-directional and cumulative. As an injury triggers DAMPs, the periphery sends signals across the blood brain barrier (BBB) to tell our brain to add additional immune system actions. We may already be under stress from microbial infection as well as mentally strained with worry. The overall effect can push us into a depressive mental state that is not easily reversed once an infection is defeated.
The structure of our brain may be physically altered by these processes as well. Neurons (primary brain cells) pass information throughout the brain by interconnections of axons and dendrites. A neuron’s axon (see figure) sends information to dendrites (receptors) extended from other neurons. Dendritic “spikes” that help connect neurons may be physically altered and potentially not reversed by a depressive state. The spikes may be important for our brain’s “plasticity”; the ability to learn and forget (yes….being able to forget is important, too!). Neurons also produce chemicals that are important for maintaining “homeostasis”, that is, stable operation of our body functions.
When anticipated attacks and/or actual attacks are communicated to the brain, neurons switch to production of other chemical compounds that are communicated to “microglial cells” in the brain. Microglial cells, which are about 10% of human brain cells, are triggered by neuron-produced chemicals to begin fabricating immune system chemokines.
Reduction of inflammation is important for both health and well-being. Gum inflammation and heart disease, for example, have been shown to be correlated. Correlation does not mean causation, and the reasons for the link between gum inflammation and heart disease are not known. Similarly, correlation of immune system inflammation response with depression does not mean that our immune system response can cause depression. Rather, it may create a situation in which other causes can more readily cause a depressive condition.
Research in the past 10 years have shown that when immune response inflammatory chemicals correlate with depression and anxiety, effectiveness of traditional medical treatments for depression are reduced. Lowering inflammatory response in limited studies seems to improve medical treatment for depression. Clinical trials are currently underway to investigate treatments for inflammation-correlated depression.
IAQ, Ventilation and Inflammation
Maintaining excellent air quality reduces inflammation by reducing the manners in which poor air quality inflames our bodies. As discussed by Caleb Finch, inflammation can be described as accelerated aging. Particulates, whether microbial (endotoxins, virus, bacteria, mold/fungus), organic (sawdust, cooking particulates, skin flakes), or inorganic (eg, asbestos, fiber glass, road dust) are all recognized as foreign matter by our immune system, resulting in an immune system response.
Endotoxins, (also called “LPS”, or lipopolysaccharides; see our July 2017 article, Endotoxins: Small but Very Significant) are fragments of the outer shell of Gram-negative bacteria. These very tiny particulates are extremely toxic and elicit very strong immune system inflammatory responses. Endotoxins are suspected of being an important contributor to SBS (Sick Building Syndrome), with very tiny amounts (nanograms) resulting in fatigue, possibly as a result of the body detecting and directing energy toward an inflammatory response. Depression research in animal models (yes, mice can be depressed!) often use endotoxins to trigger a strong immune system response.
Various chemical compounds and VOCs (Volatile Organic Compounds) directly irritate our respiratory system. For example, nitrogen oxide pollutants from gas stove cooking irritates our nasal, bronchial and lung tissues, and can trigger an immune system attack in asthmatics. Endotoxins have been found to act as an “adjuvant”, or an enhancement to immune system attacks. That is, endotoxins do not trigger an asthma attack, but when an attack occurs, endotoxins can multiple the severity of the attack.
The CERV2 is designed to automatically maintain excellent air quality under all conditions. Fresh air and human health are never sacrificed in order to “save” energy. But energy is not neglected either as our “smart ventilation” algorithms efficiently increase fresh air per person. Our integrated CO2 and VOC sensors provide active means for managing microbial (indicated by human respiration carbon dioxide emissions) and chemical concentrations. Build Equinox is the only ventilation system that recognized the importance of whole house air recirculation through MERV13 filters, well before the pandemic. And for those home occupants needing an additional level of air sanitation and protection, our integrated UVGI (Ultraviolet Germicidal Irradiation) further ensures high quality air is maintained indoors.
The goal of our CERV2 system is simple: contribute to our good health and keep our Mojo high! Build Equinox works to develop technologies that provide air as fresh, as filtered and as sanitized as the best air that Nature can provide. High quality air is soothing to our lungs, makes our body function as best as it can, and reduces the stress of a constantly triggered immune system.
Preventilation
Preventilation. Try Web searching “preventilation”. Few web matches are likely to turn up. To us, it is a fascinating term we invented to describe new possibilities for beneficially managing our indoor environment. Preventilation sounds oddly familiar, and yet unfamiliar. Build Equinox is making preventilation a reality. Preventilation improves our health and well-being. The power of “Big Data”, “AI” (Artificial Intelligence), and ever-increasing improvements in technology for seamless monitoring and controlling the indoor environment are all important pieces of our preventilation concept. We emphasize two aspects of “preventilation”: 1) PREventilation anticipates the need for ventilation before undesirable thresholds of poor air quality and energy usage occur 2) PREVENTilation is a prescient ability, a meta-based awareness of the interaction of seemingly unrelated factors that impact our health and feeling of well-being. Smart ventilation and smart air distribution are two essential features of preventilation. As expressed by Florence Nightingale more than 160 years ago, without proper ventilation, all else is for naught.
“The Role of Inflammation in Depression: from Evolutionary Imperative to Modern Treatment Target”, Andrew H. Miller and Charles L. Raison, Nat Rev Immunol. 2016 January ; 16(1): 22–34. doi:10.1038/nri.2015.5
“The Role of Inflammation in Depression and Fatigue”, Chieh-Hsin Lee and Fabrizio Giuliani, Front. Immunol. 10:1696, doi: 10.3389/fimmu.2019.01696
