There’s a reason everyone from doctors to meditation instructors tell you to take a deep breath when you’re feeling stressed and anxious. Mindful breathwork is proven to aid with relaxation and focus. But have you ever considered what’s in the air you’re breathing in—and how it might affect your work?
New research from Harvard and the National Library of Medicine suggest that air quality is directly linked to mental health, productivity and overall performance throughout the day. Research shows that exposure to air pollution diminishes cognitive function and increases symptoms of anxiety. And in one study, participants that were exposed to cleaner air scored better on arithmetic and cognitive speed tests.
Here’s how you can create a cleaner air environment for attendees to help them achieve greater focus, productivity, concentration and creativity during your next meeting, conference or event.
Meet the Air Quality Expert
Haley Payne is the chief commercial officer for Pure Wellness, a company that has been working to increase air quality in hotels, resorts and other interior spaces across the country for the past 15 years. The company works to create what it calls “Pure Rooms,” which are rooms that have gone through the company’s air quality program to remove air pollutants from the space.
“I kind of fell into it,” Payne said with a smile. “I was a GM [general manager] for many years, and the company I worked for became an investor in Pure Wellness, and it piqued my interest even back then. They didn’t have anybody that understood hotels, so they asked me if I would come over and work with them. So, from there we built a whole program around how to help the hotel and the guest understand these rooms and feel the benefits of them.”
What Is Air Quality?
While you might think it’s relatively easy to discern good air quality, experts like Payne say it can be a bit hard to spot. After all, it’s not like you can see air quality, at least not in the same way you can spot clear water or non-spoiled food.
“Our measure of success is how much particulate is in the air,” Payne said. “It really has to do with what’s floating in the air. So, things that you can see like dust particles are probably going to bother you, but what you don’t see are ultra-fine particles like bacteria, mold, yeast, fungus or a virus. Those are what we call ultra-fine particles.”
Those ultra-fine particles are oftentimes the ones that can get past some air filters, with ultra-fine particles being much smaller than even your body’s red blood cells.
[Related: Back-to-Back Meetings Making You Stressed? Here’s How to Fix It]
How to Detect Good Air Quality
What’s the best way to tell if a room or event venue has good air quality? Payne says there are a few ways to tell, one of which is to do a visual inspection of the space to see if there are any signs of improper ventilation such as mold, condensation or heavy dust. If you can visually see those things when you walk into the room, or if you find yourself coughing or having trouble breathing, then that indicates that there is an air quality problem in that room.
Another way to determine if a hotel or venue has invested in good air quality is to ask them questions about their air filtration practices during your site inspection. Payne says some good questions to ask while on a site tour include:
- Do you use any type of air filtration? Does it filter out ultra-fine particles?
- What is the maintenance schedule for your HVAC system?
- Where do you get your fresh air from?
Hotels that have invested in their air quality should be able to answer those questions and go into detail about practices they’ve put in place. In fact, many hotels, event venues and conference centers updated or installed new air filtration systems during the COVID-19 pandemic, so properties might have updated their air filtration systems more recently than you think.
But Payne says the best way to be able to tell if a room has good air quality is to use an air monitoring device that can count the particulates in the air. Payne says the average outdoor air quality in a major city is around 8 million to 12 million particles per cubic foot of air, and the average air quality in a hotel lobby or guest room is around 5 million to 6 million particles per cubic foot. But rooms with really good air quality generally only have around 100,000 particles per cubic foot of air.
How to Increase Air Quality
If a meeting or event planner does encounter air quality issues while taking a site tour of a property, there are a few remedies that can help increase the air quality of a venue. One of the best ways is to look for a venue that has access to fresh outdoor air, has indoor and outdoor access points, or is outdoors completely.
It turns out the old adage is correct: Fresh air is good for you. Payne says that outdoor air is typically moving and changing, which can provide a better chance of fresh-air quality than an indoor venue with potentially stale air. Payne also suggests planners build fresh-air breaks into their programming to allow attendees to get up, go outside and get some fresh air throughout the course of the day.
Another way to improve the air quality in a room or venue is to bring your own air filtration equipment. Payne says there are different levels of air purification, and even getting a portable air purifier at, say, Walmart is a step in the right direction. But hiring a company like Pure Wellness to inspect and maintain high-level air quality is going to help create those positive effects on attendees meeting in the space.
Payne also believes there shouldn’t be any stigma or judgment attached to trying to improve the air quality of an event room or conference center.
“It’s funny, people will look at an air purifier or even a dehumidifier and think, ‘Oh, there’s something wrong because they have that,’” she explained. “But really what they’re doing is trying to make what’s in every environment just a little better. It’s a positive, not a negative.”
Inclusive Air Quality
Air quality isn’t just important for boosting the focus of your attendees, it can also be used to help those with breathing difficulties feel more comfortable at an event. Attendees who have conditions such as lung cancer, asthma, COPD, Long COVID or even seasonal allergies will thank you for investing in quality air.
Air quality is an underrated and often overlooked part of the attendee experience, and the more planners start to incorporate it into their programs, the easier it will be for all of us to breathe clearly.
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