Research Confirms Common Sense: Pollution Is Bad for Your Brain

2 studies provide similar findings that air pollution has neurodegenerative effects

Air pollution has a long-term effect on the neurological development of children, one study found. Soloviova Liudmyla/Shutterstock

We’ve known the health hazards of air pollution since the dawn of the industrial age, but while its adverse effects on our hearts, lungs, and immunity are well established, researchers have now confirmed a decades-old suspicion—air pollution also damages the brain.

Two recent and independent studies came to very similar conclusions on the detrimental effects of air pollution at opposite ends of the age spectrum.