Sitting in air conditioning all day, what diseases can you get?

Students who do not move for hours in air-conditioned conditions are susceptible to illness. What can be done to prevent this?

Doctor Hoang said that the temperature in the air-conditioned room should only be set at 25 degrees Celsius to 28 degrees Celsius. If the temperature is set too low, it is not good for children - Photo courtesy of TTO

Submit your questions   Coming to Tuoi Tre Online , reader Vo Anh Tuan said that in the current hot weather, air conditioners are very effective for everyone in regulating temperature. However, the downside of air conditioners in the classroom is that they cause students to have fever, rhinitis, and sore throat.

How to use air conditioner properly, here is the opinion of reader Vo Anh Tuan and advice of doctor Nguyen Huy Hoang, Vietnam - Russia High Pressure Oxygen Center, Ministry of National Defense .

Many students get sick because of sitting in air-conditioned rooms?

I have a friend who is the parent of a 9th grader in Ho Chi Minh City. Recently, he often complains that the air conditioner in his child’s classroom is too cold, causing the child to have a fever.

Whenever I had a high fever, he took me to the hospital. Whenever I had a low fever, he took me to school. Every time I got examined, the conclusion was rhinitis and pharyngitis.

He said that not only his child but other children in his child's class were also affected by the same situation. For more than ten days, 2-3 students in his child's class were absent from school every day. Some days, 4-5 students were absent. At the end of October 2024, his child's class had a total of 91 students absent from school, mostly at the end of the month.

He and some other parents discussed with the homeroom teacher, requesting to increase the air conditioner temperature. The teacher accepted the request but the situation remained unchanged.

A few days ago, he complained that a parent said otherwise, saying that it wasn't cold at all and that they were complaining and wanted to turn the temperature up.

He was very dissatisfied with that comment. Because he thought that parents were only in the classroom for 1-2 periods during class meetings. As for teachers, when they are in the classroom, they are moving around, talking, and giving lectures, so they don’t feel cold, while students sit still.

How can you not get sick if you don't exercise for hours in air-conditioned conditions?

My friend's explanation is reasonable.

Do not sit in air conditioning for more than 4 hours.

Discussing this issue, Dr. Nguyen Huy Hoang, Vietnam - Russia High Pressure Oxygen Center, Ministry of National Defense, said that sitting in air conditioning for too long or using air conditioning improperly can potentially affect children's health.

Doctor Hoang said that the temperature in the air-conditioned room should only be set at 25 degrees Celsius to 28 degrees Celsius. If the temperature is set too low, it is not good for children.

In addition, improper setting of air conditioning and additional fan can also lead to children catching cold. For children with poor resistance, it will affect the respiratory tract, causing rhinitis and pharyngitis.

Sitting in an air-conditioned room for too long, not leaving the room all day or having the air conditioning on all the time is not good. There should be breaks to let "fresh air" into the room.

In addition, children's respiratory problems, rhinitis, and sore throats are not only caused by air conditioning but also by many other factors such as exercise, diet, and changing weather...

According to Dr. Hoang, if the classroom is too small, too crowded, students do not eat properly, do not exercise, etc., it will also lead to a higher risk of respiratory diseases for students.

Doctor Hoang recommends that to limit the health effects of sitting in air conditioning, first of all, you should not set the air conditioning temperature too low and you should not sit in the air-conditioned room for too long.

Normally you should only sit for about 3-4 hours, then take a break to change the fresh air in the room.

In some cases where it is necessary to use air conditioning for too long, it is advisable to have a humidifying measure such as a misting system to avoid the air being too dry. For those who have respiratory problems, it is advisable to drop saline solution into the eyes and nose, this also helps prevent respiratory diseases.

Finally, it is necessary to strengthen resistance by providing adequate nutrition, diversifying meals, combining regular exercise and moderate rest.

Water basins can be placed in the classroom.

The water will provide moisture to the air and the student's body will be less dehydrated, especially the airways. Experience has shown that the rate of rhinitis is greatly reduced when doing so.

That water pot could be an aquarium or something similar to serve as a decoration for the classroom.

In addition, to save electricity, you can install a wall fan, mounted right below the air conditioner. When this fan is turned on, the cold air will be quickly distributed to locations far from the air conditioner and will be dispersed more evenly without having to lower the air conditioner temperature.

With this solution, if maintained at 28 degrees Celsius, the cooling efficiency can be increased without having to lower the air conditioner temperature.

Source: https://tuoitre.vn/suot-ngay-ngoi-may-lanh-de-mac-benh-gi-20241116092719471.htm