Summary: If you live in a large city with traffic and cars, you’re likely exposed to air pollution on a daily basis. That can have detrimental effects on your health, especially your lungs, and the surgical masks you often see in smoggy cities actually don’t do a ton to protect you. Here’s what to do instead. The best ways to protect yourself from air pollution in a city are all variations on simply avoiding it, especially on days it is bad (which tend to happen as the weather warms up).
