The navy has extensively studied performance in high CO2 environments on submarines, and found that it has no impact under levels much higher than you're likely to get indoors.<p>This study found no impact on decision making at 15000 ppm <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/29789085/" rel="nofollow">https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/29789085/</a><p>That's <i>10x</i> higher than you're likely to be exposed to in a poorly ventilated conference room.
This one of those things that sounds silly but is actually very easy to test and see it can be a real issue.<p>Tom Scott did a great video on it a while back<p><a href="https://youtu.be/1Nh_vxpycEA" rel="nofollow">https://youtu.be/1Nh_vxpycEA</a><p>Do yourself a favor and get an air quality monitor like an awair<p><a href="https://getawair.com/" rel="nofollow">https://getawair.com/</a><p>and monitor the levels.<p>Making sure they are good in whatever indoor areas you spend a good amount of time in is a night and day difference cognitively.
From wearing COVID-19 masks?<p><a href="https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/fullarticle/2764955" rel="nofollow">https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/fullarticle/2764955</a><p>Quote:<p>> Oxygen concentration inhaled by healthy subjects wearing a surgical mask covering an N95 respirator decreases to about 17%, and the concentration of carbon dioxide increases to about 1.2% - 3% in a short period of light work (2-3). Although participants did not show any obvious changes in physical function and did not have any discomfort ratings, the average carbon dioxide concentration inhaled was far higher than the limit of 0.1% of indoor carbon dioxide concentration in many countries. With prolonged mask wearing, untoward reactions may gradually appear. In another long-term study, after wearing an N95 mask for 12 hours the CO2 concentration of subjects increased to 41.0 mmHg, far higher than the baseline value of 32.4mm Hg at the beginning of the test (4). The subjects mainly reported headache, dizziness, feeling tired and communication obstacles. In real life, the situations and time of wearing masks are much longer than the above experimental research settings.
I'm really sensitive to high CO2 levels, so ever since I was young I had a habit of opening all the windows in my classrooms when I arrived. I feel stuffy and uncomfortable until I get fresh air. It always bugged me that nobody else seemed to notice or care.<p>After it was recommended here on HN, I bought this CO2 meter [0] and I've been very satisfied with my purchase. It reminds me to open the window and that has had a tremendous impact on my health. I've gotten to the point where I now keep the window slightly open at all times.<p>I'll share an anecdote which would appear to support the hypothesis that higher CO2 levels affect cognition. I play Heroes of the Storm and my performance in the game becomes notably worse as CO2 levels rise. It's not a huge thing, but I start to make more mistakes and my decision-making gets worse. This is important because at my skill-level (top 100 to top 250 globally, depending on my activity levels) it only takes one mistake in the late-game to throw the match. I've had the CO2 meter start beeping in the middle of a match, and after opening the window I've managed to turn things around because I can think with greater clarity.<p>[0] <a href="https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B001PDGFR8/" rel="nofollow">https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B001PDGFR8/</a>
Finally, a good explanation for the state of the world!<p>On a realistic note, this is a cause for concern for astronauts on the ISS. They experience chronic, significantly elevated ppCO2 levels (4 torr, vs 0.3 torr at sea level), which cases headaches and fatigue, and possibly what's known as the "space stupids," where very high-key, detail oriented people start messing up checklist items and don't perform nearly as well as they should.
I wonder if that's why people seem to have gotten less intelligent over the past few years (IQ scores seem to confirm this). I thought it was because of social media but maybe high CO2 is to blame.<p>I would never have thought that the movie Idiocracy would become reality; it seemed so ridiculously far-fetched at the time... Even with its 500 year timeframe... Now it looks like it may actually happen for real in only a few hundred years.<p>I wonder if I watched that movie again today if it would come across more as a drama than a comedy.
I see a lot of people wanting to monitor CO2 levels. But what's the cheapest remediation option for an individual if the outside air is also pretty bad whether other pollution or just high CO2?<p>The questions I have are: is it more effective to scrub the CO2 or just to increase the partial oxygen pressure? What are the options for each.<p>Given that oxygen tanks are existing medical device, I would assume that just supplementing oxygen is the easiest way to offset the CO2. Or is the CO2 harmful even in high oxygen environments?<p>The study does mention "[Studies] like Satish et al. (2012) and Allen et al. (2016) are part of a growing body of scientific evidence pointing to CO2 as a pollutant—not just a proxy for ventilation rate—with direct detrimental impacts on the cognitive function of humans in schools and offices."
given the current demonstration of half the population's response to a worldwide-pandemic, there is going to be zero done about CO2 levels or climate-change in general, people are just going to watch the atmosphere boil off over centuries while the 1% move higher into their penthouses and crank the a/c
I feel like my cognitive ability has dwindles the past few years and while there are for sure much bigger factors playing into that, I wonder how much these environmental factors are a part of it.
CO2 is "food" for plants and trees. Maybe a higher CO2 level can sustain reforestation of desert areas causing an increase in CO2 absorption?
This does not appear to be a new study on the effects of CO2. It only mentions there will be more indoor co2 as a result of combustion?<p>Scihub didn’t work for this one so I can’t be sure. I’m quite interested in this topic, and there are a small number of studies indicating the issue may be real. However, it is unclear this adds to them.<p>IF the issue is real it is nonetheless useful to know what this study measures.
Original article: <a href="https://cires.colorado.edu/news/continued-co2-emissions-will-impair-cognition" rel="nofollow">https://cires.colorado.edu/news/continued-co2-emissions-will...</a>
Icons for the left are now saying boycott tesla and other anti climate change statements. The right i highly doubt will ever support a quick transition to clean energy. Hope this doesn't turn into a fringe political issue now
TLDR: They seem to be talking about global levels over time and also mention that indoor levels can be higher, depending on how well air is exchanged with outdoor air.<p>Probably good to be thinking about the latter, and in my well-insulated place, I often leave some windows cracked to help with this.<p>Over periods of centuries, presumably evolution would ameliorate most or all of the problem with global changes.