Your respiratory system must constantly filter out contaminants and particles inhaled from the air in order to keep your body in top shape.

"PM" or "Particulate Matter" is a term that describes a collection of pollutants that contaminate the air you breathe and pose an assortment of significant dangers to your wellbeing. "Particulate matter" encompasses both solid particles and liquid droplets that are found suspended in the air you breathe. They come in a wide range of sizes and can be produced from organic sources but the highest amount of matter comes from man-made sources or production.

Some particles are big or dark enough to be noticed as haze, smoke or soot. The Others are so tiny that they can only be seen through an electron microscope. These particles are differentiated by size and those posing the highest danger are denoted using PM10 and PM2.5. These numbers, 10 and 2.5 refer to the particle's size as determined in micrometers or microns.

"Fine" contaminants are smaller than 2.5 microns in diameter and "coarse" contaminants are in between 2.5 and 10 microns. Particulate matter generates from sources such as dust blown by air, vehicles traffic on roads, as well as construction sites. Some contaminants are emitted directly from their origins, such as engines and smokestacks. In other instances, gases like sulfur oxide (SO), nitrogen oxide (NO) sulfur dioxide (SO2)2), and volatile organic compounds (VOC) interact with other elements in the environment to form fine particles. The chemical and physical makeup varies depending on where they are located, the season, and meteorological conditions. Usually, the fine particles (PM2.5) are created by the burning of fossil fuels.

Both of these, fine and coarse particles, can gather in your respiratory system. Negative health has been connected to exposures to particulate matter over short periods - a couple of days,- and longer periods of time - a year or greater. Exposure to any particulate matter results in humans who have existing heart or lung illnesses being at an greater risk of having to enter hospitals or emergency rooms or even early death. Children and seniors are also at a higher risk.

Recent studies of these small particles reveal that these fine particles (PM2.5) can travel deep into your lungs, past our main respiratory defense mechanisms and then getting lodged in the alveoli the small sacs of air in the deepest parts of the lung.

A study by Joel Schwartz of the Harvard School of Public Health found evidence of the fact that for every increase in levels of particle air contamination there is a quantifiable swell in chronic respiratory disease as well as a raise in mortality. A good example of this is deaths related to pneumonia. Pneumonia is an illness of the lower lungs where fine particulates - not the large particles - come to settle. During times of amplified particulate contamination pneumonia related mortality does increases.

In more recent years studies have revealed a connection between heart cardiac arrest and times of high particulate air contamination. PM2.5 causes inflammation and blood clotting. and may help cause cardiac arrest by blocking a persons blood flow through the heart or arteries.