5 Things You Need To Know About Poisonous Dust Before Visiting Korea

Poisonous dust, often referred to as “Yellow Dust,” “Asian Dust,” or “Fine Dust,” is a type of dust that blows into Korea via strong winds. This dust generally originates from China and is considered very bad for your health as it can cause allergies, lung diseases, and even brain problems! Let’s take a look at 5 things you should know about this dust before visiting Korea.

1. Wear A Mask

When the dust is in the air, wear a mask at all times. Regular masks may not cut it because they do not filter out enough of the fine dust. Look for masks that have a rating of KF (Korea Filter) 94 or KF 99, which means it will filter out 94% – 99% of particulate matter.

Wear the mask properly. Your nose, mouth, and chin must be fully covered for it to filter the dust properly. You can push the nose wires in place by using both index fingers.

2. Stay Indoors

Try to avoid going out as much as possible. Studies show that when “yellow dust” levels are high, going out for an hour is the same as inhaling cigarette smoke in a confined space for 1 hour and 24 minutes.

It’s also comparable to inhaling the pollution from a 2,000 CC diesel engine for 3 hours and 40 minutes.

3. What You Put In Your Body Is Important

Make sure to drink plenty of clean water. This will help clean out the dust in your mouth, larynx, esophagus, and digestive system. Also drink lots of green tea, which is rich in tannins. Tannins help wash out heavy metals such mercury, lead, or cadmium which can build up in the body.

What you eat is important as well. Garlic will help detox heavy metals, ginger will cleanse the bronchial tubes, and egg yolks contains zinc, which will help prevent the absorption of heavy metals. Finally, pears will help alleviate any inflammation in the lungs.

4. Check Dust Levels

It’s always a good idea to check the air quality in real time. There are many different apps that can be downloaded that track air pollution all around the world.

Even just searching for “fine dust” or “yellow dust” in any search engine will usually show results of air quality levels in your area. News programs will constantly give updates as well.

5. Air Purifiers Are Your Friend

If you are planning on staying in Korea for an extended amount of time, you should look into getting an air purifier. They may be a bit pricey, but you can’t put a price on health, can you?

Make sure your air purifier has a built-in HEPA filter rated H10 – H14. The higher the number behind the “H,” the better the filter. H14 filters will remove 99.99% of “Yellow Dust,” as well as viruses and various other harmful substances in the air.