THE LIVING CLASSROOM

IMPROVING THE CLASSROOM CLIMATE ENVIRONMENT

Next Breath aims to explore the efficacy and feasibility of hydration to help save billions of life-years on the planet by lowering risks of respiratory disease — the principal cause of death in low-income countries (1). 

As a response to the global health crisis of dirty air, coupled with climate change, the burning of fossil fuels and airborne infectious diseases (2) — Next Breath builds off decades of scientific research confirming the harm to respiratory health of dry airways (3), the benefits of the sustained breathing relatively humid air (4), and the potential of a low-cost, easily-administered, safe, non-drug hygiene ritual among school age children providing sustained airway hydration for better natural immune defense against poor air quality (5-8).

Twenty eight years ago the Harvard Six City Study determined that an increase of fine particulate matter (PM 2.5) from 10 to 30 μg/m3 reduced human longevity by approximately 3 years (9). By contrast, fine particulate levels in major cities of low-income countries today are often in excess of 300 μg/m3.

The poorest of the world face the possibility of catastrophic loss of life in the near term.  

Next Breath aims to help support efforts to evaluate: 1) the prophylactic efficacy of daily airway hydration to reduce symptoms of chronic and acute respiratory disease among those chronically exposed to dirty air; 2) the practical distribution of and compliance to daily airway hydration among children and their families in low-income regions of the world; and 3) the prophylactic efficacy of daily airway hydration to reduce symptoms of acute and chronic respiratory disease, to limit morbidity, and to prolong lifespan among human populations most at risk in low- and middle-income countries.

Next Breath’s initial focusing has been on supporting research to evaluate the ability to reduce disease symptoms (including cough, inflammation, respiratory performance) among COPD sufferers through daily airway hydration (Phase I).  With favorable outcomes, the NGBHS aims to evaluate the practical deployment, adoption, surveillance and population-level health benefit of daily airway hydration in large-scale studies.

The Charitable Cause serves to promote adoption to and compliance of daily airway hydration especially among children in low and middle income countries with an aim to improve human life quality, productivity and lifespan prior to the cleaning of the planet’s atmosphere.

This effort led by pioneers in upper airway hydration, all adhere to the Charitable Cause, and to commit time, expertise and other resources to the humanitarian effort.

  1. C Troeger, B F Blacker, I A Khalil. Respiratory disease number 1 killer Estimates of the global, regional, and national morbidity, mortality, and aetiologies of lower respiratory infections in 195 countries, 1990–2016: a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2016. Lancet 18 (11) P1191-1210 (2018)

  2. E. Massood, J. Tollefson COP26 climate pledges: What scientists think so far. Nature, 5 November (2021).

  3. M. Moriyama, W.J. Hugentobler and A Iwasaki. Seasonality of respiratory infections. Annual Review of Virology 7:1, 83-1 (2021).

  4. A. Iwasaki. Another Way to Protect against COVID beyond Masking and Social Distancing. Scientific American, January 19 (2021).

  5. D. A. Edwards, et al. Inhaling to mitigate exhaled bioaerosols. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 101(50), 17383-17388 (2004).

  6. D.A. Edwards et al.. 2021. Exhaled aerosol increases with COVID-19 infection, age, and obesity. PNAS Vol. 118 No. 8 e2021830118

  7. R. Field, N. Moellis, J. Salzman, A. Bax, D. Ausiello, W. Woodword, X. Wu, F. Domici and D Edwards. Moisture and airborne salt suppress respiratory droplet generation and may reduce COVID-19 incidence and death. Molecular Frontiers Journal. 5, 1-10 (2021);

  8. C.E. George COVID-19 symptoms reduce with targeted hydration of the nose, larynx and trachea In Review (2021) (https://www.researchsquare.com/article/rs-1089497/v1).

  9. Douglas W. Dockery, C. Arden Pope, Xiping Xu, John D. Spengler, James H. Ware, Martha E. Fay, Benjamin G. Ferris, Jr., and Frank E. Speizer. An Association between Air Pollution and Mortality in Six U.S. Cities. N Engl J Med; 329:1753-1759 (1993)