Watch How Fast My Indoor CO2 Rises

Watch the video here, or follow along in real time on social media:

Video script:

Before the Industrial Revolution, outdoor carbon dioxide levels hovered around 260 parts per million. Now, with all our cars and factories, outdoor levels are around 420 on average, and closer to 600 in cities. Levels above 1,000 are linked with cognitive impairment— including sleepiness, brain fog, and poor focus. 

Indoor levels actually tend to be higher than outdoors because we exhale carbon dioxide with every breath. When it’s hot or cold outside, and we’re not opening our windows as much, it gets trapped and levels build faster. 

Here’s my room where I work, read, and do yoga. It’s too hot outside for me to take a run today, so I have the windows closed, the AC on, and a 20 minute yoga video cued up. 

When I start, my indoor air quality is a lovely 98% and my carbon dioxide level is 542— pretty normal! After 12 minutes, it was already up to 1,017, and the worst it got towards the end of my practice was 1,396— well past the sleepy zone. 

And that’s just me, in about 20 minutes! Sometimes I wonder how much of shivasana in a big yoga class is being tired from the practice and how much of it is super high CO2 levels. Anyway, I opened the window and levels dropped back down to 516 pretty quickly. 

So, this is why even when it’s hot or cold out, I do a little ventilation whenever I get the chance.