Imagine your local AQI reads 368. It is 7:15 am, the school bus comes at 7:40, your mother-in-law is lacing up for her walk, and your son wants to carry his cricket bat to school. What do you do?
Short answer. At 368 — "Very Poor" on India's scale — the official advice is to avoid outdoor physical activity, and for children, older adults and pregnant women to stay indoors and keep activity levels low (MoHFW/NCDC Health Advisory on Air Pollution). So the morning walk moves indoors or waits, and outdoor games are off for the day.
For school, check your school's advisory for the day and ask whether outdoor play and PE have been moved indoors. Schools are advised to limit outdoor activities and keep children inside during break when air quality is Poor or worse.
At home, keep windows and external doors shut through the early morning and late evening. If the house genuinely needs airing on a poor-to-severe day, NCDC suggests doing it between 12 pm and 4 pm rather than at those hours.
What does AQI tell me, and where do I check my own area?
The Air Quality Index (AQI) summarises recent air pollution measurements at a monitoring station. The highest pollutant score determines the overall AQI. CPCB uses six AQI categories.
| AQI | Category |
|---|---|
| 0–50 | Good |
| 51–100 | Satisfactory |
| 101–200 | Moderately Polluted |
| 201–300 | Poor |
| 301–400 | Very Poor |
| 401–500 | Severe |
Check your own area on the CPCB All India AQI dashboard, or on CPCB's official SAMEER app, which gives city-level hourly updates.
Pick the station nearest you, not just your city name. In Delhi-NCR, a station at Anand Vihar and one in a quieter part of South Delhi can read very differently on the same morning. Go by the one closest to where you will actually be walking.
Before you step out
- Check the nearest station, not the city average.
- Above 200: no jogging, running or hard exercise outdoors.
- Above 300: move the walk indoors; keep children's outdoor play off.
- Windows shut early morning and late evening; air the house only if needed, 12 pm–4 pm.
- Going by car: windows up, AC on re-circulate.
- Lung or heart condition: carry your inhaler or prescribed medicines.
What changes about walks, workouts and children's play at Very Poor or Severe?
Outdoor exertion stops. When air is Very Poor (301–400) or Severe (401–500), the advisory tells the general population to avoid outdoor physical activities, and anyone in a vulnerable group to remain indoors and keep activity levels low.
Walks and workouts. Skip the outdoor morning and late-evening walk, run or jog. Shifting it to another outdoor hour does not solve it — exertion is the problem, because exercising hard means breathing far more air, far deeper. Move the session indoors: yoga, floor exercises, stairs inside the building. Also avoid roads with slow heavy traffic and construction sites, where the air is worse than the city figure suggests.
Children's play. Outdoor games — cricket, football, cycling — are best postponed. Schools are advised to limit outdoor activities on these days, keep children indoors during break, and shut classroom windows when air quality is Poor or worse.
You do not have to wait for a Severe day. At AQI above 200 the advisory already says to drop outdoor morning and late-evening walks and stop jogging, running and other strenuous activity.
Who needs extra care, and what does that mean in practice?
Some people feel the effects sooner and harder. The advisory names these groups as vulnerable: children, especially under five; older adults; pregnant women; people with long-term lung or heart conditions; and people who work outdoors, such as traffic police, drivers, roadside vendors and construction labour.
- Parents: above 200, keep young children's outdoor movement as limited as you can manage — indoor play, indoor break, no outdoor sports practice.
- Older adults: stay indoors on Very Poor and Severe days and keep activity gentle. Indoor stretching, seated exercise or walking in a corridor keeps the daily routine going without the exposure.
- Asthma or another long-term lung condition: keep prescribed medicines and inhalers with you, including when stepping out, and avoid strenuous activity on these days. Follow the action plan your own doctor has given you.
At home, some of the air you breathe is made indoors. Wet-mop instead of dry sweeping. Avoid burning mosquito coils and incense in closed rooms, and avoid wood, coal, dung or kerosene — an angeethi in a closed, unventilated room can be fatal. Keep the kitchen cross-ventilated while cooking.
When do breathing symptoms need a doctor?
That depends on how severe they are, and there are three different routes. The first one is not a consultation at all.
Emergency care, straight away
Severe difficulty in breathing, or a child who is struggling to breathe, needs immediate in-person emergency care. Do not wait and watch, and do not book an online consultation. Go to your nearest hospital emergency department, or call 112, India's national emergency number.
Treat these the same way: chest pain or severe chest tightness, fainting or severe giddiness, inability to speak in full sentences, or lips or face turning blue.
Prompt medical advice
If you or your child has asthma or another long-term lung condition and symptoms are running worse than usual, contact your treating doctor without delay — the same day where you can. Signs that things are worsening include more wheezing, a tight chest, needing the reliever inhaler more often than normal, waking at night because of breathing, or getting breathless on activity that is normally easy.
The national advisory tells people with long-term lung or heart disease to keep prescribed medicines readily available, watch for symptoms worsening, and seek immediate medical advice if they do (MoHFW/NCDC Health Advisory on Air Pollution). If your doctor has given you a written action plan, follow it.
Mild eye irritation — red or watery eyes — sits apart from all of the above. It is not an emergency on its own. Rinse with clean water, and raise it if you are seeing a doctor anyway or if it does not settle.
When to get a lingering cough checked
If your cough has lasted two weeks or more, get it checked at a health centre. A clinician can assess the cause and advise whether you need tests. A persistent cough is one reason India's national TB programme advises getting evaluated.
For other non-urgent concerns, you can book a general physician consultation on DocGenie. The doctor can advise whether you need an in-person visit.
How to improve the air you breathe indoors on a high-AQI day
Outdoor air seeps in through gaps, ventilation systems and every time a door opens. You cannot make a home airtight, but you can reduce how much pollution enters and how much you generate inside.
- Keep windows and doors shut during the early morning and late evening peak-pollution hours. If you need to air the room, do it between 12 pm and 4 pm when the AQI tends to be lower.
- Wet-mop floors rather than dry sweeping. Dry sweeping lifts settled particles back into the air you breathe.
- Avoid burning indoors. Mosquito coils, incense sticks, agarbatti, and solid fuels — wood, coal, kerosene, dung cake — release fine particles directly into the room. An unventilated angeethi can produce indoor pollution far worse than any outdoor AQI reading.
- Cross-ventilate the kitchen while cooking. Use an exhaust fan or keep the window slightly open on the opposite wall to let cooking smoke out rather than recirculate.
- Change or clean AC filters regularly. A clogged filter recirculates dusty air rather than cleaning it.
- If you use an air purifier, follow the manufacturer's room-size guidance, replace filters on schedule, and avoid any device that generates ozone — NCDC explicitly warns against those.
What the pollutants in a high AQI actually do to your body
AQI is a summary number. Behind it sit several different pollutants, each with its own effect.
- PM2.5 — small enough to bypass the nose and throat and lodge deep in the lungs. These are the particles most strongly linked to lung and heart disease over time.
- PM10 — trapped mainly in the upper airways, causing irritation, cough and aggravation of existing allergies and asthma.
- NO₂ (nitrogen dioxide) — produced mainly by traffic and industrial combustion; irritates airways and makes existing lung conditions worse.
- Ozone (O₃) — forms in sunlight from other pollutants; causes airway inflammation, coughing and shortness of breath on exertion.
- SO₂ (sulphur dioxide) — from coal burning and industry; a known trigger for asthma attacks.
Using AQI forecasts, not just current readings
Current readings tell you what the air is like right now. Forecasts — available on CPCB's SAMEER app — give you a one-to-two-day outlook so you can plan ahead. If a Very Poor or Severe day is forecast tomorrow, you can reschedule outdoor exercise, stock up on prescribed inhalers, remind elderly relatives to stay in, and check your child's school advisory — all the night before rather than at 6 am.
Nutrition that supports your airways during high-pollution periods
No food prevents or reverses the effects of air pollution. That said, a reasonable evidence base supports eating more antioxidant-rich foods when pollution is persistently high.
- Vitamin C-rich foods — citrus fruit, amla, guava, capsicum — have an established role in protecting the airways from oxidative damage.
- Omega-3 fatty acids in oily fish, walnuts and flaxseed have an anti-inflammatory effect in the lungs.
- Staying well hydrated keeps the mucous lining of the airways moist, which helps trap and clear particles.
- Avoid adding indoor smoke exposure on top of outdoor pollution. Smoking — including passive exposure — is the single biggest modifiable risk factor for lung disease.
When to see a doctor after repeated exposure
See a doctor if you notice persistent cough, wheeze or shortness of breath that does not clear within a few days of the pollution easing; if you are using your reliever inhaler more frequently than usual; if a child is coughing more than usual especially at night; or if you have a heart condition and are noticing more breathlessness on mild exertion. You can book an online consultation with a general physician on DocGenie if you need a first opinion without travelling out on a heavily polluted day.
