CPAP Machines should be equipped with HEPA filters to protect the users from PM2.5 while they sleep.

Published By David James Milton Hansen - dave@thehansens.com - at https://www.thehansens.com/pm2.5 on 12/30/2024

Air with high amounts of particulate matter in it is bad for all living animals including humans. It caused me and people that I know to go into Atrial Fibrilation (AFib), have clogging of the arteries and have kidney and liver failures.

Bad air quality is commonly measured by counting the number of pollution particles that are 2.5 micrometers (microns) in size or smaller. This particle pollution is commonly referred to as PM2.5.

PM2.5 is measured in micrograms per cubic meter (µg/m3). Any PM2.5 value greater than 4 µg/m3 causes me to have heart related issues such as AFib. PM2.5 can be translated roughly into an standard Air Quality Index (AQI) by multiplying the PM2.5 µg/m3value by 4.

Any AQI over 50 is considered not-good by many government agencies and medical institutions, but for me any AQI over 16 is bad. I have found that short exposures to really bad air has the same affect as longer exposures to not so bad air. The affects of breathing bad air are accumulative.

Searching the web for PM2.5 will provide many results on this. Here a a few links:

  1. Toxicology
  2. Harmfull Affects
  3. Long Term Affects of PM2.5 (Journal of the American Heart Association)
  4. Long Term Exposure to PM2.5 directly related to heart attacks.(Journal of the American Heart Association)
  5. PM2.5 articals at heart.org
  6. American Lung Association - outdoor air pollutionn - Particle Polution
  7. American Lung Association - indoor air pollution
  8. Study shows possible link between air pollution and higher cholesterol levels.
  9. Clinical outcomes related particulate matter exposure and cardiovascular disease
  10. PM2.5 association with blood lipids
  11. PM2.5 makes Hepatosis worse.
  12. Myocarditis caused by PM2.5
  13. Video: Embolism: definition, types and clinical manifestations
  14. Video: PM2.5 and your health.

We know that PM2.5 is bad for us and can be fatal if the levels of PM2.5 get too high for too long. Our bodies can eliminate PM2.5 at a slow rate. This is done by the particlees being filtered out of our bloodstream by all living cells in our body. This damages or kills these cells as the cells remove the particles from the bloodstream. Some cells in the kidneys and liver may be able to remove the particles from the bloodstream without dying but damage still ocuurs and this capacity is limitted. I also beleive that small pollution particles can get coated by immune cells or cholesterol to protect the body. These coated particles become emboli in the blood stream and can cause blockages in blood vessels leading to stroke.

Breathing cleaned air for many hours can help the body catch up with cleaning the particles from the bloodstream and rejuvenate the cells that were not killed.

I have done the following to keep myself healthy:

  1. I purify the air in my house with air purifiers. I have multiple air purifiers always running. I also have outside air being blown into my house through a HEPA filter at a constant rate to reduce CO2 levels.
  2. I purify the air in my car with a HEPA cabin air filter and a high quality powered air purifier.
  3. I use a mask with a filter while outside in bad air. I made it with a MedifyAir MA-10 connected to a hose and a mask. See details here
  4. I purify the air going to my CPAP machine using commercial air filters and a filter box I built. Breathing extra clean air for 8 hours a day gives me a good night sleep and allows my body to catch up with cleaning pollution from my bloodstream. I use MedifyAir MA-10 and MedifyAir MA-12 pro filters for this. They each filter more than 99.9% of all particles down to 0.1 microns. Since they are in series, they multiply their affects. See details here
CPAP machines have filters that are sufficient to protect the air pumps in the machines. Those filters could be functionally replaced by filter boxes attached by a tube. This would protect the CPAP machine and the person using the machine. Infact it is a very convienent way to provide filtered air to the person using the CPAP machine without any additional inconvience. The person connects the filter to the CPAP machine, then uses the CPAP machine the way it ss usually used. The only difference is that the person is breathing air that has most (99.9+%) of the particles filtered out. The filter box does not need any motors because the CPAP machine has a motor. The filters used in the filter box have HEPA H13 & H14 filters that capture 99.97% of all particles down to 0.1 microns. They have so much more surface area than the 2 square inch filters installed on CPAP machines that the air resistence to the CPAP machine from the filter box is about the same or less than the resistance of the factory installed CPAP filters. See my 3D printed prototype example here.

I am proposing a research study to have CPAP users use HEPA filter boxes like the one I created.

The purpose of the study would be to see if breathing filtered air during sleep reduces the number of health issues and deaths. There are already many CPAP users that are monitored that could be used as a control group. The published air quality data of the areas that the CPAP users live in has been used in other studies and could be used in this study also.

The study should be done with the cooperation of:

  1. Suppliers of CPAP machines. The CPAP suppliers could certify that the filter boxes do not cause the CPAP machines to malfunction. They could also provide adapters to their CPAP machines as needed. They could also provide filterboxes. (They could sell or resell filter boxes and filters to the potentially huge market. They could protect their current market by preventing people from getting implant CPAP alternatives that don't provide filtering. There are 1 billion people affected by sleep apnea worldwide)
  2. Suppliers of air purifiers and filters. The air purifier suppliers could provide the filters to be used in the study. They could also provide filterboxes. (They could sell or resell filter boxes and filters. This is a huge new market to sell filters and filter boxes.)
  3. A Research hospital that has doctors prescribing and monitoring CPAP usage. Having this information available to doctors handling heart, lung, liver, kidney, artery and other organs would be helpful. Alternately the study could be done by the American Heart Association, American Lung Association, or the National Institutes of Health (at NIH.gov). I feel that a research hospital such as Mayo Clinic would be good for this, but funding may be available from NIH.gov.
While waiting for a study to be done, the CPAP and air purifier suppliers have a large enough human and economic interest to develop filter boxes that work with CPAP machines.

I am proposing this so that millions of people can live longer an healthier lives without as many unexpected health issues or deaths.

Many people have health issues that pop up for them out of the blue. There is evidence that these issues are caused by PM2.5 pollution. If people with health issues can eliminate PM2.5 pollution for eight hours a day, they could reduce unexpected medical issues and death.

It would also be nice if a non-prescription machine could be created that could use the filter boxes to provided filtered air through a CPAP like mask to people that do not have CPAP machines, but would benifit from breathing filtered air while they slept.

To see if using a HEPA H14 filter on your CPAP machine can help you with your help issues, let AI tell you:

  1. Copy this next phrase. (highlight the next line and press CTRL-C or CTRL-INSERT) How will replacing the standard filter in a CPAP machine with a HEPA H14 filter help someone with
  2. Go to chatGPT using the link below. Then click on the [Message ChatGP] box and paste what was copied ealier (by pressing CTRL-V or SHIFT-INSERT) then add a space followed by your health issue.
  3. press the Enter key.
ChatGPT link

AIR Purifier links:

Make sure to use HEPA 14 filters that trap 99.99% of particals 0.1 µm in size and larger.
  1. Puroair 400 (Make sure to select color PuroAir 400 or PuroAir 400 2 pack) on Aliexpress. I have 4 machines running this level of HEPA filter in my house at all times. I use these to take care of the larger particles
  2. IQair Hyperhepa. traps particles down to 0.003 microns in size.I have 2 of these Healthpro Plus running in my house to remove the very small particles. One of those is in my bedroom.
  3. My CPAP filterboxThis provides additional protection by directly filtering the air that I inhale while sleeping. (8 hours a day)