How safe is the air quality at your gym?

BOSTON – The next time you hit the gym, you may want to think about the air you’re breathing.

A new study in Beijing found that the air in indoor gyms contains more organic aerosols than outside air, including tiny particles of lubricants used in gym equipment and even cigarette smoke, which could be transported from outdoor sources through the ventilation system. Gyms with better ventilation systems, less equipment, and fewer people may have better air quality than, say, a crowded basement facility.

And listen, I would never discourage people from working out in a gym. It’s certainly better than not working out at all. But on a given day, if you have the chance to exercise outside rather than inside a gym, go outside.  

Mallika Marshall, MD

Mallika Marshall, MD is an Emmy-award-winning journalist and physician who has served as the HealthWatch Reporter for CBS Boston/WBZ-TV for over 20 years. A practicing physician Board Certified in both Internal Medicine and Pediatrics, Dr. Marshall serves on staff at Harvard Medical School and practices at Massachusetts General Hospital at the MGH Chelsea Urgent Care and the MGH Revere Health Center, where she is currently working on the frontlines caring for patients with COVID-19. She is also a host and contributing editor for Harvard Health Publications (HHP), the publishing division of Harvard Medical School.