On: Depression and suicide linked to air pollution in ...

[mc3]

This seems ripe for placebo. Installing purifier and indeed measuring lower PM, means naturally you feel less worried and more relaxed!

[AstralStorm → mc3]

It's time to hire someone to maybe break the filter somewhen for a duration. And hack the meter to report invalid data.

[insickness → AstralStorm]

I've always thought it would be an interesting service where someone did this with medication/supplements. They sent you supplies of both the real and sugar pill meds for a certain duration and you recorded how you felt.

[saagarjha → insickness]

Generally, denying people access to healthcare in for the sake of experimentation is unethical.

[coldtea → mc3]

On the other hand, measuring lower PM is indeed a quantifiable metric.

[mc3 → coldtea]

Yeah it depends what question you are trying to answer:

1. Does my air purifier filter out PM2.5?

or

2. Dos lower PM2.5 make me sleep better?

For #1 there is no placebo effect (there is no human element!)