What a staggering amount of air we borrow – and those numbers in the previous blog were for a world sized average adult and there aren’t many of us in the UK that are average by that definition. So the amount of air we need is probably greater than that average adult.

Transport you mind to a room you share with other people – family, friends, colleagues. Think about how many other people are breathing in at least 460 litres of air an hour. Oh and of course it all comes out again but in an altered form – richer in CO2, germs, viruses and bacteria. And we, without a thought, breathe in that mixture of air, all sharing whatever. Dwell on that when someone tells you they have a cold, man flu, bird flu, swine flu or they have garlic breath. Particularly if they have garlic breath because if you can smell it you’re breathing their old air – fantastic because you love garlic when mixed with someone else’s germs.

Imagine the unhealthy places there are where it’s common practice to sit and wait and share other peoples air.

Will there come a day when full head helmets are the order of the day? A helmet that incorporates your personal assistant, music, surround sound, heads up display, communication devices and the main objective an air monitoring device that turns on air cleaning technology. Fantasy, a silly idea – may be.

Let’s look at taking a bath. How long does it take? 15 minutes? You’ll use about 115 litres of water and breathe about the same amount of air – 115 litres in 15 mins. And if air was water, you could have a bath every day for 100 days with the air you breathe in just one day.

Would you take over the bath water from garlic breath when they’ve had their bath – you take their air why not their bath water. Say there are three other people in the room with garlic breath; fish n chips breath, I’m on a fasting diet breath, curry breath, and your very own delightful lavender breath. You’re sharing their air and so why not dip into the bath by rotation? One in, one out every 3 minutes.

That sounds weird but is it any weirder than sharing air?