As you may have read, Asthma is becoming more and more common, especially in younger children. A restriction on your airways, asthma is a painful lung condition that affects a large number of people in the UK of all ages.
According to experts and the latest research, more than 5 million people are now affected by asthma in the UK. To put into persepective, that's one in every 13 adults and one in seven children that are affected by Asthma. Most adults who have asthma have brought it with them from childhood.
Asthma attacks occur when airways become aggravated and inflamed, restricting breathing and causing the muscles around the airways to potentially go into spasm. This results in the tight feeling in the chest, a shortness of breath and often painful coughing and wheezing.
The severity will vary and mild attacks may be common, some asthma sufferers and unlucky enough to be hospitalised on every attack. Symptoms can be worse at night and in the early morning, can be bought on by alcohol or made worse by a common cold.
Asthma is an allergic condition and is more likely to develop in people with other allergic reactions, such as hay fever and eczema. Some sensible precautions will make life easier for asthma sufferers :
- Don't smoke and reduce chances of passive smoking
- Make sure you take regular exercise
- Minimise your exposure to asthma triggers - for example dust, mites, pet fur, alcohol, pollution, stress
- Use prescribed inhalers from your doctor
