Asthma And Humidity - Asthma And Humidity Without Inhaler?

As research suggests the global warming could gradually lead to more people all over the world suffering the misery of asthma. A survey on almost 670,000 children has found a clear link between indoor humidity and asthma rates in Western Europe. The indoor humidity increase in every 10pc was associated with a 2.7pc increase in the prevalence of acute asthma symptoms. House dusts, pollen, mites, which trigger asthma attacks, thrive in moist air and humidity encourages mould, which can irritate the airways. Humidity has been and will be a concerning factor of many places. Exposure to heavy air pollutants may trigger asthma to most of the people.

According to a group of researchers, the humidity and heat in various tropical regions will present a formidable challenge to all the people. With constant exposure to an environment that has poor quality, air pollutants may trigger symptoms of asthma in a dose-dependent manner. With the high minute inhalation seen during exercise, the effects of exposure to these pollutants are more noticeable in athletes than in non-athletes and likely more evident in people with asthma than in those without asthma. Physical activity and regular moderate exercise can improve the control of asthma but frequent and intense amount of exercise by highly trained athletes could itself contribute to the development of asthma. Long-term endurance physical training may influence the structure and function of airways in the lungs and make them hyperresponsive, contributing to the development of asthma. China has implemented several strategies in the Beijing region to improve air quality during the Olympic Games.

A significant percentage of the pollution at the Olympic Stadium could be attributed to sources outside Beijing. Controlling only local sources of air pollution may not be sufficient to achieve the air quality goal set for the Beijing games. According to the health experts, athletes with asthma need an individualized management plan that needs to comply with the anti-doping regulations. When people were a young asthmatic child and got a bad cold with wheezing and coughing, of course they were not been put in a bathroom with hot steam from the shower to set up the humidifier in their room. For years the health experts thought that high humidity was actually helpful in treating asthma attacks. Steam and humidifiers work effectively for upper airway inflammation, or croup, but does not work for inflammation in the lungs, or the lower respiratory system. Children with croup generally have a barky cough and stridor, or a harsh wheezing sound constantly when breathing in or out. The difficult breathing of an asthmatic child is usually a tight squeaky sound when the child breathes out.

Moving to drier climates may not necessarily be the remedy for asthma attack, as extremely dry areas may have increased smog levels. The dry air may also cause irritation to the sensitive upper air passages and make asthma worse. Air conditioners can help to dry the air. Dehumidifiers can also be helpful for asthma attack, although avoid those that create ozone as this will aggravate asthma. It might also be helpful to go for a humidity gauge to monitor the levels of humidity in the home.

• Cassandra Bagley
• 20/01/2009, 6:59 PM
• 0 Comments