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ASTHMA:

What is asthma?

This article gives basic information on asthma that everyone should know.

Everything you always wanted to know about asthma but didn't

Asthma is the disease of the twenty-first century. If Typhoid and Cholera have had their day, then they only made room for a new epidemic. The fact that asthma doesn't make the news headlines all the time is simply because it is not as dramatic as the two former diseases. It still kills, but because hundreds at a time aren't falling down dead, the media doesn't really want to know about it. Believe me, asthma has the potential to be even worse than both Typhoid and Cholera put together.

We have all heard of asthma, but do we really understand what it is and how it effects our bodies? Well settle down, because I'm going to tell you all you need to know. Put basically, asthma makes the tube from our lungs to the outside world narrower. As this tube gets narrower, we find it harder and harder to breathe. There are three factors that effect the breathing tube. The muscles in our throat contract, the lining of the tubes becomes swollen, or mucus builds up and we feel like we are being strangled from the inside out. When this happens it is called an asthma attack, and that's when the real problems start. Panic attacks can often begin and the sufferer feels as if they are drowning. They may also get pains in their chest. Imagine not knowing you had asthma and thought it was a heart attack.

Now we know what it is, but we also need to know why this happens. Unfortunately no one knows for sure why we get asthma. It is generally assumed that it is genetic and not infectious. Studies are now starting to show that social changes like the environment, smoking and obesity are exacerbating factors. Asthma is a very individual disease, meaning that it effects different people in different ways. Some are especially susceptible to pollen, others to cigarette smoke or even wine and dogs. These are called triggers and there are many different kinds. Apart from the aforementioned pollens, smoke, wines and dogs, other triggers include cold air, dust mites, exercise and even laughing and talking. The trick to controlling asthma is finding out what you are particularly susceptible to. This could take a while but the benefits are obvious.

But there is good news for the asthma sufferer. With good care and armed with plenty of knowledge to keep this disease under control, there is no reason what so ever that the person effected can't have a normal, healthy life.

One theory that many have applied successfully is that asthma is a defence mechanism our bodies use to keep the right balance of different gases in our lungs. When they retrained their breathing to get this balance right all the time, they found their asthma went away!



© Karon Beattie - http://www.cure-your-asthma.com

About the Author - Karon Beattie is a former asthma sufferer. She is the author of several books including "Naturally Free From Asthma" which describes how she eliminated her own asthma. This book has helped many other sufferers WorldWide do the same.

http://www.cure-your-asthma.com

This article looks into the effects pollution has on the asthma sufferer.

How to live in a dirty world

We now know (and even governments are beginning to admit it) that pollution is growing daily and is a key factor in the explosion of the number of asthmatics around the world. There is practically no country that hasn't seen a rise in pollution levels and the amount of asthma sufferers in the last twenty years. Whether it is the black smoke coming out of car exhausts, large chemical plants or smoke from cigarettes, people are feeling its effects on their health in an increasingly alarming number.

Maybe what is the saddest and also the most frightening problem with asthma is that children are particularly at risk. As their lungs are still growing and as a result have to breathe faster than adults, they are more prone to smoke and other pollutants found in the air. Children are also more susceptible to developing asthma if they live in a smoke filled house or the area where they live has a high smog count.

People who already have asthma have seen it getting worse in recent years. More sufferers are finding themselves being treated in hospital when before they could cope by themselves.

So what can we do you reduce pollution? Well short of being elected president in your country and bringing in new laws to curb pollution emissions, not too much. The first solution is to make your house smoke and pollution free. If you smoke, quit. It may sound like an impossible task, especially if you have been at it for many years, but ask your doctor to give you some advice and you will be amazed at the treatments that are now available to make it easier. Don't let other people smoke in your house, either. If you really can't stop smoking then find a place such as the garden, balcony or window and only smoke there. By limiting the amount of places in the home containing cigarette smoke you will go a long way to controlling your children's asthma. Another very important cause of asthma is smog from vehicle emissions. Use your car less, if you are going to the corner shop then walk! Buy a bicycle, ask work colleagues if they would like to start a car pool with you. It may seem like a grain of sand in an ocean but doing your bit will eventually produce results.



© Karon Beattie - http://www.cure-your-asthma.com

About the Author - Karon Beattie is a former asthma sufferer. She is the author of several books including "Naturally Free From Asthma" which describes how she eliminated her own asthma. This book has helped many other sufferers WorldWide do the same.

http://www.cure-your-asthma.com