Asthma and The Environment
When
an illness effects something as basic as breathing, it is not too much
of a stretch to understand that the very place in which you live could
be having a detrimental effect on that illness. With the respiratory
illness asthma, your home - and more importantly the location of your
home - could very well dictate the severity of your condition, and the
frequency with which you suffer asthma attacks.
As
a basic rule, the further from a city center you live, the better off
your asthma will be. What asthmatics really struggle with is polluted,
city air. Any city that has a reputation for smog problems - such as
Tokyo, Los Angeles or London - is going to be a nightmare for any
asthma sufferer. The reason for this is that smog, or any kind of
pollution, makes the air thicker - and this in turn makes the air more
difficult for someone with narrowed airways in their lungs to breathe.
As narrowed airways are a key part of asthma, this is why asthma
sufferers and cities do not mix.
Do not always assume that the size of the city is what determines the air quality. For example, Paris in France is one of the largest cities in the world - but it does not have a smog problem, and is thus suitable for asthma sufferers. Always check the specific pollution index of any city you may be considering moving to, if you are worried about finding somewhere suitable for asthma. Size is not always everything.