Asthma is a chronic respiratory disease in which the small airways in the lungs constrict, reducing airflow. Further, because asthma is an allergic process, immune system stimulation and irritation generally leads to mucus production. The mucus clogs small airways, further reducing an asthma sufferer’s ability to get air. Most asthma symptoms initiate or worsen with exposure to what is referred to as an asthma trigger—an allergen or pollutant that leads to inflammation. With childhood asthma becoming increasingly frequent in the United States, may governmental and health care organizations publish lists of common childhood asthma triggers so that parents can help their children avoid attacks.
Irritants
Some chemicals are irritating to all lungs, whether asthmatic or not, and these compounds can initiate or exacerbate symptoms of asthma in children. While normal lungs might become irritated or slightly inflamed with inhalation of a respiratory irritant, the lungs of am asthmatic are generally in a state of mild inflammation even during the best of circumstances, and are furthermore quite a bit more reactive than the lungs of a non-asthmatic. For this reason, irritants may trigger breathing difficulties in asthmatics much faster or at lower concentration than they would in a normal individual. Children’s Hospital Boston lists cigarette smoke as a major irritant and asthma trigger. Additional, cleaning chemicals, strong odors and airborne pollutants may trigger attacks.
Allergens
Since asthma is at its heart an allergic process, involving overstimulation and overreaction of the immune system, inhalants that trigger an immune response are prime asthma triggers in kids. Children’s Memorial Hospital in Chicago publishes a list of allergic triggers, including tree pollen, animal dander, dust mites and mold. Reducing the quantity of dust that settles in a child’s room and keeping pets out of the room can help limit a child’s exposure to allergic triggers, and can reduce the frequency and severity of attacks.
Exercise
The United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, or CDC, notes that exercise, too, is a common asthma trigger in kids. Children’s Hospital Boston suggests that this is primarily because exercise involves increased frequency and depth of respiration, and that the inspired air is often cold and dry. Because lack of air moisture and cold air can be triggers in their own right—both irritate already sensitive airways—the combination often produces asthma attack in kids. Prophylactic use of rescue inhalers before exercise can reduce the likelihood of a problem.
Emotional Stress
Children’s Memorial Hospital suggests that emotional stress, particularly raucous laughter or crying, can also trigger asthma. Both of these mechanisms for expressing emotion involve rapid, deep breathing, which increases the likelihood that an asthma trigger compound will be pulled into the lungs, and dries and irritates the respiratory tissue. Staying calm during an asthma attack can help reduce its severity and duration.
