Things to know about Asthma?
Asthma is a disease of the lungs which is chronic in nature. It causes the airways which carry air to and from the lungs to get inflamed and narrow and makes breathing hard. Some of very common symptoms of asthma are coughing, shortness of breath and tightness in chest. Severe asthma makes it difficult to talk, makes a person lazy.
It is a serious and dangerous disease but with proper care and treatment, you can live well and healthy.
Asthma Types
Adult onset asthma
Among adults onset asthma, they might have faster lung-function decline than children. Mostly by middle age they may have tightening of the chest wall that makes treating asthma more complex.
The risk of death in adults is higher when compared to children. As per research and study, 3,615 people died due to asthma in 2015. Most of them were above 18 years old.
Allergic asthma
It is caused by an allergic reaction. It is also called as allergy-induced asthma. A person may be suffering from allergic asthma if he or she has problem in breathing while allergy season.
Non allergic asthma
Food, pollens etc. stimulates allergic asthma but not Non-allergic asthma. It does not involve an immune-system response but it is triggered by the role of other factors. The Symptoms include Cough, Shortness of breath, etc.
Occupational asthma
It is caused by breathing in dust, gases ,etc. on the job . Occupational asthma occurs from exposure to elements you’re sensitive to.
Exercise-Induced Bronchoconstriction
Exercise-Induced Bronchoconstriction, (EIB), is commonly called as exercise-induced asthma, is a narrowing of the airways which makes it difficult in moving air out from the lungs during exercise. And if a person is suffering from chronic asthma, then the symptoms may get troublesome while he or she is involved in exercise.
Asthma – COPD overlap
It is also known as ASTHMA –COPD OVERLAP syndrome. It occurs when an individual have symptoms of both asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). The thing prevalent in these two disease is that they makes breathing tough but the cause of diseases are different.
Best American cities for people with Asthma
The answer to this question depends all on your triggers. There lies dozens of potential asthma triggers, involving allergens, presence of mild , dust mittens and pollution . And it is most likely that not all of them bother you, so you should focus on the ones that do harm you.
Among the various factors which play role in aggravation of asthma, the factor about which many people are unaware of is the thing that where you live is one of such factors .So where you live becomes crucially important in deciding your health state .The US is full of cities which shows broad diversity in weather types and climates, and for asthma patient some of them are much better or worse to live in.
Since there lies a connection between the environment and asthma, some organizations after their immense research have ranked certain cities or regions as being favourable or not for those living with asthma. For example, the Asthma and Allergy Foundation of America {AAFA} one of such organisations, after their immense research in various urban centres of U.S. have enlisted cities as favourable or worse, for asthma sufferers. There are certain factors which decide a city to be relatively good or bad for people with asthma.
The AFAA ranked cities as favourable or not based on 13 separate factors, involving environmental factors ,occurrence of asthma ,pollen count ,climate and healthcare visits. Here we have enlisted cities of U.S. which stands favourable in the survey.
San Jose, California
San Jose is a city that is located in the California and lies in the northern part of the state in the Bay area. It is famed in the world by the name of “The Capital of Silicon valley”. It is the largest city in the Bay Area and Northern California and the third largest city in the state, and holds the position of 10th largest city in America The San Jose climate is Mediterranean and shows hot, dry summers and mild winter. So it might be inappropriate only if you are uncomfortable to hot climate, otherwise a very perfect place .The occurrence of rainfall is very low.
Seattle, Washington
This city is located in the lowland area of Puget Sounds between the Olympic Mountains and the Cascade Mountains .It is cloudiest region in the United States. SEATTLE the largest city in the Washington State, has a warm, temperate oceanic climate which is characterized by cool and wet winters whereas summers are dry .Summer time provides people with enjoyable temperatures .And winters here are wet and cold . Rainfall occurs for an average of eighteen days per month .Snow is also not uncommon, mostly occur in December and February. The skies are most of time cloudy and most days are pleasantly warm and sunny.
Boise, Idaho
Boise contains population of 145,987 which makes it the biggest city in Idaho. It operates on the MDT time zone .It receives average 13 inches of rain every year.
There are on average 206 sunny days in a year .The precipitation experienced here is, on average, 87 days per year. Precipitation implies rain, snow, sleet, or hail falling to the ground.
San Francisco, California
San Francisco, commonly known as SF, San Fran, Frisco. The climate type prevailing in San Francisco is “Mediterranean with cool summers”. Summer here is unusually cool due to the cold current which flows along the coast of California and can cause fog in San Francisco Bay. It functions as a natural air conditioner for the city.
Abilene,Texas
Abilene is a city in Texas, United States. Abilene, Texas receives around 65cm of rain each year .It witnesses around 7.5cm of snow every year. There are about 243 sunny days each year in .The precipitation received by it averages 59 days a year.
However, the list generated by AAFA is limited because it only looked at the largest cities. But in general, other populated urban centres can also be taxing for some asthmatic people due to presence of excessive levels of air pollution emitted from traffic and other sources.
So in order to find out that the city you are living in or the place you are planning to live in is hazardous or not for your health condition of asthma, it becomes an essential task to look at various aspects of that place. It is not just the place which affects your decision in deciding whether it would be suitable for you to live there with disease of asthma but also the biological behaviour of your body .The experience of every individual suffering from asthma won’t be same as that of someone else living in same place is an evidence to this . So in order to find out how a particular area might influence you, it becomes necessary to analyse the common triggers, how your body responses to that and how each city ranks for each one.
The common triggers are enlisted below as follows:
Pollen count
Pollen often results in runny nose, itchy eyes and ceaseless sneezing . If you are prone to pollen , your asthma and allergy symptoms will get worse during excessive pollination .The pollination time for trees , weeds and grasses is different implying that the pollen season can last from March until the first frost .A report has been published by research centre regarding the pollen counts of different locations for the entire United States .By the way of testing, an allergist can help you in pinpointing which pollens bring on your symptoms .But not to worry an allergist can also help you get relief by suggesting about medications which will be best for your set of triggers .The level of pollen count is not always similar , it varies during different seasons and generally high during spring. When pollen counts soars, many people may suffer a more troubling asthma attack .Since the potential of this factor is very high, even the cities with low levels of air pollution may also pose a trouble for those with asthma.
The AAFA ranks cities that create the most challenges to allergy and asthma patients not just by pollen count but by usage of allergy medication ,and the availability of specialists in allergy medicals .The foundation along with analysing the natural environment also studies that how people living in these areas actually control and manage the situation.
Weather Conditions
Asthma sufferers are affected by changes in the weather condition to the unexpected extents .Therefore they always are required to check weather type and prepare themselves in advance for any possible adversity .When there is low wind speed it causes air pollution to increase, implying there is more number of particle matter for people with asthma to battle with.
If you are a person whose asthma symptoms are mostly produced by doing vigorous exercises, you may find that even the dry and cold air will create a challenge for you. It is generally because these weather condition causes the airways to become more narrower and may trigger the asthma. In case the cold is a trigger for your asthma, you might find living in a place having prolonged, chilly winters to be more problematic. Hot and humid weather gives rise to a perfect environment for dust and mould to prevail .Thunderstorms results in breakdown of large amounts of pollen into smaller particles which are then carried away by gusts of wind. If in case these are triggers for your asthma, living in an area with hot environment and high moisture levels may exacerbate your symptoms.
So to know what kind of weather conditions are not suitable for your disease and put you in devastating health condition, you have to find out what kind of asthma you are living with.
Air pollution
The air pollution is divided by scientists into ozone and particle matter. It is not practically possible to visualise ozone without proper equipments .For ozone level to be determined scientist use special equipments .Particle pollution is released from the industries like power plants and manufacturing, construction sites. Vehicle exhaust and wildfires also release large amounts of particle pollution. While particle matter can be soaring high at any time of year, but ozone levels are usually alarming on hot summer days.
Least levels of particle pollution has been observed in the cities of Cheyenne, Wyoming, Farmington, New Mexico, and Casper, Wyoming. In case the air pollution is a dominant trigger for your problem of asthma, you might find relief in your symptoms in a city where there is a high ranking in clean air. On the other end worst cities for air pollution as founded by the ALA are several cities in California which lies at the the top of the list of worst cities in terms of air pollution .Bakersfield ,Los Angeles-Long Beach,, and Fresno-Madera takes the position of top three when it came to high levels of ozone. In cities of Fresno-Madera, Visalia-Porterville-Hanford, Bakersfield, the levels of particle pollution is maximum.
Air quality varies from day to day .There are various websites which can tell the condition of air quality, and it’s easy to access them.
Conclusion
It is possible for people suffering with asthma to take control of their symptoms by taking measures to reduce their exposure to environmental triggers .The triggers which intensify the asthma attacks differ from one individual to other individual. Every individual has different weakness and immune power, so if you want to figure out the most asthma-friendly place to live in the nation, it’s extremely important to look at your sensitivities and to understand that analysing the sensitiveness of other asthmatic sufferers is not going to work out any solution for your problem. Irrespective of the community you choose to live but the main point is that you should monitor the number of pollens in the atmosphere and air quality ratings as well.
Most importantly listen to your own body as it is the ultimate key to stay healthy.
Sirisha B 
Raju Ch