Asthma And Your Home

Home, sweet home! Unfortunately, home may not be so sweet if you have asthma; your home may be the reason you have asthma. How can this be? Because your home is also an abode for dust, bugs, and toxins that can make your lungs miserable. Topping the list of home-environment asthma triggers are cat and dog dander, cockroach droppings, and dust mites. Also on the list are cooking smells, laundry detergents, soaps, perfumes, gardens, pesticides, tobacco smoke, hobby supplies, and many others.

 

Indoor air pollution is emerging as a major factor in the asthma epidemic. Since the energy crisis of the 1970s, new energy-efficient homes are frequently built airtight. While this is a smart idea for conserving energy, it also means these homes are especially good at keeping stale, polluted air inside the house. Add to this the prevalence of central heating and air-conditioning, synthetic chemical-laden building materials, and wall-to-wall carpeting—it's no surprise that indoor air is frequently more polluted than outdoor air.

 

Hippocrates first observed the relationship between asthma and the "prevailing winds." Let's face it, for most asthmatics it's something in the air that's causing the problem. Even for idiopathic asthmatics, it is likely that they too are reacting to something airborne, but we just haven't figured out the trigger yet.

 

According to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), air pollution is divided into three broad categories: particulate matter, gaseous pollutants, and radon. Particulate matter includes mites, dander, dust, molds, and pollen. Gaseous pollution can emanate from cleaning agents, deodorants, dyes, or the burning of fuels (such as gas, oil, wood, tobacco, car exhaust). Second-hand tobacco smoke is especially dangerous for asthmatics, harming the lungs with toxic oxidants. You may also be surprised to learn that many gaseous pollutants originate from building materials and furniture, especially particleboard. Radon comes from natural materials, such as soil and rock, but can also emerge from mineral-based building materials. These pollutants have the potential to cause numerous medical problems, including allergies, asthma, and cancer. Conversely, cleaning up or eliminating these sources of pollution can bring a great deal of relief to asthmatics.

 

In a world filled with toxins, how can you best protect your lungs? You can always try holding your breath, but that only goes so far. The best protection, without question, is to remove the offending agent; this is known as "source control." Source control has a long history, dating back to the sixteenth century, when Italian physician Girolamo Cardano recommended that the Archbishop of St. Andrews get rid of his feather bedding. It was subsequently reported that the Archbishop had a "miraculous" recovery from his symptoms.

 

While source control will always remain the gold standard for asthma prevention, removing some irritants, such as pollen and formaldehyde, may be impractical or impossible. For instance, it's easy to switch from scented to unscented laundry detergent, but not so easy to move the family from pollen-packed Fresno, California, to the desert. How do you manage those triggers for which source control is not practical? By ventilating and purifying the air you breathe.