Asthma is a chronic or long-term lung disease that inflames and narrows the airways. Asthma causes recurring periods of wheezing (a whistling sound when you breathe), chest tightness, shortness of breath, and coughing. In the United States, more than 22 million people are known to have asthma. Nearly 6 million of these people are children. Below are 5 simple ways on how to manage asthma:

1. Keep your environment clean.
Nearly all of the asthma attacks have been related to some variety of allergies related to dust, pollens and even pet hairs. Therefore the best practice to conquer asthma is to keep your house free from dust, traces of animal furs and other contaminants from beds, sofas, carpets, as well as curtains and cushions.

2. Perform rhythmic breathing exercises.
Breathing exercises have been proven to be extremely useful in eradicating stress and also in conquering asthma. Besides choose for any kind of exercises, go for occasional swimming or morning walks as fresh air also help in strengthening your heart and lungs.

3. Avoidance is the key.
The finest way to overcome asthma is to discover ways to put off the incidence of attack. This can be through by maintaining a diary listing what are the usual triggers for these attacks, things you are allergic to etc., which will aid you in eliminating sudden attacks. To conquer asthma, many patients also try allergen immunotherapy that helps to desensitize patient’s body against common asthma causing allergens such as pollen, grass, weeds, smoke and dust

4. Live a healthy lifestyle.
Eating nutritious foods and regular exercise will help boost your immune system.

5. Seek medical help.
If you are prone to frequent asthma attacks where taking every breath seems like a pain and you feel as if you are drowning in deep sea, you need to get yourself examined by a doctor and take all the necessary safety measures to conquer asthma. Once you have recognized the triggering factor, things will definitely change for better. Doctors may prescribe you inhalers to provide immediate relief. Hence, if asthma crisis worsen, then drugs like terbutaline and salbutamol that contain short term acting beta agonist may first be given. And if symptoms still don’t disappear, stronger drugs containing long acting beta 2 such as formotrol or salmeterol may be advised to defeat asthma.

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