Air Conditioning And Asthma

I'm an asthma sufferer and for most of my life I have had to deal with my allergies to cats, dogs, dust mites and pollen triggering my asthma which sets off my wheezy chest and leaves me reaching for the ventoline inhaler once again. Saying that, I do have my asthma under control and it rarely effects my life in a serious way but last year I was staying in an apartment in New York and being from the UK I wasn't used to the air con system that had been installed. I was intrigued to see what sort of effect air conditioning would have on my asthma as I had used an air purifier whilst I slept when I was young and found that it had a mildly positive effect.

Air Purifiers

Asthma is usually triggered by inhalation of air particles that contain allergens such as pollen, dust mite droppings or pollution. An air purifier can help by removing contaminants and allergens from a contained environment by passing the air through a filter that collects them and stores them away. The majority of these allergens can be removed fairly easily from the air and the filter can also reduce the amount of fine pet hairs in the atmosphere. This helps relieve asthma symptoms which in turn helps an asthmatic get a good nights sleep although it is certainly not a one stop solution. A regularly cleaned environment with good air ventilation as well as reducing the amount of carpeting will also help to reduce symptoms.

Air Conditioning

Air conditioning can help asthmatics by maintaining a consistent indoor environment free from the pollen and pollution from outside. Air conditioning helps as if you live in an area with high levels of pollution, or if there are hot nights during the summer when pollen levels are high it allows you to keep windows and doors shut. Air conditioning lowers the humidity indoors which helps to control the amount of mold spours in the atmosphere as well as the number of dust mites.

In my personal experience I found that the air con really helped when I was in New York especially as I was spending my days in the hussle and bussle of the busy streets. It was nice to be able to come home at the end of the day, turn on the air conditioning and cool off as well as getting a good nights sleep.