Asthma triggers

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Do you know what sets off your asthma? Did you know that asthma triggers can vary from person to person?

A person living with asthma has airways more sensitive to certain things than that of people without asthma, and so their airways can get more inflamed easily by certain triggers. If you are going to manage your asthma well, you have to understand as a person what triggers your asthma, so you can stay safe and well as much as possible.

What is an asthma trigger?

An asthma trigger is anything that can set off your asthma symptoms. Common triggers include colds & viruses, pets, dust mites, cigarette smoke, alcohol, cold weather, chest infection, pollen, exhaust fumes, emotional stress etc.

The chart below - copyright Daily Express - shows the Top 10 causes of asthma attacks in the UK in 2018.


You may have just one or two triggers, or several. And some triggers are easier to pinpoint than others. For example, you may notice that anytime ‘Neighbour A’ visits, you have a sneezing bout. It may not be that you are allergic to Neighbour A, but that Neighbour A actually has a cat and this is what you are reacting to! Sometimes, you get a delayed reaction which makes things a wee bit more difficult to pinpoint. But this is why keeping a diary would help as you would build up a picture of patterns over time.

Know your asthma triggers and plan a strategy to deal with the triggers. Better health is possible.

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