Although we don’t know what causes asthma, we do know that under certain circumstances the airways react and asthma symptoms develop. We refer to the stimulants that can lead to asthma as “triggers”.
Triggers are everywhere. Triggers cause inflammation or swelling in your airways and make your asthma worse. Reducing your exposure to things that trigger your asthma is a large part of taking control of your asthma.

Different people react to different asthma triggers and many people with asthma react to a variety of triggers. Asthma may develop from exposure to one trigger or from a number of triggers simultaneously (e.g. a student with a cold goes into a change room where deodorant has been sprayed). For some people it is difficult to determine what triggers their asthma like my own son. He has this asthma attacked recently and we don’t what causes the triggers. It’s been a long time that he’s not having an attack. But before that, or a week before he got some skin allergies that we’re not sure if that’s what they called eczema or just a plain asthma allergy.

Common asthma triggers:
Colds and Flu: The most common trigger, particularly for children. When a student with asthma has a cold or the flu it is highly probable that they will develop asthma symptoms.

Exercise: A trigger for many people with asthma. This trigger should not be avoided, but exercise induced asthma can be managed by taking your blue reliever puffer 5-10 minutes before activity and warming up and warming down after exercise.

Smoke: Children of mother who smoke when pregnant and those who experience passive smoking in early childhood have a higher risk of developing asthma. As well as active and passive cigarette smoke, woodsmoke from open fires, burn-offs or bushfires can trigger asthma.

If you would like more information you can visit www.asthma.org.au.