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.

Genetics may determine whether you enjoy your first puff on a cigarette and whether you become addicted to nicotine.
Scientists from the University of Michigan said a gene variant was found more often in people who got a “buzz” from their first cigarette.
They were also more likely to become regular smokers.
The research could help develop anti-smoking drugs.
Scientists hoped to make it easier for people to quit smoking, or stop them starting, by cracking the genetic secrets of nicotine addiction.
The gene CHRNA5 has been highlighted by other studies into nicotine addiction and it could increase a smoker’s chances of developing lung cancer.
The research suggested that the gene’s influence began from the first puff. Genetic data was taken from 435 volunteers – some who were regular smokers and some who had tried cigarettes but weren’t currently smokers.
Regular smokers were far more likely to have the variant version to the gene and more likely to enjoy their first cigarette.
For people who have a certain genetic make-up, the initial physical reaction to smoking can play a significant role in determining what happens next.
If smoking is sustained, nicotine addiction can occur in a few days to a few months.
The finding of a genetic association with pleasurable early smoking experiences may help explain how people get addicted.
The study was interesting but any treatments based on the gene variant would be some way off.

For every cigarette you smoke, you lose 14 minutes of your life. But don’t you know that it also reduces the density and speed of sperm, making it more difficult for conception?
According to the Hemizona Assay by Dr. Loni Burkman, reproductive medicine specialist from the University of Bufffalo, the sperm from nearly two-thirds of the chronic smokers failed a special test that measures the sperm’s ability to fertilize egg. Those men showed a 75% decline in fertilizing capacity compared to non-smokers. Human sperm carry a receipt for nicotine, which means they recognize and respond to nicotine. Heavy smokers overloads the nicotine receptor in human sperm and the testes, declining fertilizing potential.
The study involved 18 men who smoke at least four cigarettes a day for more than two years where sperm function was compared to that of non-smokers whose fertilizing capacity had been confirmed. Almost all smokers whose sperm failed the test had an index of 36 or less, which means a severe loss in fertilizing capacity. Honey! Hand me that nicotine patch!

A protein responsible for repairing damaged DNA may be a vital link to explaining how smoking causes lung cancer.
Lung cells exposed to cigarette smoke produce less of a protein called FANCD2 based on a US researcher report.
Without FANCD2, damaged DNA can cause cells to proliferate out of control instead of destroying themselves as normal cells do.
The study in the British Journal of Cancer could lead to better treatment for lung cancer, the leading cause of cancer death globally.
Lung cancer kills more than a million people every year and only 15 per cent of sufferers live for five years or longer.

Cigarette smoke is a trigger for many people with asthma, including children. Children have smaller and more delicate airways and are therefore more affected by tobacco smoke and the chemicals it contains. Unfortunately 2 in 5 children with asthma live with a smoker.
Children of smokers are more likely to have asthma symptoms such as coughing, wheezing, and breathlessness. Asthma is more common among children of smokers.

Passive smoke
Children with asthma that are exposed to secondhand smoke have a greater risk of developing symptoms at a younger age. They tend to have more asthma attacks and are more likely to use asthma medications more often and for a longer period. It is estimated that children of parents who smoke are exposed to the same amount of nicotine as if they were actively smoking 60 to 150 cigarettes a year.

Smoking in the family car
Travelling in a smoke filled car can be harmful to the overall health of your children, and can trigger an attack in children who have asthma. Therefore a school should strongly encourage parents to don’t smoke in the car when they have their children.

Research has long shown that toxins in cigarettes can damage a woman’s eggs, harming her fertility. But a newly study suggests that these toxins make it difficult for an embryo to implant in the uterus.
The study monitored heavy smokers as well as light smokers and non-smokers, all of whom were undergoing into-vitro fertilization with donated eggs. The light and non-smokers had a higher pregnancy rate (52 percent) that the heavy smokers did (34 percent) over the same time period. Because all the women used donor eggs, researchers think the ity to receive an embryo rather than with eggs or ovaries