How Air Purifiers Can Relieve Asthma Symptoms

Asthma is a lifelong disease that makes breathing difficult for over 26 million people in America alone, including 6.1 million children. We breathe to live, so asthma attacks can go from frightening to life-threatening. There’s no cure for asthma but it is manageable. Beyond medication, experts recommend one single remedy more than any other.

 

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Eliminate the Triggers

With asthma, already inflamed airways become extra sensitive to asthma ‘triggers,’ according to the American Lung Association. “When you breathe in a trigger, your airways create extra mucus and swell even more, making it hard to breathe.”

An excellent purifier can capture over 99% of common indoor asthma triggers before they can cause an attack. Major triggers include pollen, dust, mold, fumes, and pet dander.

In other words, the more effectively you remove airborne triggers, the lower the risk of an attack.

That’s why it’s important to pick the right purifier to target key asthma triggers. Below, we’ll talk about our easy-to-use list of the Top 10 Asthma Purifiers, which makes finding the perfect purifier a snap. But first, let’s understand a bit more about asthma.

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Asthma Explained

Here’s how the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention defines asthma:

“Asthma is a disease that affects the lungs causing repeated episodes of wheezing, breathlessness, chest tightness, and nighttime or early morning coughing. Asthma can be controlled by taking medicine and avoiding the triggers that can cause an attack. You must also remove the triggers in your environment that can make your asthma worse.”

Asthma is an increasingly common disease, but these breathtaking statistics from Asthma and Allergy Foundation of America show just how big of a problem it is:

• Asthma afflicts 1 in 13 people
• It accounts for 11 million annual doctor’s office visits, 1.7 million emergency room visits, and 439,435 discharges from hospital inpatient care each year.
• Asthma’s annual economic cost from 2008-2013 was more than $81.9 billion including:
• $50.3 billion in medical costs
• ​$3 billion in losses due to missed work and school days
• $29 billion due to asthma-related mortality
• Asthma rates have increased in all age, sex, and racial groups since the 1980s.
• It is more common in adult women than adult men.
• Asthma is the leading chronic disease in children.
• It is the top reason for missed school days.

If you have asthma, the airways in your lungs are usually inflamed, according to the American Academy of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology (AAAAI). During an asthma flare-up, these airways get even more swollen, and the muscles around the airways can tighten.

Beware of the Most Common Triggers

The AAAAI created a comprehensive list of triggers that all asthma sufferers should note:

• Many people with asthma have allergies, which can trigger asthma symptoms. Common allergens include house dust mites, animal dander, molds, pollen, and cockroach droppings. An allergist can identify what you are allergic to and recommend ways to avoid exposure to your triggers.
• Tobacco smoke is an irritant that often aggravates asthma. Your asthma may also be irritated by air pollution, strong odors or fumes.
• Many patients with asthma develop asthma symptoms when exercising. This is called exercise-induced bronchoconstriction (EIB).
• Some medications can cause or worsen asthma symptoms. These include aspirin or other non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) such as ibuprofen, and beta-blockers, which are used to treat heart disease, high blood pressure, migraine headaches or glaucoma.
• Emotional anxiety and stress may also increase asthma symptoms and trigger an attack. Proper rest, diet, and exercise are important for your overall health and can help in managing asthma.
• Viral and bacterial infections such as the common cold and sinusitis.
• Exposure to cold, dry air or weather changes.
• Acid reflux, with or without heartburn.

Make a Plan of Action

An allergist or immunologist has specialized expertise to identify your asthma triggers and to develop a treatment plan to minimize attacks and improve your quality of life.

The first step is removing non-airborne household triggers (like mold and harsh chemical cleaning products). Then it’s time to utilize an air purifier to clean your home’s air.

 

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Picking the Right Asthma Air Purifier

At Air Purifiers America, our experts evaluate every major brand of air purifier for an array of air quality concerns. When it comes to asthma, effectiveness at capturing common trigger particles is one of the most important criteria.

We compiled a simple list of the Top 10 Air Purifiers for Asthma, and it’s no surprise that the highest-ranking purifiers share many of the same important features:

Important criteria for selecting an asthma air purifier

Shop Our Top 10 Asthma Air Purifiers

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