Causes of Asthma

Things that cause asthma attacks are called triggers. Triggers are everywhere.

Any home can be full of triggers like mold, dust mites secondhand smoke, cockroaches, cats and dogs. Other asthma triggers may be air pollution (such as ozone, small particles, and pollen), foods, respiratory infections and exercise.

Asthma is a chronic inflammatory lung disease caused by an allergy. To be more specific, an oversensitivity of the lungs and airways to certain allergens. Most triggers that bring on asthma, such as dust mites, mold, animal dander, cigarettes, and cold temperatures, are found indoors.

Seventy percent of young adults and fifty percent of older adults who have asthma also have allergies. When your system senses these certain triggers, it overreacts, resulting in an asthma attack. What causes your lungs to constrict in response to harmless substances still remains a mystery. Research has shown that this is an abnormality of the lungs and is caused by inflammation of the bronchial tubes.