Asthma Triggers and how Air Purifiers Reduce Them

For people who suffer from asthma, the air indoors may be the culprit for most of their asthmatic attacks. Indoor air is proven to carry more contaminants and be more toxic to breathe than most outdoor air. It contains many types of dust, chemicals and pollen that can be removed by air purifiers. Since most people spend about 90% of their time indoors, having clean and breathable indoors is an important factor, especially for someone suffering from asthma. Homes are well insulated and made airtight in order to seal out elements such as cold air or rain. With an airtight seal, indoor air that is contaminated will simply circulate throughout and never get cleaned. For asthma sufferers, air purifiers are a must-have in order to clean out the toxins, which trigger their asthmatic attacks.

An average person everyday absorbs 3,400 gallons of air. If this contains irritants or toxins, that's a lot of contaminants for one person to swallow each day. Indoor air contains contaminants such as chemical vapors and fumes, pollen, dust and pet dander. By breathing in any one of these indoor air pollutants, an asthmatic is vulnerable to an attack. These toxins can irritate a person's lungs and if the person suffers from asthma, it is likely her or she will experience a shortness of breath and wheezing. The dust, pollen or chemical vapors that is breathed in also has the ability to settle into the lung passageways. This can mean that a person will not feel the affects of the asthmatic attack right away but later could suffer an attack from the indoor air toxins that have settled into his or her lungs.

There are many different indoor air pollution factors that can trigger an asthmatic attack for a sufferer. Sufferers must experiment with different triggers to see which ones they are most sensitive to and which ones do not affect their asthma. Once the contaminants causing the asthma attacks are identified, the asthma sufferer can then decide the best way to eliminate the asthma triggers from his or her daily life. One of the best ways to eliminate the contaminants from the air is by using an air purifier.

An air purifier can help to reduce the amount of asthmatic triggers found in indoor air. Most air purifiers use High Efficiency Particulate Air filters, or HEPA filters, in order to weed out toxins in the air. These HEPA filters are proven to be able to eliminate allergens in the air that can trigger asthma attacks such as mold spores and dust mites. The filters found in most air purifiers can absorb 99.7% of all contaminants in the air that are 0.03 microns in size or larger. The particles that are 0.03 microns and larger include most of the toxins that can trigger an asthma attack.

Mold spores and bacteria in indoor air may be the leading triggers for asthma attacks. Once mold or bacteria enters the lungs, it is probable that an asthmatic will experience an attack due to these toxins irritating the lungs and breathing passageways. If mold and bacteria are not completely eliminated from the air, they have the ability to grow back and circulate the air again. Mold and bacteria can generally grown anywhere but are mostly attracted to damp conditions. The only way to completely extinguish mold and bacteria from the air is through the use of air purifiers. The air purifiers are able to absorb mold spores or bacteria that are found in the indoor air and stop their circulation. When no mold spores or bacteria are present in the air, asthma sufferers are able to breathe easier without worrying about an asthma attack being brought on by inhaling mold spores.

Asthmatics can experience an attack at any given time. There are usually a series of asthma triggers that can set off an attack and most of these triggers can be found in indoor air. Indoor air can be cleaned of these triggers and safer for an asthma sufferer to breathe if air purifiers are used. Clean indoor air is the first step to reducing the amount of asthmatic attacks a sufferer has to deal with on a daily basis.