When an illness effects something as basic as breathing, it is not too much of a stretch to understand that the very place in which you live could be having a detrimental effect on that illness. With the respiratory illness asthma, your home – and more importantly the location of your home – could very well dictate the severity of your condition, and the frequency with which you suffer asthma attacks.
As a basic rule, the further from a city center you live, the better off your asthma will be. What asthmatics really struggle with is polluted, city air. Any city that has a reputation for smog problems – such as Tokyo, Los Angeles or London – is going to be a nightmare for any asthma sufferer. The reason for this is that smog, or any kind of pollution, makes the air thicker – and this in turn makes the air more difficult for someone with narrowed airways in their lungs to breathe. As narrowed airways are a key part of asthma, this is why asthma sufferers and cities do not mix.
Do not always assume that the size of the city is what determines the air quality. For example, Paris in France is one of the largest cities in the world – but it does not have a smog problem, and is thus suitable for asthma sufferers. Always check the specific pollution index of any city you may be considering moving to, if you are worried about finding somewhere suitable for asthma. Size is not always everything.
