how yoga can help ?

Asthma (AZ-ma) is a chronic (long-term) lung disease that inflames & narrows the airways. Asthma causes recurring periods of wheezing (a whistling sound when u breathe), chest tightness, shortness of breath, & coughing. The coughing often occurs at night or early in the morning.

Asthma affects people of all ages, but it most often starts in childhood. In the United States, more than 22 million people r known to have asthma. Nearly 6 million of these people r children.
Overview

The airways r tubes that carry air into & out of ur lungs. People who have asthma have inflamed airways. This makes the airways swollen & very sensitive. They tend to react strongly to certain substances that r breathed in.

When the airways react, the muscles around them tighten. This causes the airways to narrow, & less air flows to ur lungs. The swelling also can worsen, making the airways even narrower. Cells in the airways may make more mucus than normal. Mucus is a sticky, thick liquid that can further narrow ur airways.

This chain reaction can result in asthma symptoms. Symptoms can happen each time the airways r irritated.

http://nhlbi.nih.gov/health/dci/Diseases/Asthma/Asthma_WhatIs.html

How Is Asthma Treated & Controlled?

Asthma is a long-term disease that can not be cured. The goal of asthma treatment is to control the disease. Good asthma control will:

* Prevent chronic & troublesome symptoms such as coughing & shortness of breath
* Reduce ur need of quick-relief medicines (see below)
* Help u maintain good lung function
* Let u maintain ur normal activity levels & sleep through the night
* Prevent asthma attacks that could result in ur going to the emergency room or being admitted to the hospital for treatment

To reach this goal, u should actively partner with ur doctor to manage ur asthma or ur child is asthma. Children aged 10 or older—and younger children who r able—also should take an active role in their asthma care.

Taking an active role to control ur asthma involves working with ur doctor & other clinicians on ur health care team to create & follow an asthma action plan. It also means avoiding factors that can make ur asthma flare up & treating other conditions that can interfere with asthma management.

An asthma action plan gives guidance on taking ur medicines properly, avoiding factors that worsen u asthma, tracking ur level of asthma control, responding to worsening asthma, & seeking emergency care when needed.

Asthma is treated with two types of medicines: long-term control & quick-relief medicines. Long-term control medicines help reduce airway inflammation & prevent asthma symptoms. Quick-relief, or ''rescue,'' medicines relieve asthma symptoms that may flare up.

Your initial asthma treatment will depend on how severe ur disease is. Followup asthma treatment will depend on how well ur asthma action plan is working to control ur symptoms & prevent u from having asthma attacks.

Your level of asthma control can vary over time & with changes in ur home, school, or work environments that alter how often u r exposed to the factors that can make ur asthma worse. Your doctor may need to increase ur medicine if ur asthma does not stay under control.

On the other hand, if ur asthma is well controlled for several months, ur doctor may be able to decrease ur medicine. These adjustments either up or down to ur medicine will help u maintain the best control possible with the least amount of medicine necessary.

Asthma treatment for certain groups of people, such as children, pregnant women, or those for whom exercise brings on asthma symptoms, will need to be adjusted to meet their special needs.

http://nhlbi.nih.gov/health/dci/Diseases/Asthma/Asthma_Treatments.html