To help eliminate these irritants in the home and work place, don t allow cigarette smoking. All smoke should be outside, and no asthma sufferer should smoke cigarettes. This will definitely make asthma problems worse, and could cause an asthma attack. Regularly washing fabrics, especially around pet areas, will help reduce dust and dander that causes breathing difficulties. Asthma Defined For those who don't have it, asthma can seem like a disease that should be able to be conquered. After all, it is just breathing. And for those diagnosed with it later in life, you may also not understand the potential severity of asthma. Perhaps you feel a little tightness in the chest when you strain yourself, or you cough a little too much, a little too often. Although treatment for the elderly is the same for everyone it may well need to be increased because of the fact that the elderly are more susceptive to colds and flu. In the years 1972-1986 Sweden did a poll to see what the trends were with asthma and the elderly and they found that 710,187 hospitalisation days and 62,342 periods of hospital treatment were mainly due to the elderly and asthma. Teenagers Teenagers may have the view that asthma interferes with their life, making them different from their friends. They have to accept that their asthma is only a little portion of their life not the whole of it. They can fit their medication into a daily plan that still lets them carry on their life. Keeping the air clean inside the home is one of the most important steps in making living with asthma much easier, and much more painless. Asthma sufferers don t have to suffer there are ways you can lessen their symptoms and help to make the air more breathable for sensitive airways. Sometimes, it s easiest to get into a cleaning routine. The more you know about something, the less scary it suddenly seems. Life doesn t have to stop for asthma, so that you can catch your breath you can manage your asthma symptoms, and learn how to cut back on things that may aggravate your condition in the home. There are many things you can do to make breathing at home easier, and making living with asthma just like living without asthma.