Asthma Guide for Teens:
Causes and Triggers
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What causes asthma?
No one knows for sure what causes asthma, but doctors have found that certain things in the environment can irritate a person’s breathing and cause symptoms. Asthma runs in families, and teens who are overweight are more likely to have asthma. Most teens who are diagnosed with asthma have allergies that can aggravate their breathing.
What are triggers?
Triggers are things in the environment that bring on asthma symptoms or “asthma flare-ups” (sometimes called asthma attacks). People who do not have asthma are not sensitive to these triggers. Some triggers such as pollen will only affect people with asthma during certain seasons and not throughout the year. Others may have symptoms only when they are around a cat, for example.
The following categories and list of “triggers” can cause asthma symptoms for some people.
Allergens: things that you are sensitive to that cause a type of allergic reaction
Irritants: (smells and other things that you might breathe in through your nose, mouth and into your lungs)
Weather
Exercise
Viral infections
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Next: Dealing with Triggers |
Updated: 9/4/2009
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