Sport and exercise is excellent for them as it helps build stronger lungs and overall health. Discourage the use of drugs and smoking that can aggravate and in some cases bring on a severe attack. It would be nice if your teen could meet other young people suffering with asthma, so they can swap stories, develop friendships and support each other. Other animals that pose a risk are: -Gerbils -Hamsters -Birds -Mice/Rats -Rabbits -Guinea pigs -Horses Surprisingly, even an animal you don t keep in the house, like horses can produce devastating attacks. So if you give your son or daughter riding lessons and notice they get sick or particularly tight afterwards, that s a pretty clear indicator that you ve got a problem. Hence, the need to take both simultaneously. Monitor your reliever use. If it increases, you can tell your asthma in general is getting worse. Treating a disease like asthma has no cure-all. No matter what that late nigt infomercial tells you. However with proper monitoring, communication between you and your health care provider, and personal responsibility, you can take part in assuring your health is maintained in a continuous, long-term way. Understanding and living with your Asthma What is Asthma Asthma is a disease that affects your lungs, by narrowing the airways to your lungs. It causes wheeziness, breathlessness, chest tightness and either morning or nighttime coughing. Asthma is a 24/7 disease although you may have no effect from it for ages and suddenly something will trigger it off. This kind of support is often invaluable, and means really being able to connect with others who share the same illness. There is a huge world of support out there for those living with asthma, and much of it can be found through the online community. Look for online message boards, forums, and chat groups where people who have asthma can share thoughts, ideas, and advice. Age does not mean that they require any less of the lifestyle that we would expect for ourselves or our children, in fact they need it to be controlled so that their life is improved slightly more as with age we all get slower to fight of infection. Also asthma in the elderly can have other associated problems like depression, restricted movement because of lack of breath and sleepiness during the day.