Condition lung disease airways muscles to contract

To swell mucustriggerlikelihood of an attack

Look at the key words and repeat the definition.

Read the list of some items and tick the items that could be asthma triggers. The first one has been done for you.

While-listening

Listen and fill in the gaps.

Does your chest regularly feel 1)___________? Do you find it difficult 2)_____________ after light exercise? Do you sometimes make a 3)____________________ when you breathe? If so, you might be 4)________________. If you have 5)__________________ please consult a doctor, but even if you do have asthma – don’t worry, you are not 6)________.

What is asthma?

Asthma is a condition that affects hundreds of millions of people worldwide and more than 5 million people in the UK are asthmatic, about one in 7)_________ people. It is a 8)____________ that affects your 9)____________ – the tubes that carry air to and from your 10)__________. It causes the 11)______________ in these tubes to contract, the tubes themselves to swell and also causes sticky 12)__________ to be produced. All of these factors can make it very difficult for a sufferer to 13)____________.

14)___________________, especially after exercise, coughing, or difficulty breathing while sleeping, are all 15)__________________. These can be described as mild 16)___________________; however, they can usually be controlled by 17)__________________. A severe asthma attack, on the other hand, where a sufferer finds it very 18)__________________, may require 19)_________________. How badly you are affected by these symptoms depends on what 20)_______________ you have; from mild to 21)_____________; and how well you are able to control the 22)_____________.

What causes it?

Asthma is not 23)_______________, although it’s still not known precisely what 24)__________ it. People can be 25)_____________; 26)___________ it in childhood, or at any age. If you have asthma, it’s likely that someone else in your family had it, as the illness is known to 27)_______________. There is also some evidence that environmental factors, such as 28)_________, 29)__________________ or 30)_________________________, can cause asthma.

Having the condition doesn’t necessarily mean you will suffer badly from the 31)__________________. Mild or 32)_________________ can be easily controlled through 33)______________________ or 34)________________. Additionally, all attacks need a 35)___________, and if these triggers can be 36)____________ and 37)______________, the likelihood of an 38)_____________ decreases. Triggers can include: 39)_______________, smoking, dust, 40)_________________, stress, 41)_____________, exercise, and 41)___________. These triggers are personal to each individual sufferer, so if you have asthma, make sure you know what is 42)__________________, you can then better 43)_______________________.

History

Asthma is not a recent condition, in fact there is written evidence of the 44)____________ from ancient Egyptian times. The 45)____________________ itself was first coined by the physician Hippocrates over 3000 years ago, and was the Greek for ’46)__________________.’ Over the years, people have tried many 47)____________________ both physical and mental, to 48)_________________.

To alleviate the symptoms, people changed their 49)____________, avoided 50)_________________, or took herbal/folk 51)_________ such as tobacco smoke, owl’s blood, 52)________________, tar fumes, or acupuncture. Blood letting and opium were also popular 53)______________. Prayer and 54)___________________ were used to enable people to 55)_________________________ their own 56)________________. Some of these 57)___________________ or breathing techniques are still being used today.