Asthma is a lung condition that causes very difficult breathing episodes. With more than 6 millions kids and teens having asthma, it is a common condition around the world. It affects a child's airways, which are also called breathing tubes or bronchial tubes.

Breathing is simple for most children. They simply breathe in through their noses or mouths and the air goes into the windpipe and travels through the airways and into the lungs, and finally back out again.

However, breathing can be a lot more complicated for kids with asthma as their airways are very sensitive. Unlike kids who can breathe normally, kids with asthma have airways that are inflamed. This means that they swell and produce lots of thick mucus.

Certain things, like exercise, dust, or cigarette smoke can lead to over sensitivity or hyper reactivity for people with asthma. Hence, the smooth muscle that surrounds the airways tightens up due to this hyper reactivity. The combination of airway inflammation and muscle tightening narrows the airways. This makes it difficult for air to move through.

Asthma flare ups - which means that the difficulty of breathing may happen periodically, is faced by most people with asthma. This happens when a child's airways get swollen and narrow and it becomes a lot harder for air to get in and out of the lungs. At times the swollen airways produce extra mucus, which makes things pretty sticky, so it's easy to see why it's hard to breathe.

It is also known as an asthma attack, flare, episode, or exacerbation. Using asthma medicine is very important for a child with asthma. Otherwise, there is a possibility that an asthma flare-up can get worse. Though it may take several days, the airways almost always return to the way they were before, after an asthma flare-up.

A child's breathing can be totally normal or seem that way in between flare-ups. But during a flare-up, it can feel like the child is breathing through a straw. Wheezing (a whistling sound when he or she breathes), coughing, and feeling tightness in the chest are some common signs of a child with asthma.

This is just some basics on understanding asthma condition. It is important that a child who is suffering from asthma know what it is. Also, the parents need to fully understand the condition of the child.

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