Health

Air Purifiers: Can They Really Ease Asthma Symptoms?

Asthma is an inflammatory disease that causes airways to your lungs to narrow and swell and fill up with mucus, making breathing difficult. The most common symptoms are coughing, wheezing, and shortness of breath, and in extreme cases, a life-threatening asthma attack.

Asthma can’t be cured, but its symptoms can be controlled to improve your quality of life. One way to do this is to reduce your exposure to triggers in the air, with the help of an air purifier.

What Is an Air Purifier?

An air purifier is a device that traps and filters out environmental asthma triggers from the air inside your home. These include dust, pet dander, smoke, mold, and pollen from outside. It also sanitizes the air that flows through it.

However, when it comes to the effectiveness of air purifiers in alleviating asthma symptoms, studies have found mixed or inconclusive results:

→ According to the American Society of Heating, Refrigerating, and Air-Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE), air purifiers don’t trap particles as well as regular air filters, and are maybe less effective. Allergens that aren’t trapped effectively may be redistributed on surfaces closer to the purifier.

→ A 2016 study found that air purifiers may be better at getting rid of certain allergens, like smoke, but less successful at trapping allergens like animal dander.

→ A 2018 study found that air purifiers can help relieve asthma symptoms, especially for children.

Overall, an air purifier’s ability to reduce asthma symptoms depends on its airflow rate,

filter design, size of the allergen particles it can trap, as well as its location in your home.