Asthma & Hay Fever

When you can't breath - nothing else matters!

We can exist without food and water for some considerable time - but with air we have only minutes.

A study in 1998 found that asthma and wheezing in children under five had almost doubled within ten years.

And the number who needed to be taken to hospital had increased by more than half - from 6.2 per cent in 1990 to 9.4 per cent in 1998.

The research also found that between 1990 and 1998 the use of asthma drugs by young children rose by 80 per cent.

Over 3 million people including I in every 10 children suffer the problem of, asthma. This figure continues to rise at an alarming rate. In the UK and in Sweden asthma Incidence was less than 2 per, cent in the SO's and increased to 11 per cent of children and 5 per cent of the population in the 1980"s.

This is reflected in Government figures for the period from 1983 to 1993 which showed an increase of 28% in total medical prescriptions but an increase of 81% in asthma prescriptions.

This Increase from 16.1 million prescriptions to 29.2 million prescriptions meant that in 1993 the bill for asthma medication alone represented 11% of the total NHS expenditure on prescription ingredients. Since that time the evidence suggests only that the problem is getting worse and that our children are becoming increasingly vulnerable to this debilitating condition.

£850 million cost to the NHS every year.

ASTHMA IS MAINLY AN INHALED ALLERGIC CONDITION.

IS OUR MODERN LIFESTYLE THE MAIN CULPRIT - PROBABLY SO!

Did you know that cities, famous for their traffic pollution, such as Athens and Bombay, have little asthma sufferers?

From where you are sitting take a look around you at all of our modern comforts.

• Centrally heated airtight homes
• Double glazing
• Draughtproofing
• Insulation
• Fitted carpets
• Dishwashers, washing machines & tumble dryers
• Fitted showers

The list just goes on and on - and compare all of this to what our parents and grand parents had.

We are snug and cosy - but is it healthy? Well research suggests NO. In fact the air quality in many ordinary homes is very poor, and in super insulated and heated homes the problem doubles.

Depending on where you draw your data from, everyone Is In general agreement that the air quality in our homes is between 5 & 10 times dirtier than the air outside.

Just to draw a line under the problem’s solution - If you open wide every window in the house and kept the heating on during the winter, then everything would be ok - apart from the huge security risk and a very large heating bill, and the fact that you are not in control of anything.

Most of us spend up to 90% of our time indoors, and a lot of this time In one location - In bed, with our head resting on a pillow possibly containing little creatures; related to the spider and known as HOUSE DUST MITES, who quite happily feed on the microscopic skin scales, which we all shed.

They are never short of a good supply of food, but are quite often short of water, which they can get only from the moist air around them. The high levels of humidity in our cosy homes are an Ideal home to the dust mite.

WHERE DOES ALL THIS HUMIDITY COME FROM?

Again take a look at our life style:

Open the bathroom door after the hot shower has been used.
Open the dishwasher to a plume of steam when the cycle has finished. Add to this the steam from the kettle and cooking, and our own exhaled breath.

Did you know that we breathe around 780 times an hour, and that our exhaled breath is saturated with moisture? Look what happens when you have several people In the car on a winters journey - the windows mist up.

Breathing in DUNG of any type has never been recommended, so what can we do about it?

BUILD TIGHT - BUT VENTILATE RIGHT!

The mite itself is not the problem, but it Is the mite's DUNG that causes the problem, as we breathe it in.,

The mite is an expert at conserving moisture; even it's DUNG is passed in a dried form.

This DUNG is brittle and breaks down into even smaller particles - so small in fact that they evade the filtration system of most vacuum cleaners.

Did you know that in a 5 - year unwashed pillow that up to 10% of its weight can consist of Dust Mite DUNG. WHO ARE YOU GOING TO SHARE YOUR BED WITH TONIGHT?

The Solution

Like most ideas it is very simple:

Basic fresh air& extract air - Ventilation

• Remove the polluted moisture laden air from our bedrooms and
• Replace it with fresh and filtered clean air from outside

At this point most of us will see this as a good idea from a health point but will understandably be concerned at the running costs in the winter season. After all we have paid to heat the room in the first place, only to throw away the heat with the stale air - and then have to heat the incoming cold fresh air - only to go and throw this away again as stale air a few minutes later,

Intelligent fresh air & extract air - Heat Recovery Ventilation

• Remove the polluted moisture laden air from our bedrooms and
• Replace it with fresh and filtered clean air from outside
• Recover up to 70% of the heat from the polluted air and use this energy source to heat up the incoming fresh air.

It is a clever, simple and energy saving system, which only costs a few pence a day to run - and yet can provide a massive Improvement to the quality of our indoor air and life.