Asthma

[Guest]

Several years ago, my daughter told me if she took her babies with an asthma attack into cold air, the constriction was reduced, breathing was better. Today, her 10 year old had a cough, went outside, came back in, and wanted to go back outside because "my cough stopped outside in the cold air".
She has not had asthma in years. I looked up on the Internet and it seems that cold air (coupled with exercise) brings on an attack. Could this be wrong? Could it be that the cold air by itself, with no exercise, is beneficial? My granddaughter was not aware she had had asthma as a baby and was not responding to things she had heard. Interesting.
Any thoughts out there?
Grandma

[Schoulayer]

I'm not a doctor, this is just a theory...

When the body experiences cold obvious things happen like goosebumps and shivering. I half wonder if lung constriction is also an adaptation to the cold we evolved in the past. It would aid in preserving heat and because the cold air is denser you would need to breath less of it to get the same amount of oxygen...?

I don't think our bodies were made to go outside in 20 degree weather, then suddenly come back inside to a warm 80 degree house. Maybe when they go outside in the cold air their lungs constrict to conform to the denser outside climate, then when they suddenly come back inside to a warm house their constricted lungs make them feel short of breath.

In that case it would make sense that going outside where the air is denser would make them feel better when they're feeling symptomatic - but the cold could also be the cause of their problem in the first place.