My boyfriend has severe asthma and I would like to ask a question from your
personal experiences & knowledge rather than medical ‘facts’ – does having
good general health and fitness levels make a dramatic difference to asthma?

My boyfriend never exercises and his diet, though improved recently, is by
no means healthy, (high in saturated fat and simple, refined carbs, low in
fruit/veg.) Would this vastly effect his asthma and would regularly airing
pillows, mattresses etc in the sun, pulling up carpet etc make a significant
difference also?

fitness and good health are always worth aiming for…in my
personal experience it’s hard to tell if there is any direct
effect since I tend to be least healthy when my asthma is worse
(it’s when I get least exercise)…I would have thought that it
can make a huge difference in the event of a serious attack
though

diet is also important indirectly…it’s important in terms of
being able to deal with colds and flu etc…and you can’t be
healthy without a decent diet…I was lucky, I shared a kitchen
with a student from Hong Kong when I was at College…so my first
real experience of cooking for myself was being taught how to
make a very healthy meal in a matter of a couple of minutes

keeping bedding clean and aired helps directly…as does
replacing carpets with tiles or laminates…replacing curtains
with blinds helped me too…generally, dust is not my friend, and
anything that helps avoid it with a minimum of effort is a Good
Thing

A diet high in saturated fat is not always a problem. Genetics plays an
importaint part in that. He should have his cholesterol checked befor
determining if it is a problem for him. I had mine check a few years ago
whin my cholesterol intake was at its highest and my levels were at 128/65
so I dont personaly worry about that. (course, I’ve had problems with having
a hyper metabolism and have herd that low cholesterol is farly normal under
that situation)

Eating more fruit would help as fruits contain anti oxidents that help the
immune system. Being in general good health (which can only happen if ones
diet is balanced) reduces the risk of infections. Lung infections are
generaly very bad whin it comes to asthma.

Airing out bedding ect is a good thing
The Lung Association recomends that all bedding including pillows get washed
in hot water and dried eather on the line in the sun or in a hot dryer (like
your going to put pillows on the line, it take all day to dry pillows in the
dryer) as oftain as once a week.