Hi there! That’s a very good question. Let me start by explaining what is asthma. Asthma is a respiratory condition where there is spasms/constriction of the bronchi (part of the airway to the lungs), due to inflamed and narrowed airways in the lungs. Asthma is fully reversible through treatment.

The symptoms of asthma are cough, wheezing (a whistling or squeaking sound in the chest), shortness of breath and chest tightness. The symptoms tend to worse at night or early morning. This is known as diurnal variation and this occurs because at night and early morning the air tends to be cold and dry.

How dry/cold air triggers asthma will be explained below. The symptoms also tends to have triggers. These triggers vary from person to person. Some examples of triggers are; exercise, pets, dust, emotions, laughter and yes cold weather/dry air. This is because when you breathe in cold air it causes your airways to produce a substance called histamine. Histamine is the same chemical your body makes during an allergy attack.

When you breathe in dry air, fluid of the airways evaporates faster than it can be replaced causing the airways to become irritated and swollen, which worsens asthma symptoms. There tends to be interval symptoms (symptoms that occur between acute attacks). Family history or genetic factors also play a key role in asthma.

The severity and frequency of asthma attack are caused by both genetic and environment factors. Asthma, eczema, sinusitis as well as other allergy diseases are all related and collectively they are known as atopy.

So, to answer your question, yes, asthma attacks can be triggered by cold weather because of the chemical released during inhalation of cold air which triggers an allergic response which in turn triggers an asthma attack.

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