Asthma is an inflammatory disease of the airways to the lungs. It makes breathing difficult and can make some physical activities challenging or even impossible. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), approximately 25 million AmericansTrusted Source have asthma. It’s the most common chronic condition among American children: 1 child out of every 12Trusted Source has asthma. To understand asthma, it’s necessary to understand a little about what happens when you breathe. Normally, with every breath you take, air goes through your nose or mouth and down into your throat and into your airways, eventually making it to your lungs. There are lots of small air passages in your lungs that help deliver oxygen from the air into your bloodstream. Asthma symptoms occur when the lining of your airways swell and the muscles around them tighten. Mucus then fills the airways, further reducing the amount of air that can pass through. These conditions can then bring on an asthma “attack,” the coughing and tightness in your chest that’s typical of asthma.
The most common symptom of asthma is wheezing, a squealing or whistling sound made when you breathe. Other asthma symptoms may include: