Nearly 10 percent of Americans now deal with asthma on a daily basis. Some attribute it to an awfully brutal allergy season, hard winter, cold, heat, dirt, whatever. But the truth is that nearly 24 million of us can’t breathe the way that we should.  It’s easy for a doctor to prescribe an inhaler. We can all walk around with one in our pockets for the rest of our lives without ever finding out what’s really the cause of our bad breathing. But the truth is that asthma numbers are going up. We know more about our health than ever before so shouldn’t they be going down?
Thirty or 40 years ago we didn’t know not to smoke while we were pregnant. Doctors often puffed away at cigarettes while they examined you. It was not a surprise when children and adults developed asthma. But nowadays we are supposed to be healthier, know more, and take better care of ourselves. So why are asthma numbers getting worse?
Did you know that very often asthma is caused by chronic sinusitis or heartburn?
A study recently showed the 70 percent of people who had asthma also suffered from chronic sinusitis. Secretions from infected sinuses are going down into the lungs and causing asthma attack. When it comes to heartburn, however, the story is very interestingly simple. When we have acid reflux the stomach fluids travel into the esophagus and can be breathed into the lungs, eventually making it hard for us to breathe, and over time causing asthma conditions. We also know now that the air is polluted more than ever before. This is alarming, because there is nothing we can do. What is the air going to be like for our grandchildren to breathe?
You can take some steps to help yourself breathe easier. 
Make sure that you are breathing clean air: don’t smoke!
Try to stay away from unnecessary pollutants.
Doctors are also starting to agree to stay away from genetically modified foods, which may be linked to an increase in allergies. Basically, our bodies don’t know what to do with this food and it can cause us to not digest it properly and in turn, damage our gut. 
Do you think that finding and treating the root cause of asthma attacks like chronic sinusitis or heart burn is much better, then just taking inhalers? So, how is your breathing? Just as good as 10 years ago? References: 1. http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/521998_4 2. http://heartburn.about.com/b/2008/07/21/study-how-acid-reflux-may-trigger-asthma.htm 3. http://www.portaec.net/library/food/doctors_warn.html 4.  http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/organizations/c/centers_for_disease_control_and_prevention/index.html?inline=nyt-org 5.  http://switchboard.nrdc.org/blogs/dbailey/24_million_americans_gasping_f.html