Asthma - A disease that affects your lungs

Asthma is caused by inflammation of the airways. These are the small tubes, called bronchi, which carry air in and out of the lungs. If you have asthma, the bronchi will be inflamed and more sensitive than normal. When you come into contact with something that irritates your lungs, known as a trigger, your airways become narrow, the muscles around them tighten and there is an increase in the production of sticky mucus (phlegm). This makes it difficult to breathe and causes wheezing and coughing. It may also make your chest feel tight.

Maintain a healthy heart with a healthy lifestyle

Our heart is a pump that keeps blood moving around our body. It delivers oxygen and nutrients to all parts of our body, and carries away unwanted carbon dioxide and waste products. As our heart muscle contracts, it pushes blood through our heart. With each contraction, or heartbeat:

• Our heart pumps blood forward from its left side, through the aorta (the main artery leaving the heart) and into the arteries. Blood from the right side is pumped to our lungs.

Quit smoking - see how long you can live !!!

Cigarette smoke contains about 4,000 different chemicals which can damage the cells and systems of the human body. These include at least 80 chemicals that can cause cancer (including tar, arsenic, benzene, cadmium and formaldehyde) nicotine (a highly addictive chemical which hooks a smoker into their habit) and hundreds of other poisons such as cyanide, carbon monoxide and ammonia.