New research by the Firestone Institute for Respiratory Health in Hamilton in Canada has noticed an increase in the number of children having to visit hospital for treatment. One of the biggest triggers is the common cold virus that is easily passed around the pupils as they sit together in their classrooms. The majority of children have no problem shaking it off but for the 20% of children that suffer from asthma in Canada it can lead to an increase in asthma attacks. In some area's they've noticed the number of children admitted t hospital was up to 300% higher that it can be at other times of the year.

Although the cold virus can be a trigger there are other triggers at work. One in particular was animal dander. You may be wondering how animal dander can cause a problem at school if there are no animals around but because animal dander is so small it can easily attach itself to other pupil's clothes and enter the air of the classroom where it can float for long periods of time sometime even hours.

So, what can you do to protect your child this September?

Here are my 4 tips.

1. Breathe Properly:

Teach your child how to breathe properly, by properly I mean by breathing at all times through the nose rather than the mouth. By breathing through your mouth you allow all the dust and small debris like animal dander to straight into your airways instead of being caught by the mucus in the nose and airways and expelled.

2. Drink often:

One common trigger for asthma attacks can be a dry airway. To avoid this try to drink regularly to keep your airway moist and hydrated.

3. Posture:

How does your child sit at the table, have they got a poor posture when they're sitting. By not sitting properly you don't allow the diaphragm a full range of motion and you end up breathing with only the top portion of your lungs, which can cause over breathing which may lead to an asthma attack.

4. Stress:

With the pressure that kids are under to perform better at school it can be a place where they can suffer a lot of stress. Research has shown stress can play a big part in causing an asthma attack or at least changing how we breathe.

Talk with your child and see if they find returning to school is going to be a stressful time for them. You could look for ways that your child could use in stressful times like concentrating on their breathing technique to learning some type of meditation. While we can completely erase stress from our lives we can reduce the harmful effects it can have on our bodies.