Imagine a crisp autumn day, just on the edge of winter. The air is crisp and clear, and there's a bite to the chilly air. Fallen leaves lie dried on the ground, crunching as you step on them.

Imagine a sudden wind bringing an extra chill your way. You breath it in and you feel your lungs stiffen and spasm in that familiar and dreaded way. You start to cough and gasp, and your breath comes in wheezes. Your lungs can no longer expand all the way, and each breath becomes more and more shallow until it hurts to inhale.

Congratulations, you have asthma.

Most people don't think of asthma as anything serious. Seen by most as an irritating childhood disease that goes away by the time you hit adolescence, or something suffered by overweight geeks and nerds, this disease of the lungs is sometimes a lifelong condition that can seriously affect a person's quality of life, depending on the severity. While it's true that overweight people have a greater tendency towards asthma, it's not limited to people who may need to lose a few pounds.

Asthma is, in essence, twitchy lungs. When exposed to irritants, such as dust, animal dander, pollen, mold, or even just cold dry air, the lungs start to spasm and twitch. The lining of the lungs starts to shed, and your airway contract in response, making them narrower. This means that your lungs cannot expand as much as normal, and you cannot inhale as much air, and so it follows that not as much oxygen is absorbed. From personal experience, I can attest that asthma can be severe enough to land a person in the hospital. At one point during a particularly bad attack, my lips were turning blueish, and bending over to put my sneakers on to go to the hospital nearly caused me to black out.

Fortunately for sufferers, there are many treatments available. They can range from having a resuce inhaler around for emergencies (usually a blue one filled with salbutomol or ventolin), to taking preventative medications such as Flovent or prednisone as well as carrying a rescue inhaler for emergencies. It can be a serious condition, but it can also be controlled.

Avoiding irritants and triggers is also helpful in controlling this condition. The downside of this is that some asthmatics find it difficult to have pets. (Not me, though, but I'm one of the lucky ones where that's concerned.) Keeping a clean house in order to minimize dust and mold is also a good idea for anyone, but especially for asthmatics.

The hard part of this condition is dealing with the cold. Some sufferers are lucky and don't react that badly to the cold air, but others have great difficulty with it. I live in Canada, where the winters are cold and dry, so this season is particularly hellish for me. I avoid going outside when I can, and when I do, I always make sure to have my mouth covered with something to cut down on the cold air affecting my lungs. And I always carry my rescue inhaler, just in case. I tend to need it more during the winter than the summer simply because of the temperature.

Colds and flus tend to hit asthma sufferers more frequently, too, which is a pain in the butt when trying to explain to employers that no, you're not faking it and yes, you really do get sick that often. Asthma sufferers tend to have weaker than normal lungs, after all, which can make them more vulnerable to respiratory infections. Even an infection that starts in the nose and throat, like a cold, can end up spreading to the lungs, making breathing more difficult and everyday activities harder to do.

Sometimes it can be severe enough to qualify as a disability. Especially seeing as how a lot of large workplaces have central heating and air conditioning systems, a lot of dust built up in them even if inspections say that things are up to code. The systems spread the irritants around and can create breathing problems, and in places with a large employee base, colds and illnesses get passed around more easily too. Fortunately, though, most people don't have asthma that badly, and with their medications they can get through life without any real difficulty.

Asthma isn't a condition to be dismissed, no matter how many people believe that it's not serious enough to warrant much attention. Anything that can prevent a person from getting enough oxygen is something worthy of being given attention. if you have asthma and know people who don't consider it to be a potentially serious condition, try to spread the word around. Destroying ignorance is part of the battle, after all, because the more people know, the more they might be able to help you, or at least recognise when you're having difficulties.

And if you're not asthmatic but know somebody who is, ask them about it. Find out what their life is like, what they have to do to keep it under control, and what you can do if an emergency ever comes up.