It has been suggested that, depending on the lifestyle we lead, the probability of suffering from asthma may increase. The problem is that there is very diverse data in this regard .
It seems that if you have had a cat in the first years of your life, the probability is reduced. And if you live in the city, the probability increases. It has also been suspected that behind asthma is a virus or the absence of four types of gut microbes ( Lachnospira, Veillonella, Faecalibracterium and Rothia ). One of the more curious theories, however, is that watching a lot of television could increase the probability .
Platts-Mills theory
According to researcher Thomas Platts-Mills , from the University of Virginia, children spend more time watching TV than before (or playing video games or surfing the Internet) and less time on the street, playing outdoors, and that is influencing in the probability of suffering from asthma, as Duncan Graham-Rowe points out in this study published in Nature .
It’s no coincidence, Platts-Mills says, that asthma rates in the United States began to rise after the advent of popular children’s television shows like the Mickey Mouse Club .
Living sedentary for so long even influences how we breathe, as Bill Bryson explains in The Human Body :
Children who sit and watch TV not only do not exercise their lungs as they would if they were playing, but they even breathe differently from those who do not get hooked on the screen. Specifically, children who read breathe deeply and sigh more frequently than those who watch TV; And, according to this theory, that slight difference in respiratory activity may be enough to increase your susceptibility to asthma.