Managing your asthma goes beyond just taking medicine. It’s about equipping yourself with the tools and knowledge to stay in control. This is known as self-management. Self-management gives you the power to understand and manage your symptoms effectively. By following a personal asthma action plan and identifying your triggers, you can reduce the chances of asthma attacks, experience fewer symptoms and feel more confident in managing your health. Research shows that having a personal asthma action plan leads to better asthma control, fewer attacks and a lower risk of needing hospital care. If you don’t have an action plan yet, talk to your healthcare professional to get started.
Recommendation based on the research evidence
Your healthcare professional should offer a self-management programme that includes:
Your plan might include tracking your symptoms or using a device called a peak flow meter to measure how well you can breathe (or both).
Recommendation based on the research evidence
Triggers are things that can make your asthma worse. These might include:
Your personal asthma action plan will include ways to reduce your exposure to these triggers, like staying indoors on high-pollution days.
Recommendation based on the research evidence
You should check your personal asthma action plan with your healthcare professional:
This ensures your plan is always up-to-date and easy to understand.
Recommendation based on the research evidence
If you have an anti-inflammatory reliever (AIR) inhaler, you should take more of your inhaler when you have symptoms. If you need to take your inhaler more than 8 times in a 24-hour period, you should speak to your healthcare professional.
If you have a maintenance and reliever therapy (MART) inhaler, you should take more of your inhaler when you have symptoms. If you need to take your inhaler more than 8 times in a 24-hour period, you should speak to your healthcare professional.
If you have a fixed dose combination inhaler, you should follow your personal asthma action plan. This may involve temporarily increasing your preventer inhaler to four times the usual dose. If your symptoms do not settle, you should see your healthcare professional.
Recommendation based on the research evidence
To make it easier for you to stick to your plan, your healthcare team might:
The table below explains some ways you can help control your asthma.
| What can I do to help my asthma? | How can this help? |
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Take your asthma medicine regularly in line with your asthma action plan. Learning about asthma gives you the confidence to take control of your health. Your healthcare professional will explain everything in plain language, answer your questions and make sure you feel prepared to manage your asthma every day.
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For good asthma control it’s important to take your medicines, even when you feel well. This will also reduce the likelihood of you having asthma attacks in the future. Many people live with troublesome asthma symptoms such as coughing and wheezing and think this is normal. Good asthma control means you don’t have asthma symptoms day or night and rarely need to use your reliever inhaler. If you often have asthma symptoms, this can lead to an asthma attack and long-term lung damage. |
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Stay away from cigarette smoke or e-cigarette vapour.
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Smoking, vaping or being around cigarette smoke or e-cigarette vapour can make your asthma worse and cause more wheezing. It also means your inhaler won’t work so well. If you smoke or vape, try to stop. If you would like to stop, your healthcare professional can offer advice and support to help you. |
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Maintain a healthy weight.
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If you are overweight, your healthcare professional will support you to lose weight. This can include dietary and physical exercise programmes. Physical exercise training should be seen as part of a general approach to improving lifestyle and rehabilitation. Losing weight may lead to improvements in your asthma symptoms. |
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Have vaccinations such as the flu vaccination and the COVID vaccine if you are offered it.
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The benefits of having vaccinations outweigh the risks of triggering your asthma. Your healthcare professional should discuss this with you. If you are on high-dose steroids for your asthma, the vaccine may not be as effective so you need to speak to your healthcare professional about this. |
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Use technology to keep a check on your asthma.
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Apps for your mobile phone, tablet or computer can be useful ways to keep a check on your asthma and may enable you to send a log of your symptoms or peak flows to your GP or nurse. |
"I needed to learn about the illness and understand what was happening to me. I needed to understand that I could not think this illness away and that my delaying medications was making me dangerously ill. Now I can take my inhalers properly and just keep getting better and more active all the time.” JohnBy following these self-management steps and staying in touch with your healthcare team, you can take control of your asthma and lead a full, active life.
You can download a blank personal asthma action plan from Asthma and Lung UK.
"Keeping a personal action plan can help keep your asthma under control. It will also give your GP or emergency practitioner invaluable information in the unfortunate instance of an attack.” Stuart
There is not enough research evidence to suggest that the following can help control asthma:
Asthma pathway (BTS, NICE, SIGN) [SIGN 244]
