HealthInfo Canterbury
Asthma in teens & young adults
Mate huangō ki ngā taiohi me ngā rangatahi
Important
In an emergency, call an ambulance by dialling 111. For information about what to do next, see Asthma emergency.
Some people grow out of asthma by the time they're teenagers. But many people don't.
If you keep your asthma under control, it shouldn't stop you doing all the things you want to do. Now is the time for you to think about the best way to control your asthma.
To keep your asthma under control, it's important that you catch up with your GP about your asthma treatments. There are many new ways of using inhalers that work better, such as single inhaler therapy, which is a very easy way of controlling your asthma.
Other things you do can affect how bad your asthma is.
- Physical activity is good for asthma. If physical activity triggers your asthma, take two puffs of your reliever inhaler 15 minutes before you start the activity and use it during the activity if you need it. As your asthma control gets better and your fitness improves, physical activity will get easier.
- Smoking will make your asthma worse.
Self-care for asthma has more information about monitoring your asthma. It also has advice about what you can do to keep it under control.
HealthInfo recommends the following pages
- Asthma New Zealand – A teenager's guide to asthma
Frequently asked questions written for teenagers.
Written by HealthInfo clinical advisers. Last reviewed June 2021.
SourcesReview key: HIASY-53180
