Moving to the coast.

[Thompson_2009]

Hi All

I am fedup with the Midlands air and looking to move to the west coast where the air is warming and cleaner. Anyone done the same and felt better for it?

[twinkly29]

I live at the coast and yes the air is probably cleaner than it would be in a big city, it's not necessarily that simple - different areas, different triggers maybe, often very windy which some people struggle with especially when it's a cold wind (a lot of people are alarmed by weather warnings for 50mph winds for example....yeah that's our wind much of the year!)

That said, it can be a good thing - I much much prefer the wind to the stuffy, non-moving air of many built-up areas for example. But my asthma isn't easy so it's not a magic answer. But (when you can obviously) maybe see if you can spend some time in likely areas and see how things are for you?

[Bevvy]

I think you need to be really careful about moving. You should check out different areas and see how you get on. As twinkly29 says different things can trigger people. I would really struggle in a windy area because I struggle with my breathing. Likewise outside dust is problematic for me so somewhere there is a lot of sand on pavements/roads would cause me issues.

[Pipsqueak77 in reply to Bevvy]

HiI would agree with the others...

I have lived 5mins from the beach all my life and it has not helped my asthma one bit!

I wouldn’t want to live anywhere else but it’s definitely not necessarily a magic asthma bullet..

😊👍

[Wheesy in reply to Pipsqueak77]

I live near the A1 in Doncaster and we are actively trying t get cleaner air, but this is off the point in question. But my wife and I are childhood sweethearts and met at the caravan park in Bridlington East Yorkshire, and I find that my Asthma is much better than my home town. The other comments are very valuable to take into consideration before making any final discishion

[Thompson_2009]

Thanks for the advice, we are still going to move to a rural costal area as fedup will bad air, pollution. The air stinks where we live, its horrible.

[Poobah]

As a child we would visit Ireland and Jersey regularly to see family. I had no problems in Ireland (very rural location), but Jersey...my asthma would flare and I would suffer severe attacks of asthma - every visit. I have no idea why I was so poorly by the sea and it wasn't the season as we'd go at any time of the year. Odd, as at the time we lived by a very busy A road and it was assumed that the sea air would be better for me. I'm glad to say I really enjoy my visits now, for some reason my asthma is less brittle and never flares while I'm there. But a short stay to see how you get on, asthma wise, may be prudent, just in case some local irritant does affect you.

[Thompson_2009 in reply to Poobah]

Thanks to be honest I get so many different opinions from so many people and research, I don't think anyone knows. It stands to reason the cleaner the air the better lungs function. There are 36 million vehicles in the UK and nearly 5 million people with asthma. I am going to move where the air is cleaner

[Poobah in reply to Thompson_2009]

Good for you - it's a big step and all the very best with everything. Let us know how you get on.

[AutumnHedgerow in reply to Poobah]

Maybe because Jersey is an island, which are much more humid generally; my asthma doesn’t like Mallorca much for that reason.

[twinkly29 in reply to AutumnHedgerow]

England/Scotland/Wales is an island though 🤔

[AutumnHedgerow in reply to twinkly29]

I wondered about that as I wrote it. I guess scale is the issue in terms of sea proportion to land in respect of humidity levels but I’m sure the British Isles are generally more humid than larger land masses. Certainly a friend’s asthma greatly improved when moving from the UK west coast to southern Germany, i.e, he didn’t have any symptoms at all when in Germany.

[EmmaF91 Community Ambassador]

My best advice is to holiday for a couple weeks to where you want to move to. Then you can see if the local triggers are better or worse for you, before you’ve moved. I know someone who moved to the coast for similar reasons and then got a lot worse cause of triggers like the wind etc, whereas for me moving has helped (tho I still have a lot of issues but less allergy ones).

Similar with how some people decide to go rural cause of city pollution and then discover they have really bad pollen triggers. So as you seem to have decided you want to move, holiday first! None of us can tell you how your lungs will react...

[Hidden]

The best my asthma has ever been was when I was doing my degree and was at a college about ten miles inland from the coast in the eastern part of Kent. Now granted, in that area you’re not far from the coast to the north, the east and the south, but the climate of Kent is also drier than the west coast. That is important as far as my lungs are concerned - they don’t like it damp: they particularly don’t like it cold and damp. They also don’t like it warm, damp and close to a city such as Bristol: I lived there for two years; even walking up a moderate hill (and there are a lot of those in Bristol) made me breathless.

So for my asthma the south east coast is probably better than the south west coast and definitely better than anywhere on the coast further north.

[Thompson_2009 in reply to Hidden]

We been trying to move to Norfolk for years, love the air there. Trying to get a house is another matter altogether

[Hidden in reply to Thompson_2009]

I can imagine - and of course you would have to take in to account the risk of coastal erosion in that area.

[miriALsumayra]

I was living in brighton and liverpool without asthma then when I moved to greater manchester I got ashmatic

[miriALsumayra]

Its better to be away from agricultural area and farming area such places kill me instantly

[Hidden in reply to miriALsumayra]

It does depend so much on the asthma sufferer. Different asthmatics have different triggers. What works for one won’t necessarily work for another.