Location

[Hayman111]

Just over a year ago I moved to Manchester for work. Since moving here my health, particularly asthma, has deteriorated. Might be the mixture of humid conditions and it being a big city, with the concomitant pollution that brings. There’s the potential I might be able to do my job remotely, in which case I’d like to relocate. Would anyone have any suggestions (from an asthma perspective)? I’m currently thinking a city on the smaller side, such as: York, Exeter, Bath, Cambridge, Oxford, etc. I think I’d rather live in, or near, a city than in the countryside for now, but I’d prefer somewhere that has cleaner air and more green spaces. Any advice/suggestions/comments is greatly appreciated!

[Mandevilla]

If you're not entirely sure what is causing your asthma to worsen, I'd suggest renting somewhere short-term before committing to a long let/buying. Most cities have an issue with pollution, and you don't want to find you are moving from one bad situation to another. Whereabouts were you living before?

[Gareth57]

Hi, personally I would find somewhere suburban with good transport links to a city you like, we live on the edge of a small town so we have some amenities and pretty good air quality, we can be in the countryside in minutes but can also be in a biggish city on the train in about 20 minutes.

[Mandevilla in reply to Gareth57]

Good point. I don't know about the other cities, but I have friends who live in villages or on the outskirts of Bath and Oxford and who use the park and ride to get into the city centre.

[Lysistrata Administrator Community Ambassador]

Not sure I'd recommend Oxford for asthma. My asthma got worse there and while that was due to other reasons as well, I was told several times that the Thames Valley is a bowl that collects pollution so may not be ideal for asthma. (It's also small and expensive. I liked it as a student but not afterwards, but that is individual).

Worth also bearing in mind that some triggers will be everywhere . I often have people telling me I should move out of the big city, but many of my triggers exist outside the city too eg weather and plants! So may depend what your main ones are - reducing can still be helpful.

Also do consider what you like. At this point I'm not willing to let my asthma make me move somewhere I hate living. Stress isn't an asthma trigger for me but it is for some people so no point making your life more stressful if you're trying to avoid asthma!

[peege]

Regarding Oxford I drive through fairly regularly on the A40 towards the M40 and back, sit for ages in traffic jams on the outskirts of Oxford with the windows closed. There are efficient park and rides but I don't think I could live there - even if I could afford the expensive property. Too many A roads with a great deal of traffic - although the John Radcliffe Hospital is handy. Cambridge is also a lovely city with plenty of greenery near the centre and park n rides. (I use the one in Milton fairly on occasion when staying with family nearby). It's fairly progressive from the Green point of view with many cycle paths but a far cry from the Cambridge I lived in when young. The M11 and very busy A14 are nearby. The hospital is Addenbrookes (I think Papworth Hospital is now affiliated with it or nearby).

I think you can look up pollution levels over uk on the DEFRA website.

[Poobah]

Oxford is low lying in the Thames Valley and this has been identified as problematic for respiratory complaints. The city has made efforts to reduce pollution levels and is succeeding to some extent, but various traffic controls have displaced traffic onto arterial routes, so gains are not enjoyed by all.

Three major hospitals are concentrated in Headington; all considered centres if excellence with research centres. Two rail routes. Park and rides. Good GP coverage. Lots of green spaces. The city is expanding quickly, especially in the science arena, and housebuilding is everywhere. That goes for the satellite locations too.

Oxford, being a medieval city, is dysfunctional transport wise, but the plan is to restrict car use until the centre is car free. Public transport is very dependent on where you live, but suffers from the same snarled up roads.

Weirdly, a car is a necessity for most satellite and rural locations as public transport is bad once you leave the city. But the city cannot cope with visiting vehicles, hence the over subscribed park & rides. Not all park & rides have public transport direct to the hospital.

I would imagine that many locations face similar challenges to Oxford, unless it's a relatively new town, like Milton Keynes.

Looking at English stats, Oxford isn't considered an asthma hotspot. inews.co.uk/news/health/ast...

[janedivney]

What about a seaside town? Much cleaner air. Less pollution etc. Brighton has a big new hospital and a balmy climate

[runcyclexcski in reply to janedivney]

Portsmouth is good, too -- winter not too miserable, has a university hospital. As long as one controls the indoor air quality. Most houses are quite old though, that's generally not good (for me at least).

[Phoenix1992]

I agree with others, find out your triggers first. I lived in Bath in my 20s. Bath is in a bowl, so I would not recommend there.

I had weather related symptoms as a child (undiagnosed), these became suddenly worse living in Bath. (I was living on the Lower Bristol Road - traffic fumes ++)

I was diagnosed with asthma a year after I moved out of Bath.

You have to really be a detective for a long time to know what is triggering it. Park and rides are a great way to commute and be able to live in a cleaner air area.

[runcyclexcski]

Others already made excellent points.

A lung hospital nearby, or just any hospital/AE would be nice. For that reason, I would never live in remote areas, where the ambulance would need 1 hr to get to my place.

In terms of pollution, as long as one avoids major urban areas like London-B-ham and does not live right next to major train lines (diesel) or motorways (same) it should be "OK". The UK is flat and windy, and the air quality is more or less uniform throughout (not great, not terrible) -- been looking at the data for quite some time now. Not as good as say Norway or Finland, but much better than France, Germany, Spain, Italy and all of Mid/Eastern Europe. Pollen etc can travel long distances, so that averages out as well. The UK has almost no trees, that helps with tree pollen.

I would pay attention to the indoor air quality as much as the outdoor air. It could have been a problem not with Manchester per se, but that particular flat/house. One can control the indoor air quality and shield oneself from pollution in most places (e.g. smoke in the winter, ozone/pollen in the summer).

One can check air quality monitoring stations and historical data (the latter is quite important).

Re: humidity, I found indoor air in the UK generally drier compared to other areas I've lived in (eastern US and Eastern France). In the UK winter the indoor air is warmer than the outdoor air which means the indoor air is <50% by definition (unless there are issues with ventilation which is easy to check with a cheap CO2 meter). UK summers are less humid and less miserable than European summers.

[Caswarth]

I have suffered asthma all my life. The best place I have lived in the UK was Birmingham. This was in the days of the smogs , yet I never had an attack in the 14 years I lived there. When I moved to Coventry (only 20 miles away), which is quite few feet less above sea level than Birmingham and has slightly warmer temperatures and less snow, my asthma returned immediately and never left me.

It is a very individual thing, so the suggestion to rent or spend a holiday before buying a house in any area is a good one.

I grew up by the sea in Cornwall and my asthma as a child and teenager was horrendous. There were no inhalers or medications in those days, so one just sat up struggling for breath all night and then wheezed one's way to school the next day. I think the damp sea air encouraged the formation of mold in the houses and of course there was no central heating in those days to counteract the damp.

The good news is that at the age of 87 I am still alive and enjoying a fairly active life (compared to others of my age), though the asthma has never really gone away.

[runcyclexcski in reply to Caswarth]

Your post is an inspiration :). All the best to you!

This is quite remarkable that Coventry was worse for you, indeed, it's right next to B-ham! I wonder if you lived next to some heavy-industry factory, and emission standarts were much worse in the earlier days.

I lived in Leicester for 10 years, and found that DEFRA air quality reports were mostly meaningless: e.g. in the winter, they would show "perfectly good" air for most UK locations. And yet I would feel wood smoke in the air where I lived, probably from people burning wood trying to save extra pennies on gas heating. Plus there was a railroad nearby, with all its diessel trains. My HEPA air filter had its pre-filter full of black soot just after 6 months of running it. I am no in Germany (which according to DEFRA has worse, or at least as good air), and there is much less soot on my filters.

These days people can buy their own particle counters (not very expensive) and monitor their air right where they live. Some choose to transmit the data to a server, e.g. IQ_air. I noticed that on that server the local variance of air quality is much higher than on DEFRA's web site. I guess, DEFRA stations must be mounted on top of cell towers or high-rise buildings, far away from obvious sources of pollution -- giving people "best-case scenario" readings (otherwis eadings would freak everyone out). "My" DEFRA station was on top of a Uni of Leicester engineering building, a local high-rise (15-20 stories, by eye) on top of a local hill. There, the wind blows the inversion pollution away and gives a clean reading (unless there is a nation-wide fluctuation). "Great", but not very relevant to everyday asthma sufferrers wherever they happen to live and sleep.

I've stopped following DEFRA readings since finding this out, and got my own particle sensors.

[Phoenix1992 in reply to runcyclexcski]

Hi, do you have an indoor sensor for the different types of pollutants? I react to DEFRA's low readings. Mainly when it is 3, sometimes 2. I have been checking their map daily for my town and surrounding areas. In the last couple of weeks, I have been looking at the AccuWeather site for air quality. Love that they have different readings for different pollutants. I definitely react to particulates. I know why my asthma is bad by looking at the horizon.

I'd love to have an indoor monitor and explore more, but I know nothing about the most accurate etc. Your inventions and investigations for your own asthma are fascinating!

[runcyclexcski in reply to Phoenix1992]

>>> I know why my asthma is bad by looking at the horizon.

I have been using the same trick, too :), it works! But sometimes I feel bad when there are not many particles in the air. I guess it also matters which exact type of particle (type of pollen etc), and other things matter, too (in my mind, ozone).

Most accurate sensors are usually quite expensive, so a compromise was needed in my case. As long as the readings are self-consistent, one learns what is "good" and "bad" very quickly. I am giving generic links below, since the same unit is available from various sources.

For particulates, I use laser particle counters. There are currently many low-cost ones on Amazon which, from what I've read, can under-perform in large particle sizes. Ones that I believe offer a good price/quality compromise are by Dylos. I have a professional one as well, and their readings are consistent with the cheaper Dylos.

dylosproducts.com/ornodcair...

I also have a professional ozone meter: I found that during hot sunny weather I get sick even while wearing a P3 mask (which theoretically should take care of the pollen). I also use the ozone meter to mesure performance of my carbon beds. This is not cheap, as you need the most sensitive one (0-100 ppb), and these are complicated units (there is a UV absorbance cell inside, from what I understand):

pce-instruments.com/english...

Finally, I have a CO2 meter which tells me it's time to start/stop venting the flat. My wife likes it and uses it all the time. Ventilation is all through a HEPA/carbon filter at about 200m^3 per hr. CO2 sensors are relatively cheap and simple. I have this one, but I am sure there cheaper options. They are also easy to calibrate (outside CO2 is 430 ppm... and it used to be 400 ppm 10 years ago :)).

amazon.com/AZ-7755-detector...

I want to build a pollen analyzer to do my own pollen detection and sampling. Commercially available machines are expensive and cumbersome, so I am thinking to build my own. I might need to sign up and get a second Ph D in optics at some specialized lab and build it as my project (so that I do not have to spend hundreds of Ks for R&D!).

[Phoenix1992 in reply to runcyclexcski]

Thank you so much! I will bookmark these links and start looking. In my short time looking at AccuWeather site, they do current hourly readings and if my asthma starts, they usually have a poor reading in one of the particles or NO2.

Just learning about ground Ozone, I have several pollen allergies & my asthma kicks off majorly from 23'C-24'C. Could that be Ozone?

I also found out last week, my skin prick tests result from the mid 80s, I reacted to fungi! The nurse didn't mention that one. I only found out because I requested my medical records for another reason. Every year, I have thought, I'm sure I react to moulds. So that's a new avenue for me to explore. (Aspergillus)

Pretty sure autumn ones as autumn has always been a mystery for triggers apart from humidity. But interested in warm/hot weather ones too. I love gardening so worth exploring.

I think it's great with your science knowledge that you have done so much! PHd sounds like a plan.

[runcyclexcski in reply to Phoenix1992]

With pollen, it's relatively easy to protect oneself with a tight-fitting mask (P3, or even a full respirator). If that helps, then it could be the pollen that was problematic. I would definitely wear a mask while gardening (and I love it, too).

Can you have your prick tests and IgE blood tests redone? We all develop new allergies, and it's been a while since the 80s! (The old good days)

Another paper I posted here last week suggested that pollen allergies can persist year round, since pollen can get trapped/accumulate in the indoor dust. For me, fall and winter are usually the best times of the year, and I never showed mold allergies in any test. So that's consistent I guess.

[Phoenix1992 in reply to runcyclexcski]

🤣 to the good old days!

Yes, I read your pollen piece. I definitely hadn't thought of that before. It makes sense.

My triggers have always been the same & now I have a dysfunctional breathing pattern diagnosis, I have some control of my asthma at times and I have been able to lower my meds. I would love to get even better control though & have fun exploring at the same time.

The only thing that has changed from the 'good old days' is I no longer have a break in December & January, as UK winters are milder! I used to love that break. Although tree pollens have a lesser effect than grass.

I'm unable to wear a mask as warm, moist air is a big trigger. I had tried several times in the main Covid time. I just avoid meeting people indoors during peak season. ☺️

I'm not sure I am brave enough to wear a respirator in public. You have my respect for managing that.

Thanks for your time & knowledge 😊

[Patk1]

There are lots of towns in greater Manchester- Swinton,Urmston,Bolton,bury etc

[deni-123red_]

I’d recommend Harrogate as a lovely town to live in. It’s clean and the town centre is delightful and has the famous Betty’s cafe. Hope that helps.

[Aldersey]

I lived in small village in Hampshire for years and never had any breathing problems before moving there but plenty after. I lived in Cheltenham for a lot of years before and found my breathing much better even when visiting Cheltenham at later dates. I am now back in Gloucestershire and breathing much better than when in hampshire..

[joe177x]

Derby has a lots of green spaces. Duffield or around Duffield road in Derby. Please consider pollen issues before moving near green areas.