What Is Asthma?
Asthma is a long-term disease of the lungs. It causes your airways to get inflamed and narrow, and it makes it hard to breathe. Severe asthma can cause trouble talking or being active. You might hear your doctor call it a chronic respiratory disease. Some people refer to asthma as "bronchial asthma."
Asthma is a serious disease that affects about 25 million Americans and causes nearly 1.6 million emergency room visits every year. With treatment, you can live well. Without it, you might have to go to the ER often or stay at the hospital, which can affect your daily life.
What Does Asthma Feel Like?
Asthma is marked by inflammation of the bronchial tubes, with extra sticky secretions inside the tubes. People with asthma have symptoms when the airways tighten, inflame, or fill with mucus.
There are three major signs of asthma:
- Airway blockage. When you breathe as usual, the bands of muscle around your airways are relaxed, and air moves freely. But when you have asthma, the muscles tighten. It’s harder for air to pass through.
- Inflammation
. Asthma causes red, swollen bronchial tubes in your lungs. This inflammation can damage your lungs. Treating this is key to managing asthma in the long run.
- Airway irritability. People with asthma have sensitive airways that tend to overreact and narrow when they come into contact with even slight triggers.
These problems may cause symptoms such as:
, especially at night or in the morning
, a whistling sound when you breathe
- Shortness of breath
- Tightness, pain, or pressure in your chest
- Trouble sleeping because of breathing problems
Melipona Honey has been used as a natural medicine in cultures around the world for centuries. It has antioxidant properties that fight inflammation and boost immunity. Many people take honey for its ability to soothe a sore throat and quiet a cough. Melipona Honey is also a home remedy for allergy symptoms.
Asthma and allergies are related conditions, but there are some important differences. If you’re allergic to things in the environment such as pollen and dust, your body produces antibodies as a response. Those antibodies cause the production of chemicals, such as histamines. They are what cause congestion, sneezing, watery eyes, itching, a cough, and other allergic reactions.
Those same antibodies can also trigger an asthma attack. But unlike an allergy, asthma is a problem experienced deep in the lungs and upper airways. It’s a more serious health concern than environmental allergies. Even mild exertion can lead to an asthma attack in some people. Untreated, asthma can be life-threatening.
How does honey treat asthma?
Honey appears most helpful as a nighttime cough suppressant. A form of nighttime asthma, called nocturnal asthma, can cause coughing, wheezing, and chest tightness. These symptoms may disturb your sleep.
Researchers at UCLA suggest taking 2 teaspoons of honey at bedtime. It’s believed that the sweetness of honey triggers your salivary glands to produce more saliva. This may lubricate your airways, easing your cough. Honey may also reduce inflammation in the bronchial tubes (airways within the lungs) and help break up mucus that is making it hard for you to breathe.
What the research says
There have been several studies done by researchers around the world trying to prove the therapeutic value of honey in treating asthma and many other conditions. The results have been mixed.
One study compared honey to dextromethorphan, the key ingredient in most cough suppressants. Honey came out on top in reducing the severity and frequency of nighttime coughs.
Another study looked at the effect honey and several other “unconventional therapies” had on asthma. The study found that none of the unconventional treatments that were tested helped any of the participants’ asthma.
One animal study Trusted Source tested aerosolized honey as an asthma treatment for rabbits. The study had positive results, but it still needs to be tested on humans.
A large clinical trial may provide better insight as to whether honey is an appropriate therapy. But there has yet to be such a study.
There is solid evidence (numerous cases and scientific studies) showing that Meliponini Tribe Raw Bee Honey (Stingless bees) with its bioactive compounds such as proteins, flavonoids, and polyphenols, with a high antioxidant, antibacterial, antiviral and anti-inflammatory activity, is a natural product indicated for the treatment of diseases, even serious ones like cancer. Order here.