What is asthma?
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Today's episode is sponsored by Gab. Parents, I'm sure you've noticed how your kid looks at your phone. They see us staring at it. It's a big part of our lives. And naturally, they want one. A lot of kids want one.

A lot of parents don't want their kids to have a smartphone, with good reason. But some parents want a safe way for kids to be able to communicate with them, the parents, or their friends and family. I want my kid to know how to use smart devices to her benefit without feeling like they're starting to take over. Gab's safety benefits make that approach feel much more doable. Gab is the leader in safe phones and watches for kids, teens, and tweens. With

With no social media apps, no internet browser, and GPS tracking, Gab devices are built specifically to keep kids and teens safely connected. Protecting your kids has never been easier. For the best deals, sign up to Gab today. No contract required at gab.com slash brains on. That's gab, G-A-B-B dot com slash brains on. gab.com slash brains on. Terms and conditions apply.

You're listening to Brains On, where we're serious about being curious. Brains On is supported in part by a grant from the National Science Foundation.

Ready to start warming up, right lung? You betcha, left lung. The big track meet is today and our body is going to need us lungs to do our breathing thing. So we can do its raining thing. You mean its running thing? Oh, yeah. I guess that's why they call you the right lung. Because you're always right. Now, let's hold this stretch for 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1.

Great stretch, left lung. Thanks, right lung. Feeling loose as a goose. She's gonna run so fast. So fast. But what if that...

Thing happens to us again. You know, where we get all tight and sound wheezy? The Alaska attack. I think it's called the asthma attack. Oh, yeah. But don't worry. Before she runs, she always gives us that thing. Remember? The impaler. Of course. The impaler keeps the phantasma attack away. The inhaler. And it keeps the asthma attack away? Oh, yes. The phantasma attack.

Right again. Here it comes. We're ready. Let's game. You mean right. You're listening to Brains On from APM Studios. I'm Molly Bloom and my co-hosts today are Audrey and Indy from Queensland, Australia. Hi, Molly. Hi, Molly.

It is so cool that you two are here today, and we have a lot in common. You guys are sisters. I have a sister. We also all have pet dogs. Mine is named Honey Bee. And ours is named Lady. And we all have asthma. I have asthma.

I was diagnosed with asthma actually when I was a grown-up. I started getting allergies in college and then they got worse, made it hard for me to breathe sometimes. And now it's pretty much under control. But sometimes when there's lots of pollens or I'm around cats, it still feels hard to breathe. So Audrey and Indy, I'm wondering, when were you both diagnosed with asthma? I was diagnosed with asthma around the age of four or five. It started off not too bad.

But I feel like it's gotten a slight bit worse over the years. And smoke and I have allergies and laughing too hard when I'm with my friends, like that can make it worse. Gotcha.

And how about you, Indy? When were you diagnosed with asthma? I was diagnosed around the same age as Audrey. And it's mild, but most of the time it gets worse when I'm sick. Gotcha. And do you both have the same kind of medicine that you use? Yeah. We both have Ventolin inhalers. Nice.

And do you have friends with asthma too? I do, yes. Yeah, only one of them though. So we all have asthma and it turns out lots of our listeners do too. Here are some of their questions about it. Hi, my name is Ruthie from Louisiana and I'm nine years old. I want to know how inhalers work because I use one every night. What happens inside of your body when you're having an asthma attack?

Hi, my name is Audrey. And hi, my name is Cindy. And we were wondering, why do some people have asthma? And what causes it? So what made you two decide to send that question in? So I was really curious about it because we have a family history of it. My dad has it.

And then me and Indy both have it. I'm curious about like how people with asthma are diagnosed with it. Yeah, those are really good questions. So we're going to answer these questions in today's episode. But first, we need to understand how breathing works. Because asthma is a disease that can make it hard to breathe. A few years back, we actually did a whole Brains On episode about how breathing works. And we put a link to it in the show notes. But here are the basics. When you're breathing, you need to be able to breathe.

When you breathe in, the air goes... Um, Molly? Yes, Audrey? Isn't the first rule of podcasting show, not tell? Technically, the first rule of podcasting is never eat a giant bean burrito right before you go to the studio, which I definitely didn't learn the hard way last week.

Cool, cool, cool. Good tip. But instead of talking about how the lungs work, what if we showed how they work? Excellent idea, Indy. How about we take the atom, a.k.a. the amazing truck of minimization? It can shrink down to smaller than a freckle and take us inside a human body. And it's a convertible? Fire. All we need is a host. Around the ragged rocks the ragged rascal ran. Pa, pa, pa, pa.

Isn't that Joy Dolo host of Forever Ago? Perfect. Hey, Joy, are you busy right now? I'm just warming up to host today's episode of Forever Ago. Do you think while you're doing that you could host us in your lungs? You won't even know we're there. What a totally normal thing to say to a person. I'd be delighted to host you in my lungs. Great. We'll just hop into here.

And if it's all right with you, we'll take the nose route. Boogie on! Oh, gosh, this tickles. Don't sneeze out your friends, Joy. Don't sneeze out your friends. They must be through. So when someone first takes a breath, the air goes through their nose or mouth into their windpipe. They call it a windpipe? Yeah, any chance I can put the top up? You got it.

Much better. Look, up ahead, it splits off into two giant caverns. Those caverns must be Joy's two lungs. Yeah, let's go check out the right lung. Always use your turn signal, kids. Merging down to a single lane. Better slow down. We must be in one of Joy's bronchi. These are smaller tubes that bring the air from her windpipe into her lungs. Right. They're much narrower than the windpipe. And for people with asthma...

Thus, these bronchi sometimes get even narrower. Narrower enough to make breathing really difficult? When this happens, it's often called an asthma attack. Usually asthma attacks are triggered by some kind of stress on the body. They can happen during exercise. Or when someone is sick. Or during allergy season. Or because of stress or other strong emotions. Sometimes when your body part reacts to something, it swells up.

Like if your hand gets stung by a bee, it'll most likely swell up. Right. And when the bronchi react, they get swollen too. This means there's less room inside. Picture a tunnel with walls getting thicker or closing in.

This swelling can cause the muscles that surround the bronchi to tighten, which squeezes those little breathing tubes even more, so there's even less room. One time I had an asthma attack when I was at my friend's house who had a cat. It felt like I just couldn't get a deep breath, sort of like a gulping for air kind of feeling. Indy, have you ever had an asthma attack? I have had an asthma attack, usually when I'm sick.

but they're not like severe asthma attacks. Like when I was recently in Japan, it was really cold and like hard to breathe. So I had to take a puff out of my inhaler. So like when you get that feeling that you have to take a puff, like what does it feel like in your body? It feels like tight in the chest. And how about you, Audrey? Have you ever had an asthma attack? I have had multiple asthma attacks, but they're not like serious. I have to be rushed to the hospital often.

For example, we were at the Gold Coast for Easter and I had a flare-up and I had to have a hot shower and I had to have some coffee. And coffee can open up your airways. Oh, that's really interesting. I did not know that. So the steam from the shower and the coffee helped your asthma attack go away? Yeah. Cool. Yeah.

And so before you got that to help you, what was it feeling like in your body? Definitely really tight. Yeah. I remember when I was in grade school, one of my friends had asthma and she knew it was time to use her inhaler when her

Like the little thing at the bottom of her neck, you know, that little sort of indent would go in really far. Do you guys know what I'm talking about? Yes. Yeah. So like when that goes in far, you know, oh, wow, I'm having a little trouble breathing and I should probably use my inhaler. We'll learn more about how inhalers work after the break. But first, what do you say we get out of Joy's lungs and head back to the studio so Joy can get started on her episode? Let's do it. Ah.

Woo! Ahoy there, friends. What a breath of fresh air to see you again. Did you have a good trip? Thanks, Joy. Your lungs are in exhalant shape. Truly breathtaking. Oh, stop. I'm so flattered I'm out of breath. And out of puns.

Okay, the lungs are great, but now it's the ears' time to shine. It's time for the... Ready for the mystery sound, Audrey and Indy? Yes. Here it is. Hmm, what do you guys think? I think it's something maybe being chewed.

Excellent. How about you, Indy? It sounds like water dripping. Nice. Okay, so maybe chewing, water. Let's hear it again. Okay, any new thoughts? Maybe something being played with, like slime or... Ah, yeah. Okay.

Like someone slurping something up? Yeah. Yeah, it sounds like a very messy eater to me. Yes. Like the messiest eater of all time eating something very slurpy. Well, we will hear it again, get another chance to guess and hear the answer at the end of the show. So stick around.

We're working on an episode about a time millions of years ago when birds and dinosaurs lived side by side. And we were wondering, if you could bring a living, breathing dinosaur to show and tell, what kind would you bring and why? ♪

A gentle triceratops for all your friends to pet? A velociraptor to play hide-and-seek with on the playground? Indian Audrey, what about you? I think I would bring back a velociraptor because velociraptors are smaller than normal dinosaurs and I am smaller than my friends and I think it would have a lot in common with me.

Yeah, I like that. How about you, Indy? Probably like the same. A velociraptor? Yep. Nice. Just have to make sure the velociraptor gets fed first. Yes. Well, listeners, we want to know what dinosaur you'd bring to show and tell and why. Record your answer and send it to us at brainson.org slash contact. While you're there, send us your mystery sounds, drawings, and questions. Like this one. What makes food organic? You can find us on Instagram at brainson.org.

You can find answers to questions like these on the Moment of Um podcast, a short dose of facts and fun every weekday. Find Moment of Um and more at BrainsOn.org. So keep listening. Brains On Universe is a family of podcasts for kids and their adults. Since you're a fan of Brains On, you'll love the other shows in our universe. Come on, let's explore.

It's Alien Laundry Day. While I wash my nose mufflers and tummy togas, I'll listen to a new podcast. How about Smash Boom Best, my favorite debate podcast. Growing up, I was always a slide kid. I remember this park I went to, and it had everything. There was a miniature train, a spinning set of monkey bars...

It even had a talking pig-shaped trash can called Porky the Litter Eater. Hi, kids. I'm Porky. Zorp! Signal down! Stay right there, tummy togas. Must find Smash Boom Best. Listen to Smash Boom Best wherever you get your podcasts.

Today's episode is sponsored by Gab. Parents, I'm sure you've noticed how your kid looks at your phone. They see us staring at it. It's a big part of our lives. And naturally, they want one. A lot of kids want one.

A lot of parents don't want their kids to have a smartphone, with good reason. But some parents want a safe way for kids to be able to communicate with them, the parents, or their friends and family. I want my kid to know how to use smart devices to her benefit without feeling like they're starting to take over. Gab's safety benefits make that approach feel much more doable.

Gab is the leader in safe phones and watches for kids, teens, and tweens. With no social media apps, no internet browser, and GPS tracking, Gab devices are built specifically to keep kids and teens safely connected. Protecting your kids has never been easier. For the best deals, sign up to Gab today. No contract required at gab.com slash brains on. That's gab, G-A-B-B dot com slash brains on.

Today's episode is sponsored by Greenlight. Who taught you about money? Was it your parents? Your school? Your family?

Most of us learned about saving and budgeting way later than we should have. But here's the good news. You can give your kids a head start with Greenlight. Greenlight is a debit card and money app made for families that lets kids learn how to save, invest, and spend wisely. I love answering kids' questions, but a lot of time the answer to kids' questions is, I don't know. And I don't know a lot when it comes to teaching kids about money. So that's why Greenlight is a super helpful tool and one that I'm glad to have.

Greenlight is the easy, convenient way for parents to raise financially smart kids and families to navigate life together. Parents can send money to their kids and keep an eye on kids' spending and saving. Start your risk-free Greenlight trial today at greenlight.com slash brains on. That's greenlight.com slash brains on to get started. Greenlight.com slash brains on. Ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-brains on.

You're listening to Brains On from APM Studios. I'm Audrey. And I'm Mindy. And I'm Molly. Today we're talking all about asthma, which is a disease that can make it harder to breathe. Before the break, we took a peek inside the lungs to figure out how they work. We saw how the windpipe in your throat leads to your lungs. Each lung is full of smaller tubes called bronchioles.

When someone has an asthma attack, these tubes can swell up and the muscles around them can tighten, which makes it hard to breathe. If you've ever seen someone use an inhaler at school or on the playground, it was probably a rescue inhaler. Inside the tube, there's a canister of medicine.

You push down on the canister to release the spray of medicine that you breathe in. Here to explain how a rescue inhaler works is Dr. Stephanie Levinsky-Dessire. She's a pediatric pulmonologist, which means she's a lung doctor for kids. She was also in our breathing episode a few years back.

Hi, Dr. Levinsky. Hi, Molly. Hi, Audrey. Hi, Indy. Dr. Levinsky, can you explain how a rescue inhaler works? Sure. So a rescue inhaler is a medication that we use for children when they're feeling symptoms of asthma. So feeling tight in their chest, difficulty breathing, tightness. So you can think about the airways as having muscles.

around them and those muscles help to keep the structure of the airway. However, if you're having an asthma attack, those muscles might squeeze the airway to make it more narrow. So when you take your rescue pump,

what that medication does is it relaxes those muscles to open up the airway. So they're not squeezed so tight and they're nice and relaxed and open to allow air to move in and out. This episode is inspired by a question that Audrey and Indy sent in. Why do some people have asthma and what causes it? That's a really interesting question that honestly, we don't have all the answers to. We do know that...

People whose parents or their siblings have asthma are more likely to have asthma. So there might be some genetic components to having asthma. We also know that factors and conditions in the environment, like long-term exposure to environmental air pollution, might trigger the lungs to be more sensitive and those people may end up having more asthma.

But it is one of these things that has many different factors and many different causes. And scientists and researchers like myself are still really trying to figure all of that out. How are people with asthma usually diagnosed?

Wonderful question. So people are often diagnosed through many different ways. So an important factor is just asking questions. Your doctor will ask lots of questions about what your symptoms have been like, what things make the symptoms better, what things make the symptoms worse. We also do physical exams so we can listen with our stethoscopes. And if we hear certain sounds in the chest, that might be a sign that a child has asthma or

We also do breathing tests and sometimes those tests can also give us an indication of whether or not somebody has asthma. So oftentimes doctors put all of this information together and use that to help figure out does a child have asthma or not.

What made you want to be a pulmonologist? Well, believe it or not, when I was a kid your age, I had asthma. And I think a lot of my motivation for becoming a doctor who takes care of children with asthma was because I saw how important it was

for me to go to the doctor, for me to get the medication that I needed, and for my mom and dad to feel comfortable with managing when I wasn't feeling well because of the doctors who helped care for me in the office and in the hospital. So I think that really is the key to why I became a pulmonologist.

How is asthma passed down through generations? It's not really well understood. So there are some areas in people's genes that have been studied by researchers that get passed along that are thought to be potentially asthma genes.

And then another thing that I think is actually really important is what I was mentioning before about environmental exposure. So, you know, there are groups of people here in the States who live in neighborhoods and communities where they have lots of exposure to pollutants or allergens, and they're much more likely to have asthma. And then if their kids grow up in those same environments, they're likely to have asthma as well. So I think that's part of the reason why it gets passed along.

a little bit of genetics, and a little bit of environment. So has asthma changed

Treatment changed since you were a kid? Like the kind of medicine you're giving to kids now, is it different than when you were a kid with asthma? Oh my gosh, absolutely. Well, I should say that many of the medications are the same. So we talked about rescue medications and those were around when I was a kid, but there's a whole new group of medications that have recently come out to help treat asthma. And those are injections. Sometimes they're given once a month.

Sometimes they're given once every two weeks. And those medications really do quiet down the immune system and help to make your immune system less reactive to things in the environment that might trigger asthma. It's really making a big difference in the lives of many children.

And do you still have asthma? Actually, I've outgrown my symptoms. So this is another thing area that's super interesting, which are people like me who had asthma throughout childhood. And then as they turned into adolescents, no longer have symptoms of asthma. And we're still trying to uncover why is that?

What do you want kids to know out there who do have asthma? Overall, I just want kids to know that asthma is pretty common. Many athletes have asthma and they're still able to be highly functioning and very active. And so asthma should not get in the way of having a super active life. Thanks so much for talking with us, Dr. Levinsky. Oh, it's been absolutely my pleasure. Thank you so much for having me. Thank you.

Asthma is a disease that can make it hard to breathe. In someone with asthma, the little tubes that carry air from their windpipe into their lungs are extra sensitive. These little tubes are called bronchi. They can get irritated and swell up for lots of different reasons, like if someone's exercising or is allergic to something. A special device called a rescue inhaler can send medicine into the lungs. That helps relax the muscles around the bronchi to make it easier to breathe.

Lots of people with asthma also use a daily medication to keep symptoms under control. People are more likely to get asthma if other people in their family have it or if they live in a place with lots of pollution. Doctors and scientists are trying to find better treatments for asthma and are working to prevent so many people from getting it in the first place.

That's it for this Brains On episode. This episode was written by Miko Gonzalez-Whistler. Our editors are Sandon Totten and Shayla Farzan. Fact-checking by Rosie DuPont. We had engineering help from Daniel Kosulke and Derek Ramirez with sound design by Rachel Brees. Original theme music by Mark Sanchez. We had production help from the rest of the Brains On Universe team.

Molly Bloom, Rosie DuPont, Anna Goldfield, Ruby Guthrie, Lauren Humphrey, Joshua Ray, Mark Sanchez, Charlotte Traver, Anna Weigel, and Aran Woldesalasi. Beth Perlman is our executive producer, and the executives in charge of APM Studios are Chandra Khvati and Joanne Griffith.

Special thanks to Joy Dolo, Kirstie and Brett Patterson, Mary Ora Peckham, Virginia Smith, and Rebecca Rand. Brains On is a non-profit public radio program. There are lots of ways to support the show. Subscribe to Brains On Universe on YouTube where you can watch animated versions of some of your favorite episodes. Or head to brainson.org. While you're there, you can send us mystery sounds, drawings, and questions. Okay. Audrey. Indy.

Are you ready to hear the mystery sound again? Yes. All right, let's hear it. Hmm, what are our new thoughts? I think I'm staying with the same, playing with something like slime or Play-Doh. Mm-hmm, lovely guess.

What do you think, Indy? What's your guess? Someone slurping up something. Slurping. What do you think they're slurping up? Probably like spaghetti or something. Oh, yeah. Spaghetti is a very slurpy food. Yeah. I have no idea what this is. Definitely sounds wet, whatever it is. Maybe someone walking through a swamp? Or mud. Maybe? I don't know. Should we hear the answer? Yes. All right. Here it is.

Hi, my name is Miles, and I'm from Beaverton, Oregon. That was the sound of me washing my hands with soap. Washing hands with soap? I wash my hands. You must wash your hands. But that was so hard. Why was that so hard? I hear it now. Yes, of course. I'm giving us partial credit, though, because we heard something wet. We just didn't know what that wet thing was. Yes.

Now it's time for the Brain's Honor Roll. These are the incredible kids who keep the show going with their questions, ideas, mystery sounds, drawings, and high fives.

Addison from College Station, Texas. Calix from Eugene, Oregon. Abby from Canada. Tim from Broomfield, Colorado. Leo and Fritz from Monument, Colorado. Riyad, Yusuf, and Zoya from New York. Simone from Toronto. Theo and Clara from Chesterbrook, Pennsylvania. Emmy and Charlie from Houston. Talar from Berwyn, Pennsylvania. Gabriel from Mexico City. Archie and Louis from Washington, D.C. Justin from Suffern, New York.

Madeline from New York City, Juniper from Philadelphia, Shep from Fort Collins, Colorado, Crosby and Lexton from Portland, Maine, Emerson from Burlington, New Jersey, Oscar and Zadie from Davidson, North Carolina, Rachel from Calgary, Alberta, Sophie from Golden, Colorado, Charlie from Boise, Idaho, Jeremiah from Los Angeles, Zoe from Dublin, Ireland, Jude from Stillwater, Minnesota, Jake from Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Scarlett from Phoenix, Arizona, Jake from Claremont, California, Lucy and Margaret from Auburn, Washington, Whitaker, Olson and Arlo from Cary, North Carolina, Declan from Gaithersburg, Maryland,

Thank you.

Thank you.

Raphael and Henry from Culver City, California. And Leo, Raphael, Luca, and Magdalena from Houston, Texas. We'll be back next week with an episode all about solar power. Thanks for listening.