I just heard a radio report that said that chlorinated pools are linked to asthma. I sort of thought the chlorine was no good when it rapidly deteriorated my bathing suits.
Any ideas on how you can lessen the problems associated with chlorine?
I have asthma that is affected by the pool chemicals. It seems to be when the chemicals are not balanced. And of course, the ventilation system is most important. When my Y changed ventilation, I had to give up swimming there. One night when I had trouble breathing, I left that pool and went directly to another where I had no problems.
I have been to a few meets (even nationals) where I cannot stay in the pool area all day. It's okay for short periods, but staying all day to cheer for my team won't work.
My allergy/asthma doctor says he treats many young swimmers with breathing problems. Not good news.
Betsy
If you are not keen on polyester suits try a suit from H2Owear.com I experimented with one of their suits--wore it everyday swimming, never washed it, rolled
it in a towel--left in the trunk. One year later it was the same size and color it was the day I bought it.
It is not just the chlorine that affects lycra suits--there is a bacteria that feeds on the fibers that help to weaken them.
Check out the above thread title in the search mode of this
forum and you will find an extensive discussion of asthma
and breathing and ventilation.....
I heard the news today here in the UK. Apparently it is when chlorine comes into contact with urine/sweat and other substances - that is when asthma can be triggered. Like everything in this world, there are positives and negatives - but it wont put me off swimming
I dont know about the chlorine link with asthma, but I definately know that swimming will build up your lungs.
The chlorine on your suits will not go away no matter how much you try. I've been trying all my life to keep the life expentancy of my suits up, but no matter how good you rinse them out after every practice they always seem to die within months (i swim everyday).
Every pool has a chlorine/PH they have to maintain in the pool. To high is unsafe and we have to close if it gets that high, too low it does no good killing the stuff that gets in the pool and that can be unsafe also. But if kept in that area of "safe" it wont hurt you. Just dry you out pretty well.
To me it's a good zit killer.
Kel,
Not sure about chlorine linked to asthma - I do know of several people who have asthma and by swimming were able to for the most part be rid of their medications. I believe that air quality issues in most indoor pools can create problems for people with asthma. So my advice swim outdoors or find a facility with a good HVAC (Heating, Ventilating, Air conditioning) system.
For suit durability - try the polyester suits they will last, I had one that I used in a pool that was not very chemical friendly, the suit lasted about a year, what finally gave was the thread for the seam stitching not the suit material.
Lastly in regards to pool chemistry, more pools are starting to use Ozone to help disenfect the water - chlorine or some other sanitizer (bromine, iodine etc) is still used in the water but at lower levels. The pool pH is a very important factor in regards to pool chemistry, the lower the pH the higher reactivity chlorine will have - a pool with 1.0 ppm (parts per million) chlorine at a 7.2 pH will actually disenfect better than a pool with 4.0 ppm chlorine. and a pH of 7.8.
Jeff
His was workout induce. He was doing some very high yardage. But from swim magazine many of use can get workout induce asthama. I think as a kid that might have happen on some swim meets. I couldn't breath at all and got myself DQ by switching to freesytle,and always had sinsus problems and minor colds before these meets. But in those days they never mention about it. Anyway, he has a narrow wind pipe, I don't know how he could stand not being able to breath that good in the 400 meter IM.
