Nicola MacDougall On Asthma, Pillow & More

[Written by Nicola MacDougall]

Asthma is one of the most common chronic conditions affecting Bermudian children and adults, yet one of the simplest ways to improve control is often overlooked — the pillow. While we pay close attention to medications, inhaler technique, and avoiding outdoor triggers, the place where we spend almost one third of our lives deserves equal care.

Pillows are a hidden reservoir of asthma triggers. Over time they accumulate dust mites, mould spores, skin flakes, sweat, and bacteria. Dust mites thrive in warm, humid environments like Bermuda, and their waste particles are a powerful asthma trigger. Even if your pillow looks clean, after a year of nightly use it can contain millions of microscopic allergens that you breathe in for hours while you sleep.

For someone with asthma, this constant exposure can mean more night-time coughing, wheezing, poor sleep, and morning chest tightness. Children may wake tired and struggle to concentrate at school. Adults may find they rely more heavily on their reliever inhalers. Changing your pillow every year is therefore not a luxury — it is an essential part of asthma control.

At Open Airways we recommend replacing pillows annually and choosing asthma-friendly options such as a hypoallergenic, washable pillows. Pillows and pillow protectors should be washed regularly in hot water and dried in a hot dryer to kill dust mites. If buying a new pillow each year feels unnecessary, remember that a single emergency visit or missed school day may cost far more than this simple prevention measure.

This message is reinforced through our Bermuda Student Asthma Registry which has been developed and implemented in partnership with the Department of Education, the Department of Health and BHB’s Asthma & COPD Education Centre. The registry is a confidential system that allows schools, parents, and health professionals to work together to support children with asthma. By registering a child, parents ensure that teachers and school staff are aware of the child’s condition, triggers, and emergency action plan.

If you have not registered your child yet this school year, please use this link to access the registry: https://bit.ly/2025BermudaStudentAsthmaRegistry. The registry is also available through the Open Airways website: www.openairways.com

Asthma does not stop at the school gate or the clinic door. It follows our children home, into their bedrooms, and onto their pillows each night. By changing your pillow every year and joining the School Asthma Registry, you are taking two powerful steps toward healthier breathing, better sleep, and a safer future for Bermuda’s children.

Open Airways has partnered with Masters Ltd for years on our “Pillows for Prevention” program. Each child on the Bermuda Student Asthma Registry 2025/2026 will receive a pillow voucher for a new pillow which can be collected from Masters Ltd. We will also be launching a new initiative with Masters Ltd. in which shoppers can “donate a pillow”, allowing customers to pay for the cost of a pillow, which will be donated directly to a child or adult in need, who is living with asthma. This will help ensure that no one has compromised breathing, simply because they cannot afford this essential prevention tool.

For more information on the Bermuda Student Asthma Registry or further information on asthma, contact Open Airways today at 536-6060 or educ@openairways.com.

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