Imagine you and your child are floating in a cool, crisp, and refreshing swimming pool. You’re surrounded by her laughter and playfulness. It’s pretty neat because it’s in the middle of winter and you can swim indoors! But wait.

You can’t enjoy this because your child can’t breath. Her lungs are inflamed, causing her to wheeze terribly. She can’t breather and she’s suddenly gasping for air! You and your child panic.

This is a terrifying event for children to go through. And it’s possible when they go swimming in an indoor chlorinated swimming pool to experience this fear.

The blame shouldn’t all be on chlorine itself. Chlorination is commonly used throughout the world to disinfect swimming pools. So when the chlorine compounds come into contact with organic material, they generate a mixture of potentially harmful byproducts-including nitrogen trichloride. Many swimmers then inhale this byproduct while swimming.

Some organic materials include:

• Hair follicles
• Skin particles
• Sweat
• Urine
• Water-borne bacteria

A new study shows that regular and frequent indoor pool use by children is associated with an increase in the risk of asthma. So while the swimmers are swimming, they are constantly inhaling air right above the water’s surface.

The trichloramine, or nitrogen trichloride, is a highly concentrated volatile by-product of chlorination and is activated during contact between chlorine and organic matter. This is the reason for asthma-like symptoms some swimmers face.

Researchers found that children, who swam indoors as infants, were 50% more likely to suffer from wheezing and experience shortness of breath. These children were compared to the children who hadn’t been regular swimmers as infants.

Now, let’s face it – swimming is a favorite pastime for many Americans. But if you don’t want your child to suffer asthmatic problems, then it’s recommended that you don’t let your baby swim in a poorly managed pool where it contains excessive levels of chlorine.

So, you’re probably thinking that indoor swimming pools aren’t that bad. Well, indoor swimming pools are more to blame than outdoor swimming pools. The reason for this is because the pool is enclosed, trapping the higher concentrated chlorine fumes inside that are forced into the swimmers’ lungs.

Asthma problems aren’t the only thing that indoor swimming pools cause. Chlorine, when mixed with the organic materials, irritates the eyes and upper respiratory tract.

You can save your child from having these asthmatic problems by simply using your nose! You can easily recognize these dangerous pools just by the scent of strong chlorine smell in the air. If you smell the strong scent of chlorine outside of the building, then you can only imagine what it would be like swimming indoors. Another thing that can help your child is putting a time limit on swimming; no more than 20 minutes at a time. This will dramatically decrease the chances of your child developing or worsening breathing problems.