After 100 million gold, Noah Lyles posts about asthma, ADD, anxiety and depression

Noah Lyles from the USA You just won the gold medal in the 100 meters at the Paris Olympics. What are you going to do next?

Well, he goes to X world – formerly known as Twitter world – and posts the following: “I have asthma, allergies, dyslexia, ADD, anxiety and depression. But I will tell you that what you have does not determine what you can become. Why not you!”

Yes, that’s what Lyles did Sunday night after winning what was perhaps the closest 100-meter race in Olympic history, 0.005 seconds ahead of Jamaican Kishane Thompson. It was “perhaps the closest” since the 1980 Moscow Olympics was also quite close, but such races were not timed in the thousandths of a second at the time.

Nevertheless, after achieving the superhuman feat of being the fastest of the fastest men in the world, Lyles decided to send a decidedly human message to everyone. His

This certainly wasn’t the first time Lyles had made his mental health struggles public. In 2020 — you know, when the whole Covid-19 pandemic thing kept big get-togethers from happening and things in general were a bit, shall we say, chaotic — Lyles was struggling with depression. In August 2020, he revealed that he had started taking antidepressants, calling it “one of the best decisions I’ve made in a while,” as seen in the following tweet (which is what such posts were called at the time):

The many positive responses showed how meaningful and inspiring Lyles’ tweets and revelations about his struggle can be for the many people struggling with mental health issues. An Olympian like Lyles can make things like running seem so easy. And his feats can make him seem almost superhuman, so it’s easy to forget that elite athletes also have to grapple with human things.

The same can be said about the many people who struggle with asthma and allergies. It can be difficult to imagine someone who has just covered 100 meters in 9.784 seconds having trouble breathing. But Lyles has a long history of asthma. His first asthma attacks came in the form of coughing fits when he was just three years old. according to a report by Aishwarya Kumar for ESPN. But he wasn’t diagnosed with asthma until he was five years old.

Asthma is a chronic condition in which the airways in your lungs can periodically narrow, swell and fill with mucus. This can make it difficult, very difficult, or even life-threatening to breathe. As you probably learned the first time you went on a date, being able to breathe normally is very important. Breathing brings oxygen into your lungs and therefore into your bloodstream, where it can be delivered to all the cells in your body.

It is not always clear what can trigger an asthma attack. Irritants in the air, such as dust, dust mites, smoke, animal dander, or various chemicals, can cause your respiratory system to react poorly. Changes in air temperature, stress and exercise can also cause this.

Asthma had a major impact on Lyles’ childhood. After Lyles was diagnosed with asthma, his mother made changes to the home environment and his diet to reduce exposure to possible triggers. At the age of seven, Lyles underwent surgery to remove his tonsils and adenoids, which further helped his breathing. Due to his asthmatic attacks, he was homeschooled early on. according to a 2020 article by Richard Parr for CNN. Lyles told Parr, “So about three to four years, all the way up to about age seven, I was seriously dealing with asthma and asthma attacks, like in the hospital, maybe every third night; coughing fits, constantly being sick because my immune system was weak.”

After his asthma became more manageable, Lyles eventually joined other children in public school. But while there, he struggled for a while with ADD (Attention Deficit Disorder) and dyslexia. He also described to Parr how “it became a situation where I was a bit alienated from the rest of my friends. It was a lot harder to get through standardized tests, and even simple things like spelling tests.” Lyles went on to say, “Spelling tests were probably the worst days of my life.”

You don’t need to explain how things are very different for Lyles these days now that he’s a superstar on the track. He has legions of fans around the world, and his asthma doesn’t seem to interfere with his life. But his social media post after his 100m victory was a reminder that things weren’t always golden for him. And perhaps this reminder can help others who are currently in the midst of dark days to keep running after their dreams.