Asthma Exercise

Asthma exercise is activity done by an asthmatic patient. It is basically exercise done as a form of therapy for the patient. This is done so as to reduce the chances of an attack and is not to cure. The exercises are done to improve the flow of air in and out of the patient’s lungs. Asthma is a condition that affects the flow of air in and out of the airways. The activity is a process and not an immediate thing; it is done over duration of time.

This exercise helps to ease the condition of the patient and reduces the chances of the patent experiencing an asthma attack. Therapies are of different types for the patients. These are done on either a regular or irregular basis depending on the intensity of the disease. If the condition is severe, exercise is done on a regular basis. If it is mild, then the exercises could be done once in a while.

Asthma exercise is like a natural form of treatment because it involves the body. Treatment is administered in various categories. This entirely depends on whether the condition is severe or mild. The exercises also vary from the type of patient. For instance, the patient is an adult or a child. The treatment or exercises for younger children is different from that of adults. These treatments help to reduce the chances of attacks.

Asthma attacks are triggered by different types of conditions. Allergies, weather air pollutants, sex, emotions etc. All these can cause an irritation and cause or bring about the symptoms of asthma. Asthma exercise is important for patients suffering from this condition. This is because it makes them stronger and even increases their chances of living a longer and healthier life.

Asthma Exercise And Its Effects

Asthma exercise should be considered only under a doctor’s advice. 70% of asthmatics suffer to some degree from exercise induced asthma. Breathing rapidly through your mouth from exercise exertion can trigger asthma. However with proper management asthma exercise can be part of any asthmatic’s life.

Some suggestions for making asthma exercise comfortable:

Work out slowly keeping your heart rate low – below 140 beats a minute. You will be at risk of an asthma attack should you choose to do a vigorous exercise that will get you heart rate to 170 beats a minute. Keep in mind that exercise induced asthma (EIA) does not occur during the exercise but only after about 10-15 minutes.
Swimming is generally a great asthma exercise.
Do not skip the “cool down” after each vigorous exercise. This helps with moderating the air gradually cooling your body and reducing the risk of an asthma attack.
Avoid strenuous exercise as much as possible.

Control Your Asthma with Breathing Exercises

Until recently, western medical research has been inconclusive in determining whether or not there is real benefit for an asthma lifetic to conduct deep breath exercises as part of an overall asthma life management program.

But they are beneficial and will help an asthma life sufferer reduce symptoms and increase strength.

The two most often practiced techniques are Buteyko (named after the Russian doctor who developed them) and a yoga training technique known as pranayama. In very simple terms, Buteyko exercises involve deep breath through the nose (not mouth), exhaling for as long as possible and then holding the breath as long as possible at the end of the exhale.

During the inhale, a series of short, but shallow breaths are practiced. Pranayama is about correct posture, relaxation and controlled, slow inhalation and exhalation, with a focus on using the diaphragm muscles to assist with deep breath.

While deep breath techniques have long been supported by naturopathic physicians, it is only in the last several years that the allopathic medical community (traditional doctors) has moved to try and quantify any potential benefit from these exercises.

In several patient groups (some using Buteyko training and others using Pranayana), there did appear to be reduced asthma life symptoms although lung function did not appreciably change (as measured by PEFR). Nevertheless, patients felt better and did experience a reduction in need for relief medications.

Facing Asthma With Asthma Exercise

Asthma is a journey – a daily dose of unpredictability and a balancing act required to prevent attacks. For those who suffer from asthma life, there is no end to the exploration of treatments that can possibly alleviate – and maybe even prevent – symptoms. Most have found a way to combine traditional medicine with a more holistic mind/body approach; the result is a very individual approach to a very individual disease.

One such natural approach that asthma lifetics are using in conjunction with traditional medical treatment is asthma life exercise. Asthma exercise can encompass any form of exercise that brings about improvement in overall health thus lessening the effects of asthma life.

Experts believe that exercise triggers the opening of bronchial tubes; the result can be extended relief from the irritated and constricted airways of those suffering from asthma life attacks.

Some asthma lifetics turn to aerobics for their forms of asthma life exercise. Walking, dancing, and any other exercise where your heart rate is increased can be healthy for your overall health and can go a long way towards lessening your symptoms of asthma life.

Others concentrate on those exercises that establish a mind/body connection. Yoga can be an excellent asthma life exercises; allowing your body and your mind to relax in unison. Additionally, yoga uses deep breathing patterns as a component of the exercise itself.

Those who practice yoga must learn to hold certain postures while focusing on deep and cleansing breathings. This can be an enormously helpful asthma life exercise for those who suffer from this respiratory system disease.

Get online for access to a multitude of resources developed for the asthma life sufferer. Updates on asthma life treatments, guides to keeping you healthy, and an online community of support will keep you feeling proactive and positive about managing your disease.

Find out what asthma life exercise has made improvements in the lives of other asthma lifetics. Try them out experimentally and take careful mental notes on what asthma life exercise made you feel well and what was less successful.

Asthma exercise can be a fantastic tool that you can use to keep control of your symptoms. But nothing replaces the guidance of a medical professional in keeping you healthy. Be sure to check with your doctor before embarking on any new exercise program.

Important Facts About Exercise and Asthma

Usually, exercise and asthma are only associated when the air is cold and dry. The air comes into your lungs filtered, warm, and moist when you are resting and your breath enters via your nose. However, your oxygen needs increase throughout exercise, and you’ll respond by inhaling through your mouth. The muscles around your air passages will tighten in cold, dry air.

If you are feeling tightness of your chest, wheezing, coughing or breathlessness after doing exercise, these are symptoms of EIA. Commonly, the symptoms will occur after exercise, not throughout it. The important variables are the length of time spent exercising, the type of exercise, and its intensity. You’re normally more likely to suffer asthma if you exercise for at least six minutes in cold, dry air.

One way of preventing an asthma attack induced by exercise is to get organized before you exercise by following these simple tips. Five to ten minutes before you warm up, use your asthma medicine. You ought to always stretch and do some gentle movements for ten minutes to a quarter of an hour before engaging in sports or other vigorous activity, and after you are done you ought to allow your body temperature to decrease to something closer to normal.

When exercise-induced asthma indicators are felt, discontinue your activities and begin your asthma action plan. Do not start any exercise plan without first talking to your health care provider about the correct way to control EIA with medicine.

Do not resume exercise or regular physical activity until you’re free of asthma symptoms. Continue to deal with the problem if symptoms continue or return later in your fitness program. Visit your health care provider and do not exert yourself until the following day.

If you have the flu or a cold or your asthma isn’t in check, it would be advisable to avoid exercise. Also, a peak flow meter result ought to be at least 80 percent of your personal standard.

Asthma and exercise are interrelated and mutually dependent. An exercise program will not only keep you healthy, it will help you keep your asthma in check. To maintain an active lifestyle, you simply must learn how to deal with your asthmatic condition.

Is There Such A Thing As An Exercise For Asthma?

There isn’t just one exercise for asthma prevention you need to be aware about, but all exercise is considered help for asthma. One of the theories as to why asthma is on the rise is that our society has become lazy couch potatoes. It is now rare to see children outside playing as opposed to fifty years ago. When you don’t exercise, not only do you get flabby and listless, but it’s harder to breathe overall.

You Still Need To Go To The Doctor

Don’t make the mistake of thinking that if you just did exercise for asthma, that you can toss out your medicine and inhalers. That would be incredibly foolish. Exercise for asthma is meant to be used in conjunction with your other medical treatments like medicines and inhalers. You need to be checked regularly by a doctor, too in order to treat the asthma. You also need to quit smoking.

How Much Is Too Much?

Also, don’t make another mistake as to thinking that more is better when it comes to exercise for asthma. Like everything else in life, you need just the right amount. Just talking a walk for thirty minutes a day five times a week can be all of the exercise for asthma prevention that you need. You’ll also be helping all of your other body parts, not just your lungs.

If you choose walking or cycling as your exercise for asthma care, try to do it when there is the least amount of traffic on the roads. The exhaust from passing cars and trucks will often trigger an asthma attack. You also do not want to exercise outside when the weather is extremely cold or extremely hot.

You need to be aware of exercise induced asthma symptoms so that you know if you’re exercise routine is too strenuous. These include wheezing, gasping, tightness of the chest during or immediately after exercise. You need to follow an asthma emergency plan as your doctor outlined. If you start to panic and can’t remember your emergency plan at all, call an ambulance. It’s better to be safe than sorry.

You can do any exercise for asthma care that you want except for scuba diving. You have to have a perfect set of lungs to handle scuba diving – as well as the ability to haul nearly 200 pounds of equipment around. Avoid exercising when you are ill or if you have just recovered from the flu.

Types of Exercise for your Asthma

The type of exercise you choose to do can have a huge impact on your asthma symptoms, and whether an attack is triggered or not. If you do different forms of exercise and use the same amount of oxygen in each one, you will still have different effects from them; some will cause more tightness in your chest and others will not.

Running in the outdoors, for example, is usually a lot worse than swimming or lifting weights. In fact, swimming is one of the best forms of exercise available for people concerned with their asthma management. It usually fosters the least amount of lung irritation and chest tightness than any other form of exercise.

If the air you’re breathing in and out happened to be cold and dry, your symptoms and the chances for allergy or for an attack will be worse, while if it is warm and dry, they will be better. This is why swimming is so much better than running with asthma, usually.

Some children, however, will get a severe worsening of their asthma from the chlorine fumes found in the pool. Keep aware of this possible allergy factor and never force your son or daughter into anything if they aren’t comfortable with it. Keep their inhalers and allergy medicines close by the pool just in case.

The length and timing of the exercise is also important. It will usually take only six minutes of exercise to trigger exercise induced asthma, so a lot care in the warming up is needed, and also a gradual progression into more intensity… never just start running or swimming at full speed with asthma, or you could easily trigger and attack.

Using Asthma Breathing Exercises in Times of Crisis

When a person breathes normally, their diaphragm will move in a downward direction at the time of inhalation and in an upward direction when exhalation occurs.

However, in the case of an asthma sufferer the breathing diverts from the accepted path and becomes unnatural since only the upper portion of the chest is used and this leads to unnatural breathing for which solutions such as asthma breathing exercises need to be used in order to find asthma relief.

Weak Chest Muscles

Even due to normal aging, a person’s chest muscles will start to weaken and the muscles may not be able to function in the best possible manner. When an asthma attack occurs, these chest muscles have to work overtime because of constriction in the air passages. To prevent these unwanted conditions, it is necessary that the asthma patient learns asthma breathing exercises since only such exercises will be able to help build the chest muscles up and bring them back to proper condition.

Essentially, asthma breathing exercises are aimed at making the chest muscles relax in spite of having to work overtime. They are also effective in teaching asthmatics how not to use chest muscles to breathe and instead, use the muscles in the abdomen as well as the diaphragm. Without knowing about asthma breathing exercises, an asthmatic patient would not be able to know the proper way of breathing and will do the wrong thing like breathing out instead of breathing in.

In fact, asthma breathing exercises will help the asthmatic patient to empty out their entire chest through raising their diaphragm by using their abdominal muscles as well as lower chest region. If these asthma breathing exercises are performed properly, it could even help in preventing the next asthma attack.

Properly done, asthma breathing exercises will also help an asthmatic to reverse their asthmatic condition. With regular practice of these exercises, the body too begins to imitate the desired form of breathing and may then even take involuntary steps to remedy the situation.

To get the most out of these asthma breathing exercises, it is necessary to also ensure that while exhaling, you do so slowly and not try and be hasty as that may lead to unwanted consequences such as wheezing as well as more discomfort.

What’s more, you can also try certain exercises for asthma which will help the asthmatic condition rather than hinder normal breathing. Swimming is preferred over running while outdoors since when swimming, a person has a lot of warm as well as moist air that is necessary to prevent asthma attacks.

Even when practicing asthma breathing exercises, you need to be careful not to overdo the exercises since that could exert your body beyond its true capability and cause further damage rather than curtail and even prevent damage.

Exercise for Asthma Will Help Improve Breathing

Combining medicines with a holistic approach is the norm and in fact, no two asthmatics will be found using the same means to cure their symptoms. However, a suitable option in curing asthma is to try the natural solutions such as exercise for asthma. To be sure, exercise for asthma will mean any and all forms of exercises that help to improve the condition of an asthmatic patient. It is hard to pinpoint any one exercise as being the best.

According to experts, the main benefit of trying exercise for asthma can be noticed by looking at the fact that when a person exercises, it helps to open up the bronchial tubes and thus provides long-lasting relief to the patient and irritation as well as constricted airways. Symptoms should not be as bad as what they were prior to performing exercise for asthma.

Aerobics is considered worthwhile as exercise for asthma. Walking and even dancing are also good choices. So are other exercises that make your heart rate increase and which are sure to prove effective in combating asthma in a more natural way.

However, there are certain kinds of asthmatics that need to rely on those exercises for asthma in which a connection is established between the mind and body, and yoga is a prime example of what exercise for asthma should be as it allows both mind and body to relax and unite as one.

In fact, there are breathing exercises taught by yoga instructors that are in fact an essential element of the exercise. These breathing techniques also require being able to hold a number of different postures while at the same time focusing on your deep breathing and focusing your mind on what you are doing.

To be clear, there is also exercise induced asthma to contend with. So before opting for a particular exercise for asthma, make sure to understand how it will affect your health and only proceed further if no risks are attached.

There are no doubts about the fact that exercise for asthma is one of the best tools that can be used with good effect in controlling symptoms. You need to also take guidance from professional medical practitioners who can guide you into performing the best exercise for asthma for your particular condition and thus help improve your overall health.