When you suffer from asthma or another breathing condition, it's easy to imagine that exercise is off-limits because of your symptoms. But asthma suffers can and should exercise on a daily basis. Daily exercise can help you build up a tolerance for physical activity and avoid asthma attacks. Understand what exercise means for you and ensure that you have your treatment options in place, so exercise can become a fulfilling and healthy part of your day. Contact your doctor before starting any exercise program to ensure that you're healthy enough for physical activity.
Benefits
Exercise can actually help you breathe easier in most cases, according to the American Council on Exercise. Exercising on a daily basis can strengthen your lungs and lessen the chances of exercise-induced asthma. The benefits could also spill over in your daily life, ensuring that you don't become winded when doing everyday tasks like climbing a flight of stairs.
Symptoms
Keep your rescue inhaler with you at all times when you exercise. Some types of asthma are specifically triggered by exercise. Tightness in your chest, coughing, sneezing and shortness of breath are all signs of an exercise-induced asthma attack. Stop the exercise and administer the inhaler. After you recover, reduce the intensity of your workout.
Exercise Recommendations
The best types of exercise for asthmatics and sufferers of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, or COPD are those that require plenty of starts and stops to allow you to catch your breath and take small breaks, according to the American College of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology. While you may not want to run a marathon, you can try short intervals of running or swimming. Low-impact exercise like resistance training, walking, light cycling, water aerobics and hatha yoga can help you stay fit with low risk of an attack. Avoid power yoga classes, however, which involve heated rooms and high intensity. If your asthma is triggered by allergies, outdoor exercise should be avoided, especially during allergy season.
Prevention and Treatment
Talk with your doctor about a long-term asthma treatment plan to help manage your symptoms, especially if you plan to make exercise a part of your daily life. Some long-term medications can last for 12 hours.
You'll still need to exercise with your fast-acting inhaler close at hand in case of an attack. Take on exercise slowly to help build up lung strength before you begin exercising with more intensity.
