0
If you deal with Asthma, your doctor has probably told you to maintain a healthy lifestyle--which, unfortunately for some people, includes moderate exercise. If the task seems daunting, don't stress out yet: People with asthma can exercise regularly, provided they take the proper precautions. Here's how to make it work out for you when asthma doesn't want to.
How to Exercise with Asthma
To make exercise a healthy addition to your lifestyle, use these measures to make it asthma-friendly:
1. Stick with short, intermittent exercise.Asthma sufferers may not tolerate the stress of long physical activity, such as distance running, but activities such as treadmill exercise, light Weightlifting, and even extracurricular activities such as Baseball and volleyball can be safe. The key here is how long you do it--asthma is more likely to act up with longer bouts of exercise, so keep it short but challenging.
2. Stay away from cold weather sports. Asthma sufferers don't tolerate cold weather sports as well, and attacks are more likely here--so activities such as ice skating, skiing, and hockey aren't ideal. If the weather is frigid, consider exercising indoors by lifting weights, using the treadmill, or playing indoor sports. Also, consider a surprising alternative: Swimming, which may actually reduce your risk of an asthma attack due to the warm, moist environment it creates.
3. Pay attention to your warm up. This doesn't just refer to the warm up exercises you should do before a workout--it also refers to the precautionary measures you should take to control your asthma. To stay safe, always use a pre-exercise asthma inhaler before exercise, following up with the appropriate amount of warm-up exercises.
4. Don't push yourself to the limit. If you haven't exercised in a while, exercising really hard may feel good in the short run--but soon you may be faced with an unwanted asthma attack. While it's tempting, avoid exercising above your activity level. To increase your activity level, gradually increase the intensity so that your body can adapt.
5. If you get an asthma attack, stop!Immediately stop exercising and take a pre-exercise asthma inhaler to ease the attack. If the attack completely stops, then it's safe to return to your normal activity. However, if the attack persists, get help: Stop exercising completely and call your local health care provider for advice.
