Exercise Induced Asthma - What Can You Do To Prevent It?Exercise-induced asthma is an excellent example of a problem which you can begin to solve once you understand it better. This type of asthma attack is usually more common when the weather is cold and dry, or the level of pollution or allergens in the air is high but this shouldn’t keep you from taking part in some form of physical activity. By the way, even if you think you don’t have asthma during your normal day to day living its possible to get an asthma attack only when they take exercise. This can be because you’re asthma may be so mild that it doesn’t show up most of the time but as you breathe faster it can bring on an attack. So should you avoid exercise in case it brings an attack on? Well the answer is no because as we all know now, exercise helps to strengthen your breathing muscles (which is important if you have asthma) plus it helps boost your immune system and keep you at a healthy body weight. So what type of exercise or activities should you take part in if you have asthma and want to avoid an exercise induced asthma attack? Here are a few pointers… 1. Try to take part in sports or exercises which consist of short bursts of activity with periods of rest in between as this can be particularly helpful. 2. Avoid ingesting a lot of food before vigorous activity has been associated with exercise-induced anaphylaxis; exercise-induced anaphylaxis occurs more commonly in hot, humid weather conditions and may also be related to severity of exertion. 3. Try to find some kinds of exercise which are not so hard on your breathing and leave you out of puff, remember exercise should be enjoyable, right? We’re not all getting ready for the Olympics. 4. Take up swimming as swimming is one of the best forms of exercise for people with asthma because it usually causes the least amount of chest tightness. 5. Try to put aside ten minutes of gradually increasing exercise to get your lungs limbered up and ready for the oncoming increase in breathing. 6. It may be a good idea to exercise less while you're getting over your chest infection so to give your body that chance to heal itself first you exert it. 7. You may have to move your exercise to a place with better air quality. When you exercise, your body wants more air so try give to give it the best and avoid polluted areas. 8. Keep an eye on how you breathe as you exercise if you find that its making your breathing a lot worse, it could be a sign that your asthma is not controlled and you should stop immediately. As a finishing note: Having asthma does not mean you cannot exercise, although the thought of an exercise-induced asthma attack can be very off putting remember many well-known athletes have managed their asthma to successfully compete in their chosen sports at the highest levels without difficulty so there’s hope for us mere mortals.
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