Exercise-Induced Asthma: What Can You Do About It?

Exercise-Induced Asthma: What Can you Do About it?

 

Believe it or not, some people can actually get asthma as a result of exercise. What causes that?

In normal breathing, your nose warms, filters and humidifies the air coming in to the lungs. During exercise, you have to breathe through the mouth, which doesn’t humidify, filter and warm the air as well as the nose. In some people, these changes in temperature and humidity cause the sensitive muscles surrounding your airways to contract.

Original source: here.

            There are a number of ways to prevent exercise-induced asthma:

1. Make sure you warm up effectively. This makes the transition from breathing through your nose to breathing through your mouth gradual, and not sudden.
2. Improve your posture. Poor posture can decrease the size of the lungs, and make the muscles surrounding your airways more prone to contracting prematurely. If you’d like step-by-step strategies on how to improve your posture, come to my FREE seminar.
3. Perform certain breathing exercises. There is an excellent group of breathing exercises called the “Buteyko method.” Since the 1990s, this was the official treatment for asthma in Russia, and it’s now gaining popularity in Australia, New Zealand and the United States. The Buteyko method is based on the idea that most people are chronic, but undiagnosed hyperventilators (if you take more than 12 breaths per minute, and you breathe into the chest, rather than the stomach, you’re hyperventilating). Once you normalize breathing, asthma is either reduced greatly or completely eliminated.
4. Eat properly. Use a diet that minimizes inflammation. Lots of veggies, a few fruits, and clean meat and seafood. That will work for most people. Of course, for certain people, certain good foods aren’t good for them. I elaborate on this in my seminar, Healthy Foods that Poison: Why You’re Getting Sicker and Fatter Despite Eating Healthier.

 

Quick Summary

• Exercise can actually trigger asthma.
• To prevent exercise-induced asthma:
  • Warm up thoroughly
  • Improve your posture
  • Correct your breathing patterns
  • Eat properly