5 Asthma exercises to keep your asthma under control

Asthma is a long-term condition that affects the airways of your lungs, making it difficult for you to breathe. It can affect the quality of life, hampering your day-to-day activities. For many people, symptoms appear when performing exercise-induced asthma or exercise-induced bronchoconstriction (EIB). It is observed that people who have asthma often experience EIB, but people who experience EIB don’t need to have asthma. 

If you experience EIB often, it doesn’t mean that you should avoid exercise. EIB can be managed so you can perform regular exercise easily and comfortably. Regular exercise, whether breathing or physical exercises like running, lifting, and yoga, can help you relieve the symptoms and keep them to a minimum. 

This article will explain the different exercises for asthma and the benefits of performing those exercises for asthma. 

Breathing exercises for asthma 

Since asthma mainly affects the airways of your lungs, you need to learn some exercises to help you control your breathing effectively to prevent asthma symptoms. The following asthma exercises may help open the airways and reduce the effort for breathing. 

• Diaphragmatic breathing
• Nasal breathing
• Pursed lip breathing
• Buteyko breathing

1. Diaphragmatic breathing

This breathing exercise aims to strengthen the lung muscles, especially the diaphragm. The diaphragm is the muscle that is present below the lung. This exercise helps you breathe from the diaphragm rather than the chest. 

Steps to follow the diaphragmatic breathing 

1. Lie down on your back or sit straight on a chair as you prefer.
2. Place one hand on your upper chest and another on your stomach.
3. Breath slowly through your nose.
4. Breath out slowly through your lips.

Practice this exercise twice or thrice daily at your convenience until you learn how to breathe without your chest moving. 

2. Nasal breathing 

You should always prefer nasal breathing, meaning breathing through rather than through your mouth, as research has linked asthma symptoms may appear when a person breathes through the mouth. Nasal breathing adds warmth and humidity to the air, which may reduce asthma symptoms.

3. Pursed lip breathing 

This breathing exercise help to relieve shortness of breath. It can be practised at any place and time if you have shortness of breath by breathing in through your nose, keeping your mouth close and breathing out by pursing your mouth. It helps instant relief from shortness of breath. 

4. Buteyko breathing

This technique is named after its creator, Konstantin Buteyko, who believed that people sometimes breathe faster unnecessarily, which can trigger asthma symptoms like shortness of breath. It helps you to breathe slower and deeper. The following steps can help you to perform this technique

1. Relax and breathe normally for a few minutes.
2. Inhale and hold your breath with the help of your index finger and thumb to plug your nose.
3. Retain your breath until you have the urge to breathe again.
4. Breathe normally for 10 secs.
5. Repeat steps 1 to 4 several times.

This technique may improve your asthma symptoms and may remove the need for medications.

Yoga for asthma 

Indians have been practising yoga for centuries which involves physical activity focusing on your breathing. Research also has found that practising yoga focusing on deep breathing may improve your asthma symptoms. 

1. Pranayama for asthma 

Pranayama or different expiratory breathing exercises like Deep Breathing, Bhramari Pranayama, and Omkara should be recommended for bronchial asthma patients. Research has shown that these exercises help to improve forced expiratory volume and lung function and should be a part of asthma treatment. 

Other exercises 

Asthma patients should also perform exercises like swimming, walking, and hiking. These exercises do not overwork your lungs; hence they are likely to cause any symptoms. Out of these mentioned exercises, swimming is one of the most recommended exercises for asthma patients as it strengthens the lung muscles. These asthma patients’ exercises are recommended, so you should be exposed to these environments. 

Read more– Benefits of Swimming

Tips for performing these exercises

Above mentioned exercises will help you prevent asthma symptoms and keep them under control, but here are some tips that you keep in mind if symptoms appear while performing them.

1. Always keep your inhaler with you.
2. Take long-term medications.
3. Do a warm-up before performing any exercise so that your body should adjust to the change happening during any exercise.
4. Try to avoid any exposure to allergens or irritants.
5. Avoid exercises that require continuous physical activity.

Benefits of exercises 

There is no exact asthma cure, but these exercises will help to manage your symptoms to the minimum level and keep them under control. The benefits of these exercises include

1. They promote blood circulation to your lungs and heart.
2. Increases lung capacity and overall lung health.
3. Increases endurance and stamina.
4. It May help in decreasing airway inflammation.

Conclusion 

Asthma can be kept under control with proper awareness and knowledge. Above mentioned breathing and other exercises will help you manage your asthma symptoms to the minimum level. Take utmost care while performing these exercises, and always consult your doctor. You can get free teleconsultation from our expert doctors once you order medicine on our online pharmacy – Truemeds or you can also download our Truemeds app. You can avail of branded and generic medication by uploading your prescription on Truemeds. When placing an order for medicines online, you may save more money by selecting alternative or generic medicine advised by Truemed’s expert doctors. You can save up to 72% on your purchase and get free home delivery* pan India.

Frequently asked questions

Disclaimer: The information given in this article is true to our best knowledge. Still, we recommend that you consult your healthcare professional before practising any information mentioned in this article.