Exercise for people with asthma

Asthma can prevent people from participating in some common types of sports and physical activities. However, by taking certain prescription drugs and following the doctor's lifestyle advice, you can live a healthy and happy life. Nevertheless, consult your doctor before indulging into any more serious types of physical activities since you may need to have your asthma treatment plan modified a bit in order to allow you to exercise regularly.

Recommended Activities for People with Asthma

Asthma patients may not respond well to physical activities which involve long-term effort such as football, soccer, basketball, distance running etc. Also, you may want to avoid spending time playing sports during colder parts of the year. Thus, skiing, hockey and ice-skating may not be the safest sports for you, if you are an asthma patient.

However, sports like swimming are known to be beneficial for asthma patients due to the fact that these are commonly performed in warm surroundings with a lot of humidity being present in the air.

Alternatively, you may indulge into both indoor and outdoor biking, as well as aerobics, walking or running on a treadmill machine.

Other Facts about Exercising with Asthma

Ideally, you should not cross the limit of 30 minutes of exercising, 5 times a day. Regardless, you are advised to speak to your physician or doctor if you are unsure about your adequate exposure to physical activities.

Also, before you start exercising, remember to use your asthma inhaler and perform proper warm-up and stretching exercises. Once you are done with the workout, help your muscles cool down and relax by resting a bit.

If you need to exercise in cold weather, protect your mouth, throat and lungs by wearing a scarf over your mouth. Note that you should not leave the house during pollen season if you have allergic type of asthma. The same goes for high pollution days or when you are sick.

Ultimately, do not cross your limits and modify your workouts so that they are beneficial for you and your overall well-being.

All in all, having asthma does not mean that you are doomed to leading a sedentary life deprived of all the joys of exercising. Rather, this condition mainly signifies that you need to be a bit more careful. Do not forget to consult your doctor, however, because he/she is best acquainted with the specific traits of your condition and knows exactly what sorts of physical activities are optimal for you.