Exercise
Many people with a lung condition are fearful of exercise and see getting short of breath when exercising as bad or even dangerous. Getting breathless is a normal response to your body working a little harder than usual. If a person goes out jogging they will breathe harder. If you don’t exercise much then climbing stairs can make you breathe harder. With both of these scenarios if you regularly do them the activities will get easier and you will feel less breathless. Exercise is vital.
The benefits of exercise include:
Reducing anxiety and depression.
Reducing stress
Lowering blood pressure
Strengthening your bones and muscles.
Strengthening your heart and lung muscles.
Strengthening your joints.
Reducing breathlessness during day to day activities.
Everyone has the ability to improve their fitness and muscle strength no matter if you have not exercised for a long time. However, if you have not exercised in a while or have additional conditions that may place you at risk during exercise then contact your GP prior to starting. If you use oxygen at rest or are concerned that your oxygen levels are dropping during exercise you may need an ambulatory oxygen assessment; your GP may be able to advise you further. You may be able to find a pulmonary rehabilitation group in your area. Your GP or respiratory consultant may be able to refer you so that you can start to exercise and be monitored in a safe environment. It is also good to meet other people in a similar situation.
What type of exercise should I do?
Exercise can include normal activities of living such as shopping, housework, gardening walking the dog etc. Or you could start a new activity such as an exercise class or dancing but make sure the leader of any organised activity is aware of your health needs. Try to include exercise that strengthens your muscles and exercise that makes you more breathless.
How much exercise should I do?
Try to complete 150 minutes of moderate intensity exercise per week or 20 minutes per day. Moderate intensity means that you are breathing more heavily than usual but can still carry on a conversation with full sentences. If you are not breathing more heavily than usual then you need to increase the level you are working at. If you are unable to string a sentence together then stop, recover your breath and re-start at a gentler pace.
If whilst exercising you feel dizzy, clammy, experience any sudden chest pain, get very wheezy, or have muscle weakness then please stop and seek medical advice.
If you are finding that the exercise you choose is causing joint soreness it may be worthwhile trying alternate exercise.
You may ache following starting a new exercise – this can be reduced by ensuring that you warm up gently and cool down rather than stopping exercising suddenly. This can be as simple as walking for a few minutes before and after.
If you are prescribed an inhaler such as Salbutamol (Ventolin) which you take if your chest gets tight or wheezy take it with you when you exercise. If you know that exercise makes you tight then take it prior to starting as well.
Progressing your fitness.
If you exercise and continue exactly the same level then your strength and fitness will improve up to a point and then level off. It is important to continue to progress your exercise in order to continue to improve. This can be increasing the length of the exercise e.g. walking for a few more minutes, the speed of the exercise e.g. completing the same distance in less time or the resistance e.g. walking up an incline or turning resistance up on an exercise bike.
During a chest infection it is important to continue to exercise – you should still aim to achieve the same level of breathlessness however it will take less exertion than usual to reach this level and you may not be able to exercise for as long in one session. If you continue to maintain some exercise whilst feeling unwell you should return to your pre-infection level of fitness much quicker.
More Information:
https://www.blf.org.uk/support-for-you/keep-active/why-is-it-important