Is It safe to Exercise with Asthma?

One of the symptoms that children with asthma report is limitation of exercise and activity. They cannot play for long time or get involved in demanding sports which involves lot of running. If they do so they become breathless and or start coughing.  Some children get these symptoms even if they laugh heartily. The aim of asthma treatment is to reduce the severity and frequency of these symptoms. Two types of inhalers are used in the management of asthma. The blue inhaler which is a bronchodilator and it gives instant relief in chest tightness and breathing difficulty. The other inhaler is a steroid inhaler which has to be used regularly to control the inflammation resulting from exposure to allergens.

Asthma can affect your life:

• Patients with asthma who are compliant to the treatment notice a huge improvement in quality of their life. There is improvement in cough and activity induced breathlessness.
• They can sleep well and hence concentrate on their day time work. They can participate in sports and do exercise.
• Some patients are advised to take their bronchodilator inhaler (blue inhaler) just before starting exercise.
• Exercise that involve long periods of exertion,  distance running, basketball, and field hockey, may be less well tolerated.
• Also, cold-weather sports, such as ice hockey, cross-country skiing, and ice-skating, may pose challenges.
• Swimming, which is a strong difficult process sport, is generally well tolerated by many people with asthma, because it is usually performed while breathing warm, moist air. It is also an excellent activity for maintaining physical fitness

It is therefore safe for people with well controlled asthma to do exercise. They should however keep their bronchodilator inhaler with them during such activities. If there is difficulty in breathing or cough then they should stop and take rest and their inhaler to feel better.