Exercise And Yoga For Asthma

Exercise

Give yourself a break -- or two. Dr. Firshein advises everyone with asthma to engage in regular moderate exercise. "It strengthens the lungs, which helps prevent asthma symptoms," he explains. He prefers what he calls pulsed exercise-brief work-outs with rest periods in between. The breaks help prevent exercise-induced asthma attacks. Dr. Firshein's exercise of choice is tennis, but he also swims and takes aerobics classes.

Be the early bird. The concentration of air pollutants tends to rise from morning to early evening, then falls at night. So if you exercise outdoors, try to schedule your workouts for the A.M. Choose routes far away from traffic and automobile exhaust. If that isn't possible, consider joining a health club, so you can exercise indoors.

Yoga

Bend to break away from symptoms. The combination of deep, rhythmic breathing and slow, gentle stretching makes yoga an ideal activity for people with asthma. Indeed, many studies have proven yoga to be an effective asthma therapy.

In one such study involving 106 adults with asthma, half of the participants received standard treatment, while the rest received 2 weeks of yoga training. Afterward, they were encouraged to continue practicing on their own. Four years later, the people who had engaged in regular yoga sessions reported improved lung function, fewer asthma attacks, and milder symptoms than the people who hadn't learned yoga. They had also reduced their reliance on asthma medications.

Visualization

Envision your airways opening. "Visualization is a powerful asthma therapy," affirms psychologist David Bresler, Ph.D., L.Ac., associate clinical professor of anesthesiology and licensed acupuncturist at the University of California, Los Angeles, School of Medicine. "It can help many people, especially children, reduce or eliminate their need for asthma drugs."

If you want to use visualization as part of your asthma-management program, Gerald N. Epstein, M.D., director of the Academy of Integrative Medicine and Mental Imagery in New York City, suggests practicing the following exercise: Close your eyes. Take three slow, deep breaths. Envision yourself in a pine forest. Stand next to a pine tree and inhale its aromatic fragrance. As you exhale, sense your breath traveling down through your body and exiting through the soles of your feet. See your breath as gray smoke that becomes buried deep in the earth. Open your eyes.

Chinese Medicine

Get to the points. "In Chinese medicine, asthma represents the stagnation of qi, or life energy, in the lungs," says Efrem Korngold, O.M.D., L.Ac. "Treatment involves dispersing qi to eliminate stagnation." One way to do this is with acupuncture. In fact, acupuncture works so well as an asthma therapy that even the United Nations World Health Organization recommends it.

During a treatment session, an acupuncturist inserts needles at several specific locations around the body. If you prefer, you can try stimulating these points yourself with acupressure. Simply apply steady, penetrating finger pressure to each of the following points for 3 minutes.

Lung 7, located on the thumb side of your inner forearm, two thumb-widths from the wrist crease

Pericardium 6, located on the midline of your inner arm, two thumb-widths above the wrist crease

Stomach 36, located four finger-widths below your kneecap and one finger-width toward the outside of your shin-bone

Liver 3, situated on top of your foot in the webbing between your big toe and second toe


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Facing Asthma With Asthma Exercise

Asthma is a journey – a daily dose of unpredictability and a balancing act required to prevent attacks. For those who suffer from asthma, there is no end to the exploration of treatments that can possibly alleviate – and maybe even prevent – symptoms. Most have found a way to combine traditional medicine with a more holistic mind/body approach; the result is a very individual approach to a very individual disease.

One such natural approach that asthmatics are using in conjunction with traditional medical treatment is asthma exercise. Asthma exercise can encompass any form of exercise that brings about improvement in overall health thus lessening the effects of asthma.

Experts believe that exercise triggers the opening of bronchial tubes; the result can be extended relief from the irritated and constricted airways of those suffering from asthma attacks.

Some asthmatics turn to aerobics for their forms of asthma exercise. Walking, dancing, and any other exercise where your heart rate is increased can be healthy for your overall health and can go a long way towards lessening your symptoms of asthma.

Others concentrate on those exercises that establish a mind/body connection. Yoga can be an excellent asthma exercise; allowing your body and your mind to relax in unison. Additionally, yoga uses breathing patterns as a component of the exercise itself. Those who practice yoga must learn to hold certain postures while focusing on deep and cleansing breaths. This can be an enormously helpful asthma exercise for those who suffer from this respiratory system disease.

Get online for access to a multitude of resources developed for the asthma sufferer. Updates on asthma treatments, guides to keeping you healthy, and an online community of support will keep you feeling proactive and positive about managing your disease. Find out what asthma exercise has made improvements in the lives of other asthmatics. Try them out experimentally and take careful mental notes on what asthma exercise made you feel well and what was less successful.

Asthma exercise can be a fantastic tool that you can use to keep control of your symptoms. But nothing replaces the guidance of a medical professional in keeping you healthy. Be sure to check with your doctor before embarking on any new exercise program.

With proper medical supervision and a commitment to improved overall health, you are likely to see an improvement – and maybe cessation – of many of your asthma symptoms. Asthma exercise can leave you feeling happy, healthy, and in control.

By: Michelle Bery