Winston Salem Fitness

One of the more common asthma myths is that someone with asthma cannot or should not exercise or

participate in sports. Nothing could be further from the truth. Exercise is or should be a part

of daily life. Children, teenagers, and adults with asthma should be able to enjoy any aspect of

life they choose, including hiking, biking, basket ball, ballet, soccer, gymnastics, and other

physical activities.

Many Olympic athletes who have asthma have won gold medals in a wide variety of sports, from

swimming to figure skating to track and field . Every professional sport has at least one present

or future hall of fame athlete who has asthma. Across the country, millions of people with

asthma, ftom the five-year-old soccer player to the eighty-five-year-old marathon runner, take

part in sports without being limited by their disease. They can enjoy, participate, and compete

in physical activities as long as they have their asthma under control.

Exercise-Induced Asthma

The most common form of asthma is exercise-induced asthma a slightly misleading term because

exercise doesn’t cause asthma.

Exercise can bring out symptoms because of the increased demands placed on a person’s breathing

while running, jumping, swimming, skating, skiing, or other forms of physical exertion.

When our bodies are at rest, we inhale and exhale a certain number of times at a certain volume.

As we breathe through our nose (the body’s “air treatment intake valve”), the air is warmed and

humidified before it gets to the lungs. When we exercise, our muscles need more oxygen and

produce more carbon dioxide than they do when we’re resting or inactive. Since we take in oxygen

and get rid of carbon dioxide by breathing, we have to increase our air exchange by breathing

deeper and faster while we exercise. We also breathe through our mouths instead of our noses so

we can move as much air as possible into and out of our lungs. When we breathe this way during

exercise, the air in our lungs is cooler and drier than usual.

Researchers who study exercise induced asthma believe that this cooler, drier air stimulates

inflammatory cells in our airways. Once stimulated, these cells release chemicals called

mediators. Some mediators make the airways swell or produce mucus, while other mediators irritate

the muscles that encircle the airways and make them tighten up. As a result, the airways become

narrow or constricted. The narrowed airways limit the amount of air that can come in or go out

right at the time when the body needs more air, not less. When oxygen delivery decreases and

carbon dioxide levels increase, the muscles tire more quickly, and the athlete with uncontrolled

asthma has to stop physical exertion.

In most cases, asthma symptoms brought on by exercise occur about five minutes after the exertion

begins. Chest tightness is a common first symptom, along with shortness of breath. The athlete is

usually forced to slow down or stop, and may bend forward at the waist to help force air out of

the lungs. Wheezing and coughing usually follow. The symptoms decrease with rest, but they may

come back when exercise is resumed.