What Happens in the Lungs during an Asthma Attack
Understanding what happens in your body during an asthma attack can help you to understand how and why a doctor providing certain care or ask you to avoid certain things.
An asthma attack is any acute changes in your asthma symptoms disturbing your normal routine and need medicines either extra or some other intervention to improve so you can breathe normally more. When your asthma worse, three main changes happen in your lungs that makes your small airways:
Increased Mucus: As your airways become irritated and inflamed, the cells produce more mucus. Thick mucus can clog your airways ling.
Inflammation and Swelling: Same as the ankles swell from irritation caused by a sprained ankle, the airways of your lungs to swell in response to whatever is causing your asthma attacks.
Tightening of muscles: smooth muscles in the airways as you tighten it to respond to your attacks, the airways become smaller.
Airway narrowing can occur and lead to symptoms very quickly, or it may occur during long periods of time. The symptoms of the attack itself can range from very mild to very serious.
Evidence shows that regular participation in appropriate exercise can actually help people with asthma cope better in these conditions. Among people with asthma guidelines to be followed to ensure that their exercise program is safe and effective are:
Choose exercises that increase heart rate, increased breathing rate, and relatively easy on the lungs. Swimming, for example, is one of the best forms of exercise tolerated.
Avoid asthma triggers as much as possible. For example, people with asthma are allergic to pollen should exercise indoors.
Avoid exercising outdoors in both polluted or cold, dry days. Wear a mask or scarf to warm and humidify inspired air combat exercise if it should happen outside on a cold day. When possible, exercise in warm, moist air.
Perform special breathing exercises to strengthen the lungs (eg, pursed-lip breathing).
Use the ratings of perceived power in relation to heart rate to regulate exercise intensity, because a lot of asthma medications may alter the heart rate response to exercise.
Pre-treat before exercise (within 30 minutes before doing the activity).
Keep the inhaler on hand during exercise.
Perform warm-up exercises for a period of time (more than five minutes) before working out.
Avoid sudden, intense exercise for long periods of time.
Breathing through the nose as much as possible during the exercise.
Avoid hyperventilation by using controlled breathing pattern.
