When you have chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), breathing exercises are an important way to maintain your quality of life, extend your ability to exercise, and stay calm during an acute exacerbation.
With COPD, breathing can be a challenge for the following reasons:
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Exercising with oxygen therapy (also known as EWOT) has many potential benefits and can be a great way to reduce the physical stress of exercise. This is especially true if you have the chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) or any other respiratory illness that affects your ability to receive oxygen.
With the new year just ahead, it’s a good time to start thinking about your new year’s resolution. Many people want to step into the new year as healthier versions of themselves.
If you wear supplemental oxygen, understanding oxygen therapy and learning how to maintain oxygen equipment can help you stay healthy and active and maximize your health all year.
Living with COPD might be challenging, as the damage to your lungs can cause shortness of breath and discomfort. Although it might be hard to breathe sometimes with COPD, that doesn’t mean you should quit being active.
There are many benefits to being active when you have COPD. Exercise might seem like a big challenge, but there are ways to be active with COPD while not overdoing it and getting exhausted. One form of exercise that isn’t too demanding is walking. If you have COPD, walking can allow you to be active, while also being delicate on your lungs.
Here at the Oxygen Concentrator Store by American Medical, there’s nothing that brings us more joy than hearing and seeing the freedom an oxygen concentrator can bring our customers. Kelly Ragan, a writer for The Greeley Tribune, highlights an oxygen user taking back their freedom in her article “Greeley Woman Teaches Water Aerobics to Classes That Become Like Family”.
Diana Bleignier thought she’d grow up to be an elementary school teacher. She had a gift for interacting with people and instruction, so it seemed like a natural fit. But she didn’t end up in a classroom. She wound up in a pool.
Warmer weather is swiftly approaching, which means you can enjoy getting your physical activity outdoors without dealing with the chill of winter. If you have COPD or another condition that requires you to use oxygen therapy, your lungs are probably sensitive to the extremely cold temperatures that some areas see in the winter, as well as the extreme heat that some areas have in the summer. For many people, spring is a time for getting outside and taking advantage of the mild weather.
Whether you need continuous oxygen, or you only need it at certain times of the day, you shouldn’t be intimidated by some outdoor fun. If you need continuous oxygen, you can bring a portable oxygen concentrator with you. If you only use it for segments of the day, you can still get out and get the fresh air and sunshine. Just be sure to talk to your doctor before you make plans to start an exercise routine.
One of the most popular New Year’s resolutions that is also one of the hardest to stick to is the focus on being healthier and more active. When you’re prescribed oxygen therapy it’s common to believe you will no longer be able to exercise which, often times, is not the case.
Staying active when you have been diagnosed with COPD is a great way to stay on top of your health. What’s more, working out with an oxygen concentrator has incredible health benefits aside from providing you the therapy you need. Most simply, oxygen helps you to get the most out of your work out.
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A portable oxygen concentrator is an incredible device that has given thousands of patients renewed freedom and independence. Removing the tether to old, clunky, and outdated oxygen solutions opens the door to endless possibilities and experiences.
Another wonderful benefit to owning a light-weight and portable oxygen solution is your ability to exercise. Staying active and exercising may seem challenging when you suffer from COPD or other lung related illnesses. However, regular physical activity can actually help to strengthen your respiratory muscles, improve circulation and oxygen usage, and even assist in decreasing some COPD related symptoms.
Exercise is vital for good health and is an integral part of your overall well-being. However, when individuals have health issues, exercise can be difficult. Physical activity is even more important for those suffering from long-term illnesses, both to help in recuperation and prevent further deterioration. Oxygen therapy offers a way to make exercise less difficult for patients with chronic pulmonary diseases.
Exercise isn’t always particularly appealing, even for those in the best of health. When a person has difficulty breathing, the idea of exercise can be downright daunting. Even if a person is determined to get the activity they need, the physical limitations from pulmonary illness may make this impossible. Breathlessness and easy fatigability prevent many pulmonary patients from getting the amount or intensity of exercise they require.
The ache you feel in your muscles, and the fatigue you feel after a good work out, is due to an event called “excess post-exercise oxygen consumption”, EPOC for short, or more commonly referred to as “afterburn”. The feeling you get after a hard workout, or even a mild one, might not be very comfortable, but it’s an important process when it comes to getting in shape.
This fatigue and slight ache are caused by the rapid burn and decline of oxygen in your body, which happens during and a while after your workout. EPOC refers to the body’s process of restoring the body’s oxygen and stored fuel, as well as the oxygen deficit. This deficit was known as the body’s “oxygen debt” in past decades, and it’s still often called that today.
