Meditation

Performing Yoga with a Portable Oxygen Concentrator

Doing Yoga with a Portable Oxygen Concentrator

Yoga might seem like it doesn’t do much at first glance, and if you don’t know much about it. It just looks like a series of stretches in weird poses, right? It’s actually much more than that, and it’s also a great way to exercise if you want something easygoing and low impact. Yoga doesn’t need for you to jump up and down, or run or do jumping jacks. It does, however, still require that you do plenty of breathing.

Breath is one of the main parts of yoga. This is great news for people who use a portable oxygen concentrator when they work out. Portable oxygen concentrators make it possible for many people to stay active while receiving their oxygen therapy. They also make exercise possible for those who just need extra oxygen while they workout. Either way, if you need to bring in more oxygen than usual, as is the case with yoga, a portable oxygen concentrator is the perfect choice.

Continue Reading

Alec W

Three Ways to Relieve Stress and Stay Healthy

Three Ways to Relieve Stress and Stay Healthy

Stress is one of the top contributing factors of many health problems, from high blood pressure to skin rashes. Stress alone might not have caused you to develop COPD, but if you think of it this way, you may have started smoking to calm your nerves when you were under stress. Too much stress over time will begin to wear on your immune system, making it easier for viruses and bacterial infections to make a home in your body. Staying completely stress free in life is near impossible, but there are some things you can do to relieve it for a time, or lessen it.

When people are stressed, they sometimes end up trying to relieve it in some very unhealthy ways. Doing any recreational drugs, including alcohol, binge eating on junk food, or continuing to smoke cigarettes after your diagnosis with COPD, are among the unhealthy habits. Our stress doesn’t always result in these habits, though, they can be much more subtle, such as nail biting, mindlessly picking at your skin or pulling out your hair. Pay attention to your own subtle habits so you can notice when you are stressed. Our bodies tell us things that we don’t consciously recognize.

Continue Reading

Scott Ridl

The Importance of How You Breathe

The Importance of How You Breathe

If you have Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease, you are probably well familiar with being short of breath. In general, this is the reason why people with COPD often have a lower blood oxygen level – so low that you may need to use oxygen therapy, on top of other medications. Aside from a shortness of breath, breathing shallow can be a big problem. When we breathe shallow, we aren’t taking a complete breath, and our lungs can’t absorb the amount of oxygen we need to stay healthy.

With emphysema, your lungs have become damaged over time because of tobacco smoke. Commonly in this situation, hyperinflation of the lungs is to blame for shallow breathing and not being able to take a deep breath. Shallow breathing not only means you can’t breathe in deeply, you also can’t properly exhale all of the air in your lungs. The trapped air in the lungs is high in CO2, since that is the gas that we exhale. Your lungs know when you have a build up of CO2, and they attempt to get rid of it – this is when you experience quick shallow breathing and are short of breath.

Continue Reading

Scott Ridl

Meditation May Help Protect You From Exacerbating Illnesses

Mindfulness Meditation May Help Protect You From Exacerbating Illnesses

If you have COPD, you’ve likely been told how important it is to keep yourself from getting sick. Getting a chest cold, for which there is not vaccination or cure, can cause an acute exacerbation, or flare up in someone with a chronic lung disease, such as COPD or asthma.

When your respiratory tract is inflamed with more mucous production caused by a cold or flu virus, a pair of lungs that are already damaged won’t be able to recover the way healthy lungs normally would. If not treated with medication right away, it can cause even more breathing problems and lead to an exacerbation, which can often mean hospitalization and the worsening of COPD.

Aside from doing all the usual things to keep from getting sick – washing your hands frequently, staying away from people who are sick, getting a flu shot and disinfecting frequently touched surfaces in the home – you should also being doing everything you can to keep your immune system strong.

Continue Reading

Scott Ridl