The Importance of Exercise on Lung Health
Exercising with respiratory disease can seem daunting, and your motivation to exercise can change from day to day. This is normal! Some days you might feel ready and excited for physical activity. Other days you might think you are too tired, too busy, or too sick, and you may be worried about feeling short of breath.
On days when exercise seems intimidating, remember that every little bit of physical activity helps improve your overall health. This is because physical inactivity contributes to deconditioning, which is when your muscles start to become weaker. This makes doing activities more difficult and increases your shortness of breath.
In This Article
How Exercise can Improve Life with Respiratory Disease
Regular exercise prevents deconditioning. And while it doesn’t reverse lung health, it can help improve your quality of life. Among other things, exercise can:
- Improve your body’s oxygen efficiency and reduce shortness of breath
- Increase energy levels
- Strengthen muscles and improve cardiovascular fitness
- Decrease anxiety, stress and depression
- Improve sleep
- Boost self-esteem
You can start out with a few minutes a day and gradually increase it as you get stronger and fitter. You might be surprised about how much you move already! Through the Wellinks program, you’ll be able to identify and work toward goals that are right for you.
Designing your Personal Exercise Program with Wellinks
Your Wellinks care team will help you design a program that is safe and appropriate for you. The basic components of any exercise program are:
- Warm up and stretching: Warm up exercises– like shoulder rolls or marching on the spot– can help improve your exercise performance. Stretching helps improve your range of motion.
- Endurance exercising: Endurance exercise improves your overall physical condition. It can include riding a bike, walking, using a rowing machine, etc. You start out slow and gentle and increase your time and intensity over time.
- Muscle strengthening: Strengthening your muscles will help you do activities—like walking, getting dressed, or doing housework—with less effort. It will also help improve your balance. Strengthening exercises can be done using free weights, resistance bands, or weight equipment.
In any exercise program, it’s important to start out slow and gentle. As your body gets used to the program, you can increase your time and intensity.
What You Can Do Today
Congratulate yourself for engaging in your health! And remember that you are not alone in this journey. Your Wellinks care team will help you get started.
As a first step, you can watch these Wellinks videos about how to use your pulse oximeter during exercise and how to exercise safely.
Your Wellinks care team will also help you fill out your weekly exercise tracker and program planner. These documents are a great resource to help you stay on track and meet your fitness goals.
If you want to start moving before then, here are a couple videos of simple balance, warm up, and cool down exercises you can do: