How many times have you been told to get more exercise? Like most Americans, you’ve likely heard this from your doctor many times over the years. It’s important advice to heed: Exercise is increasingly being linked to better health outcomes for a number of diseases and for just generally improving the quality of life as we age. But for people with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, this directive is even more important than for people without the progressive and incurable lung disease because it can simply help you breathe easier.
“The big thing is making sure [COPD patients are] getting some regular exercise,” says Dr. Philip Diaz, a pulmonary specialist at The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center in Columbus. But getting enough exercise isn’t always easy.
One way COPD patients can increase their level of physical activity is through a pulmonary rehabilitation program. Such programs are a common intervention that most COPD patients will be introduced to upon diagnosis. They typically involve a combination of breathing exercises, other physical activities, education and nutritional counseling. Most programs will also teach optimal breathing techniques and offer patients assistance in learning how to breathe during exercise, Diaz says.
[See: 7 Lifestyle Tips to Manage Your Asthma.]
He says getting this regular exercise is critical because it can help slow the progression of the disease and reduce overall deconditioning, which is a compounding factor in why COPD patients often feel breathless with just the slightest physical exertion. “One thing that happens with these patients is as they have more trouble breathing, they automatically stop doing as much. Then, over time they get very deconditioned. Their muscles don’t use oxygen as efficiently, so it becomes not just a lung problem, but a whole-body problem.”
An article published in the June 2016 issue of the journal Breathe also indicated that the loss of overall conditioning from reduced physical activity in COPD patients is associated with worsening prognosis and increased hospitalizations. “Physical activity levels play a key role in the onset of muscle dysfunction and deconditioning and have been associated with quality of life, hospital admission, comorbidities [ other diseases], lung function decline and mortality.”
So it seems clear that moving more can lead to easier breathing when it comes time to complete ordinary tasks like housework and the other things you need to do each day. If you’re having trouble getting motivated, apply one or more of these strategies to get moving.
Make it Fun
Part of getting and staying more active is finding a form of movement that you enjoy and that you can do regularly without getting bored. The American Lung Association recommends a combination of stretching, aerobic exercise and resistance training for COPD patients. Aerobic exercise includes activities like walking, biking and swimming, and the ALA says you should “try and do this type of exercise for about a half an hour a few times a week.”
Resistance training “makes all your muscles stronger, including the ones that help you breathe. It usually involves weights or resistance bands, but you don’t need to go to a gym to do resistance training,” the ALA reports. Your doctor or respiratory therapist can show you exercises you can do at home, and you should complete these three to four times per week.
If you enjoy another type of exercise, as long as your doctor says it’s safe, go ahead and enjoy that. There’s no one right way to move more — if a certain activity appeals to you, go for it.
Make it Social
Find friends to do the activity with, or join a COPD-specific exercise group. A 2015 study in the British Journal of Health Psychology found that people who found a new exercise partner increased the frequency with which they exercised. “Most people do like that camaraderie of exercising together,” says Scott Marlow, respiratory therapist at the Cleveland Clinic, so the Clinic offers a maintenance program for patients who’ve completed their formal pulmonary rehabilitation program.
“The cost of those is typically about the same as the cost of a [gym or fitness] club. [Patients] come to the maintenance program, and they’ll see people they know. They may go out for coffee afterwards,” which can be a great motivator for getting patients to turn up for these exercise sessions. Alternatively, Marlow says that some of the patients he’s worked with end up creating their own offshoot exercise groups if getting to the clinic itself is too much trouble.
No matter how you arrange it, having a buddy or two to keep you accountable can make a big difference in how consistently you exercise.
[See: 7 Things You Didn’t Know About Lung Cancer.]
Increase Gradually
Marlow says he typically encourages patients to aim for three days per week of strengthening and upper arm endurance exercises such as using a hand bike, and five days per week of stretching and walking or stationary bike work. If that seems too daunting, don’t get overwhelmed. Start where you are and work up to that goal. You can gradually increase your level of activity over time, and your doctor or therapist can help you devise a progressive plan to reach that goal.
Leverage Technology
The vast proliferation of technology in the last few years has led to the development of a whole slew of exercise apps that can help track your level of physical activities. Some help with goal setting and others may help keep you motivated when you just don’t feel like moving. Any of those currently available for download could be helpful in getting you to move more frequently. A recent study in the Journal of Medical Internet Research found that specially designed mobile phone apps can actually help COPD patients increase their level of exercise.
In that British study, researchers provided participants with one of three prototype apps that offered three different levels of support. The first app entailed working with a virtual coach leading patients through progressive goals. The second involved setting goals and tracking daily activity levels. The third used a social support approach by creating a social network of peers to encourage competition and collaboration. The first option — working with a virtual coach — was rated the best option by participants. Results indicate that finding a virtual coach or a fitness app that acts as a digital personal trainer may be the best option for increasing physical activity among COPD patients, but try a few and find out which appeals most to you and your approach to exercise.
[See: 16 Ways Your Body Adjusts to a New Climate.]
Find What Works for You
In the end, any tactic you can find to help you get more movement into your day-to-day life is probably a good thing. “I think the trick is getting any of us to do anything. Whatever we can do to keep [patients] motivated and give them confidence that they can do these things” is going to help, Marlow says.
It’s also important to remember that setbacks are common and not the end of the world. “It’s really hard for all of us to get that regular routine of five days a week of aerobic activity,” Marlow says, so don’t let a bad day derail your progress. Each day is a new opportunity to get more active. Just remember, that every bit of physical activity you add now will help you breathe better later.
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How Can I Become More Physically Active With COPD? originally appeared on usnews.com
