You know the feeling—when you’re catching your breath, and suddenly it feels like you can barely grasp for air. Managing your asthma symptoms can be tricky when you’re surrounded by potential triggers, but the following habits can help alleviate some of your symptoms.
1. Manage your weight
Maintaining a healthy weight has numerous benefits. Remember, a healthy weight isn’t just about the number—it’s the lifestyle that comes with it.
Having curves or being big-boned isn’t going to cause asthma. Rather, being overweight/obese (which can be classified using the BMI metric) can increase your risk of developing asthma.
RELATED: Wait, Could Excess Weight Cause Asthma?
2. Eat healthy foods, fruits and vegetables
This goes hand-and-hand with the above. And no, that doesn’t mean you have to cut out all your favorite sweets and treats! Keeping up with the 80/20 rule is a good way to think about it.
For 80 percent of the time, aim for fruits, vegetables and proteins that make you feel good. The other 20 percent is for splurging on what you enjoy most. Having a healthy diet can help prevent you from struggling with more severe asthma.
3. Walking
Taking a long walk can be a great way to get in exercise without having to struggle with your breathing. Walking over intense cardio can be a good way to keep a healthy lifestyle without worsening symptoms.
4. Yoga
Balancing your body and mind has many perks, in addition to helping you manage your asthma. Yoga is a relaxing, slower-paced way to get in exercise. You can pace yourself as you go while still getting in the benefits of a mindfulness practice.
RELATED: 4 Natural Foods to Help Relieve Asthma
5. Take turmeric
This supplement has been known to help the body fight the inflammation that comes with asthma. Taking this supplement may be a helpful addition to your routine.
You May Also Like
6. Avoid rigorous exercise
While there are benefits to intense cardio exercises, it’s not necessary to have a balanced life—especially when it triggers asthma. Avoid situations where you may have to overly exert yourself and opt-in for something slower-paced. There’s no shame in taking a beat!
RELATED: Best & WORST Exercises For People With Asthma
7. Eat fatty fish or take Omega 3s
Omega 3s are a great supplement to add to your routine because of their anti-inflammatory properties. Taking this on a regular basis (or supplementing with fatty fish like salmon) may help alleviate your symptoms.
8. Find ways to reduce stress
Stress can cause many conditions, or worsen the already frustrating symptoms of those conditions. It can prevent the body from protecting itself and recovering.
Find ways you can alleviate stress in your life—maybe that’s by talking to a therapist, opting out of a task you don’t need to take on, practicing mindfulness, or asking for help from friends and family.
9. Incorporate ginger
Whether it’s taking a ginger supplement or adding it to your meals, ginger has anti-inflammatory properties that can reduce symptoms of asthma. Plus, it comes with other benefits—like helping to curve feelings of nausea!
10. Be prepared
If you know you’re going to be in a triggering situation where an asthma attack could arise, make sure you have your inhaler and other tools in your toolkit on hand.
Being aware and prepared can help ease your anxiety about the potential for an attack as well as help bring you back to baseline if one should occur.
