For many people with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), exercise is something they dread or even fear. A progressive lung disease that causes difficulty breathing, COPD can make simple physical activities like a short walk or climbing the stairs exhausting. But exercise can improve COPD patients’ physical and emotional well-being, while inactivity can worsen their condition.
“Being able to manage everyday activities tends to improve a patient’s outlook,” says Randolph Lipchik, MD, a pulmonologist at Froedtert Hospital and the Medical College of Wisconsin in Milwaukee. “It improves a person’s mood, just to have that shortness of breath a little more under control. Having a better sense of well-being makes staying active more than worth it.”
The American College of Sports Medicine warns that if COPD patients remain inactive, their heart function and muscle mass can decline. “As a person’s symptoms become more severe, they’ll avoid any kind of activity that will cause breathing distress,” Dr. Lipchik says. “This leads to a spiral of slowly becoming more and more deconditioned, and unable to do even basic physical activity.”
Shortness of breath and lack of energy can make people with COPD give up activities they used to enjoy as well as social interaction. Not surprisingly, an estimated 40 percent of patients suffer from depression.
“A lot of people think if it takes this much effort to leave the house, why bother,” says Michael Machuzak, MD, associate staff member in the department of pulmonary, allergy and critical care medicine at the Cleveland Clinic. “It can become very tough to handle if people can’t do the things that bring them joy. That’s why staying active is so important.”
Check with your doctor before starting any kind of exercise program. They may want to monitor your oxygen level and heart rate, and suggest working with a therapist to identify the right exercises for you.
“Sometimes [patients] need reassurance that they’re okay to do something that’s not a marathon,” says Ashley Henderson, MD, director of the pulmonary diseases and critical care medicine fellowship program at University of North Carolina School of Medicine.
Low-impact aerobic exercises such as walking, riding a stationary bike, and swimming use large muscle groups and can help improve breathing.
Lipchik adds that mild strength training, such as lifting light weights, can prevent muscles from weakening. But don’t overdo it. “You’ll become short of breath right away,” he says.
People with COPD need to be very conscious of their breathing during exercise. Pursed-lip breathing involves breathing in through the nose and out through pursed lips. When you exhale with your lips pursed, increased resistance in your airways helps them stay open. Breathing out should take twice as long as breathing in.
“Having stronger chest muscles and improving your heart health by doing any kind of cardio activity will help make this type of breathing easier and have the heart compensate for what the lungs can’t do,” Dr. Henderson says.