|
||||||||||
| C | e | l | e | b | r | a | t | e | ||
| L | i | f | e | ! | ||||||
|
|
|
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
ASTHMA AND EXERCISE FOR CHILDREN
March
14, 2007
By Diane Sabba, M.S.
Asthma
affects people of all ages. There are an estimated 20 million Americans
who have asthma and nearly five million are children. At least 12 million individuals had asthma attacks in the past
year. Asthma is a chronic disease caused by inflammation of the airways. Asthma produces recurring episodes of
breathing problems like coughing, wheezing, chest tightness and shortness of
breath. Asthma cannot be cured, but can
be controlled.
Asthma is a leading cause of
hospitalization among children under the age of 15. Asthma accounts for 14 million lost school days annually. One in six pediatric emergency visits are
related to asthma in the United States. Adults lose thousands of workdays and
many parents take time away from work to care
for their children. Lost productivity among parents of children with asthma
results in indirect costs of more than $1 billion each year. The annual cost of
treating children with asthma is estimated at $1.9 billion.
Asthma can be life threatening
if it is not properly managed. Asthma kills over 5,000 Americans annually, but
it is a manageable disease, so no one should have to die of asthma. Asthma-related deaths are rare amongst children
but do increase with age.
Since children spend many
hours of a day at school, asthma usually affects the child’s life there. Children may need to take their medications
during school or take special preventive measures to avoid attacks. Several studies
have confirmed an association between severe asthma and behavioral
problems. In addition, side effects
from medicines may influence the child’s school performance, though most
medications for children today are safe.
Many children with asthma miss
out on childhood fun. Lifelong physical fitness is
important for all children with asthma.
The benefits are great and children should not restrict their physical
activities, as exercise builds lung power.
About a quarter of the children with asthma become symptom-free when
their airways reach adult size. All
children with asthma can have their symptoms alleviated if they, their parents,
schools, and teachers understand the disease, management techniques, and medications. By learning how to control a child’s asthma,
they can make it easier for their students to participate fully and safely in
physical activities and sports. Asthma
is serious and children’s medicine
should stay with them everywhere they go.
Awareness is important and children need to have their
rescue inhalers with them at all times, especially while playing and
exercising.
Exercise helps:
These benefits can improve the child’s asthma in the long run. If
the asthma is usually well controlled, but the child has a cold, flu, or other
respiratory infection, the child could be more likely to get symptoms while
exercising. It may be a good idea for
the child to exercise less while getting over a chest infection.
Lifelong physical fitness is an important goal for all
children. Studies have shown that a
child who is physically fit and exercises will have less asthma attacks. 80-90% of asthmatics also have
exercise-induced asthma. In other
words, exercise can be a trigger for children when their asthma in not under
good control. Children with asthma should not avoid exercising. Exercising is
recommended to keep the child’s lungs and body in good shape. It has been proven that overweight children
have two times the risk of developing asthma, so that makes it ever so
important for those children to exercise.
All asthmatic children can do sports. Many world-class athletes suffer from exercise-induced asthma
such as Olympic Gold medallist swimmers, Amy Van Dyken and Tom Dolan, diver
Greg Louganis, football player Jerome Bettis (aka The Bus), and the great track
and field star, Jackie Joyner Kersee who passed away many years ago.
Exercise is a very common asthma trigger. Each child with asthma will have a different
level of tolerance to exercise. Control
of their asthma will determine participation in many sports and activities,
though highly strenuous conditions can provoke asthma in some children even
with optimal conditions. Children can
learn to pace themselves, recognize symptoms early and appropriately
respond. Aerobic sports, requiring
continuous activity, can bring on exercise-induced asthma more often than
anaerobic activities, those that have rests and are more intermittent.
High
asthma-inducing activities: Low asthma-inducing activities:
·
Long-distance running Volleyball
·
Cycling Swimming
·
Basketball Diving
·
Soccer Walking
·
Rugby Tennis
·
Ice hockey Gymnastics
·
Ice skating Wrestling
·
Cross-country skiing Golf
Karate
Baseball
Handball
Sprinting
Jump Roping
Remaining behind in the gym or sitting on the bench can set the stage for loss of self-esteem, teasing by others, and low levels of physical fitness. Physical fitness is important for a child’s good health and should not be avoided. Remember that every child with asthma may exercise and have fun!
Notes
from Author: Currently, I am fighting to get my life back. I lost my health from the effects of
dangerous levels of toxic mold in my apartment nine years ago. I developed Acute Asthma and I have found
that physical fitness and exercise helped me survive and become stronger. I continue to recover. I believe that exercise should be prescribed
as a preventative medicine. I dedicate
my research and teaching to our children, for they are our future. I emphasize that physical activity is most
important in a culture that has become sedentary and unhealthy. As an Exercise Consultant with the American
Lung Association Orange County, my research and the longer, detailed version of
the above article have been used for the Lung Association’s Asthma and Exercise
for Children Program in Orange and Los Angeles Counties, California. My goal is to make the program national.