I do not know how many of the readers of my articles are joggers or are involved with vigorous exercise but if you are and experience wheezing during your work outs you are not imagining it.
Exercise can often provoke bronchospasm in patients with reactive airways disease which is really a general term for asthma. Let’s talk about what may be causing this disturbing symptom.
When we exercise, we breath more rapidly. This rapid breathing means we move more air in and out of our lungs per unit time. This rapid breathing is associated with moisture loss from the tracheobronchial tree. In addition, the rapid breathing in a cold air environment, such as jogging out doors in the fall or winter, causes heat loss from the airways. The combination of large amounts of dry and cool air is a trigger for bronchospasm (wheezing) in patients already predisposed to this symptom because of their underlying asthma.
The treatment for this type of exercised induced bronchospasm is warming the air and staying well hydrated. I usually recommend that patients cover their mouth and nose with a scarf or use a “cold weather mask” which can be purchased at a drug store to help warm the air if they are exercising in a cold air environment. Staying well hydrated is also important and if you are known to have asthma you may want to take a dose of your rescue inhaler before running or consider running indoors on a treadmill.
