Asthma has become the silent epidemic in western society and there are many reasons purported for the root cause of the disease. One of the most common causes that we see in adults is asthma brought on due to physical exercise. The exercise could be as simple as walking up a flight of stairs, going for a jog and becoming breathless or simply doing the daily shopping.

One of the things that have been learnt from the Buteyko Method is that asthma is caused by the release of more CO2 than we produce and this can occur easily during physical exertion in people prone to asthma. The inability of our bodies to create more CO2 than we are loosing causes some of our airpipes to close to prevent further loss and to relieve the shortage.

There is in fact no other reason for your pipes to close up.

To survive physical activities there are a number of rules that should be followed:

1.You should breathe only through your nose

2.You should never allow yourself to lose control of your breathing and start "puffing or panting". This will decrease your endurance, reduce your recovery rate and also bring on your asthma symptoms.

3.Do not consciously increase your breathing "to get more air" as you begin any heavy exertion.

From many people the key point at which asthma becomes a problem is once the physical activity has stopped. The key is that at this point, the production of CO2 has decreased to almost nothing, but the breathing is still going on as if the CO2 was still produced at a high level.

The result is that more CO2 is released than is being produced and the consequence is a defensive constriction that will be needed soon.

The other potential time that asthma attacks occur is a few minutes into the because of an exercise period. This is often due to the person increasing their breathing in anticipation. The bottom line is this, when you start any exercise program, take your time to get underway. Ensure that you undertake shallow breathing during your warm-up period and pay special attention to only breathing just what you need.

When You Stop The Exertion ? Stop the Breathing

The key with exercise is that when you stop the physical exertion, like walking to the top of the stairs, once you get to the top slow your breathing to a moderate level shallow breathing, ensuring that you trap in some extra CO2. The key is not to puff

During the Physical Exertion, Keep Your Mouth Closed

If you get to the point where you want to breathe through your mouth ? STOP and reduce you breathing and only continue once your breathing is back in control

Training Your Breathing for Exercise

Whilst it might take a little practice, it is simple to develop your exercise regime and train your body to never get puffed or out of breath as long as you follow the rule.

Always start off at a low intensity with a walk or much. Ensure that you mouth is closed and that your practice and develop a very tiny shortage of air by shallow breathing. Whenever you fell the need to gasp through you mouth, stop!. Reduce your breathing and gain control, and only once you have control should you continue.

The bottom line is that over a few sessions you will find that you will be able to go further and further without getting puffed. When you can proceed at that intensity for over 15 minutes, you can then raise the intensity slightly but you must always follow the rules.

You will find that over a few weeks you endurance will improve and you will be able to train with your mouth close and not get out of breath. Once again this only works if you stop just before you lose control of your breathing.