Asthma is a chronic disease that can be triggered by various things. Stress is one of the main causes of asthma that many people often underestimate, but has quite a significant impact. Many individuals with asthma often find it difficult to control their thoughts and feelings of anxiety, especially related to their illness. This makes it harder for them to manage their symptoms, and thus it can suddenly flare up and disrupt their daily life.
Asthma symptoms such as difficulty breathing and coughing can be heightened due to increased stress levels. In severe stress, anxiety can turn into panic attacks and worsen your asthma due to symptoms such as:
- Difficulty to breathe
- Felt like being strangled
- Heart palpitations
- Shivering
- Dizzy
- Sweating
- Hot flashes
Simply put, as asthma symptoms worsen, your anxiety can also increase. If you have to live with asthma, and often have to face relapse due to unmanaged stress, you should read below to know what are the ultimate ways that you can do to prevent sudden asthma attacks.
How to Control an Asthma Attack Due to Stress?
To help you overcome and control asthma flare-ups due to stress, we have curated some of the best ways that you can follow below!
Eat Healthy Food
The first thing you can control asthma that might occur due to stress is to eat healthy and nutritious foods. It would be even better as a sufferer of asthma if you follow a healthy asthma-specific diet.
By following a healthy asthma-specific diet, asthma recurrence is easier to avoid and stress can be easily overcome. Make sure to reduce excess sugar, caffeine, and alcohol intake – because these ingredients have the risk of increasing stress levels.
Exercise Regularly
Asthma attacks that arise due to stress can also be treated with regular physical activity. Asthmatic sufferers may indeed have physical limitations in exercising. However, this doesn’t mean you can’t exercise at all.
Exercise several times a week or every day is necessary for asthma sufferers to increase their lung capacity and improve blood flow. However, make sure you choose the type of exercise that is bearable for your body. Start with a light exercise, and don’t overdo yourself.
Get Enough Sleep
Asthma that recurs due to stress can also be influenced by lack of sleep. Do keep in mind that not getting enough sleep can make your mental burden worsen, and thus it may affect your asthma symptoms. To sleep better, you can do several things, such as:
- Set the same bedtime daily
- Do not exercise before bed
- Avoid caffeine before bedtime
- Don’t sleep during the day
- Improve room condition
Do Deep Breathing Techniques
Deep breathing techniques are another method you can try when experiencing asthma symptoms due to stress. When you notice that your thoughts and mood have been clouded with stress, you might want to immediately do the deep breathing technique to help squelch all those worries away. When asthma symptoms begin to appear due to panic or anxiety attacks, you should immediately try to breathe slowly and deeply through your nose.
By following this breathing technique, you can feel much more relaxed as you can slowly release yourself from any physical and psychological stress
Keep Your House Clean and Healthy
Cleaning the house and keeping the room dust-free is also very important for asthma sufferers. With a clean house, you will be able to prevent asthma triggers. After all, dust, dust mites, animal dander, and pollen are common asthma triggers. By maintaining good hygiene, you can reduce the presence of these triggers – thus helping to prevent asthma attacks.
What you can do to keep the house clean and healthy is to clean all the areas of your house regularly. If you use carpet in your home, once in a while you should also hire a professional carpet cleaner who can help handle all your carpet cleaning needs. Carpet is one of the home appliances that is very susceptible to dirt as it can trap dust and dirt easily on its surface. Thus, ensuring that it gets professionally cleaned once in a while is important for you and your family’s health. Click here if you currently need a professional carpet cleaner for your home.
Manage Stress Appropriately
Stress is a part of life and it is not easy to avoid it. However, recognizing the causes and knowing how to manage stress properly can help prevent stress from happening and cause your asthma to flare up.
Triggers or causes of stress can be due to many things – ranging from financial problems, romantic relationships, work deadlines, or feeling lonely. By being able to identify stress triggers e and looking for solutions to address them, slowly but surely you will be able to reduce the risk of asthma recurrence due to excessive anxiety.
Take Your Medication
What is no less important in treating asthma due to stress is continuing to use the medicines that have been prescribed by your doctor. Recurring asthma can not only be treated by living a healthy lifestyle, you should also consume appropriate medication that has been prescribed to manage your condition.
Last but not least, if you still are having difficulty dealing with stress due to your health situation, you may want to consider seeking help from a qualified mental health professional! They can help you address your worries, find the best way to manage your stress, and thus prevent asthma attacks.
