Dear LPG,

I was looking through the internet recently and the fact that I am still surviving got me thinking about the basic things that our bodies need to survive.  I always thought that there were three but I found a few webpages that have slightly differing opinions. One thing is for sure though, and that is that breathing is up there with the most important things we might need.

I have never really been diagnosed with any major illness, although months of not getting out seem to have left me very out of condition because every now and then I find myself a little out of breath at the top of the stairs or when I close my front door having left home to do a bit of shopping (now we are allowed to again).   Now I am wondering about just why it is that things I used to do without much effort are causing me to get short of breath a little more quickly than I used to. 

I hope that we have all been shocked in a good way and found ourselves doing a bit of hyperventilating as a result, and I am sure that there have also been a lot of not so good shocks that have left us breathless.  I love a good ‘rom com’ and the old ones always left the girl looking positively breathless when the hero communicated his undying, unconditional love for her at the end of the old ones, but that is not what I am talking about here.

I have learned that being short of breath can be a common symptom and indicator that you are developing quite a few illnesses and you don’t have to be old to have some of them.   I have a daughter who has always suffered from asthma, and I remember many a trip to Lewisham hospital in the middle of the night so that they could help her to breath out more easily, even though she got so used to fighting for breath that she hardly seemed to notice at times.   There are a lot of other medical reasons why you might be feeling short of breath more often too such as COPD, Asthma, Bronchitis & Emphysema and many others but there are some exercises that could be helpful.

The internet came in quite handy when looking up the answer to that question, although I still think that some of the information online needs to be taken with a pinch of salt, but one thing is for sure, and that is, if you find that you are becoming a bit short of breath more often these days it is worth checking with your doctor to make sure you are OK.

And I found a few exercises which might help too….

EB, Catford

LPG would again ask readers to note that it might be worth having a word with your GP, if EB has brought to your attention an issue that you might have been ignoring, or to make sure that the exercises she has shared are right for you.

EB shares some of the facts she found online…

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… and also found a few breathing exercises that might help.

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