COPD

COPD is a lung disease caused by a persistent blockage of airflow from the lungs. COPD is a life threatening disease that interferes with normal breathing.

Symptoms

COPD has one prevalent symptom - breathlessness. Other symptoms include abnormal sputum (a mix of saliva and mucus in the airway) and a chronic cough. Every day activities such as climbing stairs or carrying a heavy bag an become difficult over time as the condition worsens.

Diagnosis and treatment

A simple test called a 'spirometry' will confirm if you have COPD. This test measures how much a person can inhale and exhale, and how fast air can travel into and out of the...

What Is COPD?

Did you know that COPD is the third leading cause of death in the United States and causes about 25,000 deaths a year in the UK? In fact, according to the World Health Organization (WHO), COPD is the fifth leading cause of death worldwide! Millions of people around the world have been diagnosed with COPD, but perhaps even more frightening is the number of people who have gone undiagnosed. Doctors estimate that there could be millions of people who have this disease, but are not even aware of it. You may be asking yourself, “Exactly how could someone have this disease and not know it?” In order to understand...

COPD is the short definitions for Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease. In the United States alone COPD is the fourth leading cause of death.  This respiratory illness is primarily caused by smoking, genetics, air pollution and asthma. Secondary smoke and respiratory infections can also occur in COPD.  This disease affects your quality of life as it makes breathing incredibly difficult. However, a regular exercise program can help you manage the disease better as well as increase the quality of life.

Importance of Exercise

Pulmonary rehabilitation and exercise go hand in hand as it improves the overall strength and endurance of the respiratory muscles. during exercise the...

Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease also known as COPD is the term that is given to a group of lung diseases. these lung diseases block your airflow as you exhale, making it very difficult for you to breathe.  Practising regular breathing exercises can help you cope with COPD and also aid your COPD treatment.  Worldwide COPD is a major cause of death.

Relax and breathe

If you have COPD then the most effective way to overcome breathlessness is to relax and breathe. Find a quiet spot and lay down in a comfortable position completely focus on your breathing.  With each breathe that you take you should try and slow down the pace and relax...

Within each edition of Fitpro Network, the magazine for personal trainers, they ask an expert to answer a training-related query, and in the April/May 2012 edition they examined training a client with COPD.

We thought we’d share the question and answer with you.

Q: A new client has chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). What do I need to  be aware of when training them and how much impact can exercise have on their condition?

A: According to the NHS, COPD is the name for a collection of lung diseases including chronic bronhistis, emphysema and chronic obstructive airways...

Indoor air can be just as polluted as outdoor air. Even more so. For those who suffer from COPD and other respiratory illnesses, spending time indoors is not by choice. This is why it is important that the quality of the indoor air is as pollution free as possible.

To help improve the quality of air indoors, here are some top tips which will help anyone who suffers from COPD, asthma or any other respiratory illness.

 

#1 You need to take charge of the air you breathe inside

Over anything else you need to take charge of your home if you want to improve the quality of the indoor air you...

Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, also known as COPD, is very common these days, and it appears to be getting worse, especially amongst young women. COPD is a disease you can have and not know you have it.

Here are some COPD disease facts:

In the UK today, COPD is a disease that affects 2 in every 100 men and 1 in every 100 women (Source: Soriano JB, Maier WC, Egger P, et al. Recent trends in physician diagnosed COPD in women and men in the UK. Thorax. 2000; 55: 789-794.) Over 600,000 people have been diagnosed with COPD, but three quarters of this number who have COPD may not be aware they have the disease (Source: The Respiratory...