Dyspnoea with Exercise: Causes and Treatment

Very rarely a person thinks about how he breathes. It is only natural if he is completely healthy. But if there is often a feeling of tightness in your chest, lack of air, then you should seriously think about it. Such sensations are known to almost every person. After all, there is shortness of breath during exercise. The causes of this condition can be quite diverse, ranging from completely innocuous factors and ending with serious pathologies.

Mechanism of dyspnea

First of all, it should be understood that this symptomatology, which is characterized by three external signs:

• The patient feels a lack of air, he has a feeling of suffocation;
• There is a change in the depth of inhalation, exhalation, noise is heard;
• Breathing becomes quite frequent.

This state is familiar to many people, because they often have shortness of breath during physical exertion. The causes of this phenomenon lie in the desire of the body to maintain the level of oxygen necessary for life. As a result, there is an acceleration of respiratory contractions. A signal about the lack of oxygen, the main suppliers of which are the lungs and the heart, enters the brain. Activation of the respiratory center takes place. He gives a signal about the need to speed up the inhale-exhalation.

Such a state is familiar to every person. Shortness of breath after physical exertion is a normal reaction of an untrained organism. It can occur after a fast walk, jogging, serious cleaning. After such a load, there is a desire to catch your breath, to take a breath.

With such a state it is easy enough to fight. It is necessary to begin to engage in physical education. Especially those people who lead a sedentary lifestyle. After all, their muscular system functions half-heartedly. Accordingly, these acronyms are not enough to support the functioning of the heart. Therefore, performing tasks that are equally difficult, physically trained people are less susceptible to a feeling of lack of air than those who suffer from hypodynamia.

When it is necessary to be alerted?

Obviously, dyspnoea with physical exertion, the causes of which are hidden in low mobility, can easily be eliminated. But is this symptom always the result of such an inoffensive phenomenon?

Unfortunately, sometimes severe dyspnoea with physical exertion can be a sign of the development of serious pathologies. It is difficult enough to determine for yourself when a given symptom predicts adverse factors.

Suspect the presence of the disease can be as follows. For example, a person does the same route on a daily basis. One day he notices that it has become difficult for him to go. At the same time, he moves at his usual pace. There is a need to stand and catch a little. This movement with periodic stops is the first symptom of trouble. After all, as a result of usual physical activity, the frequency of breathing increases.

There are several reasons that can cause such problems in the body.

Sources provoking shortness of breath

Many reasons can provoke this phenomenon. Sufficiently frequent sources of such discomfort are:

• Pathology of the cardiovascular system;
• Various allergies;
• obesity;
• Lung disease;
• Psychogenic factors (aggression, anger);
• Serious blood infections;
• Climate change;
• panic attacks;
• hormonal disbalance;
• Smoking;
• Physiological disorders that prevent passage through the nose, mouth or throat of air.

Very often people do not pay much attention to anxiety symptoms. And practically does not reflect, why the shortness of breath at an exercise stress began to arise more often. This phenomenon is written off to the environment, hard work, bad habits. Ignoring this problem is completely wrong.

Doctors say that in people who suffer from severe shortness of breath during physical exertion, the following pathologies are most often diagnosed during the examination:

1. Diseases of the heart. This is one of the most common causes of this phenomenon, especially among older people. The heart muscle is not able to cope with its functions. As a result, oxygen is reduced to the organs. From this, the brain suffers. Such violations lead to increased respiration.
2. Diseases of the lungs, bronchi. These are quite common causes of dyspnoea. The phenomenon is caused by narrowing of the bronchi, changes in the lung tissue, as a result of which the necessary amount of oxygen can not enter the blood. In such conditions the respiratory system starts to work in an intensive mode.
3. Anemia . The patient is observed normal enrichment of blood with oxygen due to the proper functioning of the lungs. The heart also cope with its function. It in a normal measure pushes oxygen to all organs and tissues. However, there is a shortage of hemoglobin and red blood cells (red corpuscles), as a result of which the blood flow does not bring the necessary amount of oxygen to the tissues.

Pathology of the heart

Diseases of the cardiovascular system in most cases are accompanied by such an unpleasant symptom, as shortness of breath. Among pathologies capable of provoking this phenomenon, the following are distinguished:

• heart failure;
• hypertension;
• Myocardial infarction;
• Paroxysmal tachycardia;
• pulmonary embolism;
• Ischemic disease;
• Angina pectoris;
• Rupture of the aortic aneurysm.

Heart failure

In this case, dyspnea is observed with little physical exertion. For example, this condition can occur while walking. With further progression of the pathology of dyspnea persists for a long time, including in a state of rest, and in a dream.

As a rule, this condition is accompanied by the following symptoms:

• Swelling of the feet ;
• heartache;
• Cyanotic shade of fingers, tip of nose, stop, earlobes;
• Periodically increasing heart rate;
• Reduced or increased pressure;
• Fatigue, weakness;
• Dizziness, recurrent syncope;
• Dry cough that occurs paroxysmally.

Hypertonic disease

Increased pressure causes heart overload. As a result, the pump function of the organ is disrupted. This causes the onset of shortness of breath. Long neglect of this problem significantly aggravates the patient's condition and leads to the development of heart failure. The patient often has shortness of breath after physical exertion, and even a small one. And with a hypertensive crisis, the symptomatology is significantly strengthened.

In this disease, along with shortness of breath and high blood pressure, the following series of symptoms arise:

• Redness of the face;
• dizziness;
• Fast fatigue ;
• Periodic pain in the heart;
• Flickering of spots before the eyes;
• headache;
• noise in ears.

Myocardial infarction

A dangerous acute condition is characterized by the death of a certain area of the heart. The functioning of the organ deteriorates sharply. Seriously difficult blood flow. As a result of lack of oxygen, the patient experiences severe dyspnea.

Myocardial infarction has a characteristic symptomatology that makes it fairly easy to determine this condition:

• Pain in the heart (stitching, cutting);
• Cold sticky sweat;
• pallor;
• Interruptions in the functioning of the heart;
• A panicky sense of fear;
• Drop in blood pressure.

Pulmonary dyspnea

The defeat of the airways causes difficulty in the passage of air. Thus there is a shortness of breath (even with a small load). Its appearance is associated with the difficulty of normal penetration of oxygen through the walls of the alveoli into the bloodstream. It should be noted that practically all pathologies of bronchi and lungs have this symptom.

Most often, shortness of breath is caused by the following diseases:

• bronchitis;
• Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease;
• pneumonia;
• bronchial asthma;
• Tumor.

Signs of bronchitis

In the case of this pathology, even with a little physical exertion, dyspnea appears. This is a characteristic symptom of bronchitis. This phenomenon is observed both in acute and chronic pathology.

If obstructive bronchitis is diagnosed, the patient has difficulty exhaling. Chronic form of the disease can lead to constant shortness of breath or to periodic exacerbations.

Obstructive pulmonary disease

This pathology is characterized by a narrowing of the lumen in the bronchi. This causes the onset of shortness of breath. It should be said that this is the main symptom of this pathology. The question arises: what results in this disease, and with it unpleasant symptoms, in particular, shortness of breath when exercising?

The causes of the development of obstructive disease lie in the effect of harmful irritants. Most often, this pathology is diagnosed in heavy smokers. The risk group for the development of this disease includes people working in hazardous production.

On the development of pathology may indicate the following features:

• Constant increase of dyspnea;
• The patient breathes in easily, but breathes out very heavily;
• There is a wet cough with the presence of sputum.

Causes of pathology in children

It is very important to pay attention when and how dyspnea occurs when the child is physically stressed. If such a state is observed after active mobile games, while it passes quickly, there is no reason for concern. But if unpleasant symptoms occur even at rest, you should immediately consult a doctor.

Shortness of breath in children can be a sign of a variety of diseases:

• Laryngitis;
• Heart defects;
• Diseases of the respiratory system;
• Anemia;
• VSD.

Sometimes unpleasant symptoms signal the development of the respiratory distress syndrome of the newborn. With this pathology, blood flow in the lungs is broken, resulting in edema. This disease can develop in an infant whose mother is suffering from heart disease, diabetes. At such a crumb, there is frequent and extremely dyspnea. At the same time, the skin becomes pale or becomes bluish.

Why can there be shortness of breath in a child (2.5 years) with physical activity? The causes can be covered in anemia. It can be triggered by a violation of the assimilation of iron, heredity or malnutrition.

In addition, dyspnea may occur in children, even as a result of an ordinary cold. It almost always accompanies such diseases as bronchitis, pneumonia, laryngitis. As a rule, the symptomatology is eliminated on its own after the complete cure of the baby from the disease that provoked it.

Methods of treatment

It is very important to understand that dyspnoea is not a disease, but a symptom that characterizes the development of a certain pathology in the body. That is why one should not resort to various methods, including the people's methods, trying to eliminate such manifestations of the disease. It is necessary to look for the source that provokes it, and to fight this disease.

Thus, until there are found causing such a phenomenon as shortness of breath during physical exertion, the reasons for treatment will be impossible. In addition, it should be realized that the wrong therapy can seriously damage the patient. That's why if you have shortness of breath, you should first contact your doctor.

The patient may need to consult the following specialists:

• cardiologist;
• Pulmonologist;
• neurologist;
• oncologist.

These doctors should prescribe medication.

Shortness of breath, which occurs with heart failure, is observed and treated by a cardiologist. It is extremely important to provide first aid in a timely manner if a person develops an attack with pathologies of the heart:

1. Ensure that fresh air enters the room.
2. The patient should be at rest.
3. If possible, release the patient's chest from squeezing.
4. The patient for breathing needs an oxygen bag.
5. Under the tongue should be given a tablet of "Nitrosorbide".
6. Recommended intake of diuretics.

If dyspnea is provoked by a psychogenic factor, a significant relief to the patient will be the administration of any sedative. The same measures are also suitable for symptomatology provoked by the VSD. It is important to understand that sedatives only temporarily relieve shortness of breath. They do not cure the underlying disease.

Rid of an unpleasant phenomenon in bronchitis can be a complex treatment, appointed by a doctor.

Use for the treatment of dyspnea folk remedies can only be if the painful symptomatology occurs sporadically, after extremely heavy loads. To combat this phenomenon, it is recommended to use a decoction of valerian, mint, lemon balm or a motherwort tincture.

Preventive measures

Here that it is necessary to remember to people who periodically have shortness of breath during physical exertion: the treatment will be effective only if they themselves make certain efforts for this. Recommended:

• Refrain from smoking;
• Try to avoid negative environmental conditions;
• To lead an active life;
• Strengthen immunity;
• do sport;
• Timely treatment of various diseases (especially chronic pathologies of the heart and lungs).

Such measures will not only allow you to eliminate shortness of breath, but will also save you from troubles in the future.