Yoga Helps Fight Asthma

Asthma is a respiratory disease characterized by chronic inflammation, labored or shortened breathing, wheezing, coughing and sticky mucous from chest. Before we get into discussing the details of this disease, a brief snapshot of what follows in the paragraphs below would be helpful. We will discuss the health benefits of yoga with focus on yoga and asthma with a dedicated section on yoga poses for asthma.

The Symptoms of Asthma

Symptoms of asthma are all apparent unlike certain other diseases. The first symptom that shows up is inflammation in the trachea (wind pipe, connecting throat to lungs) immediately followed by tightness in the chest or shortness of breath. When the asthma attack goes to unmanageable limits, you feel complete constriction of the wind pipe and chest. At this time it is extremely difficult to breathe. But much before this condition is reached; you have sufficient warning signals such as the wheezing sound while exhaling and inhaling (breathing) due to the presence of sputum in the respiratory system, coughs etc.

What Triggers Asthma

Some common triggers leading to asthmatic symptoms are allergens like cold, house dust, pollen, animal dander, irritants such as smokes, chemical fumes etc. For some people, in certain cases, stress from emotional and exercising reasons can trigger the symptoms.

Some Statistics on Asthma

Asthma is not known to take death toll unless proper and timely care is not taken. However, the figure of asthma deaths has been on the rise since 1970s in the United States as well as around the globe. There are about 20 million asthma sufferers in the United States itself. What is alarming is slightly less than half of them (about 9 million) are children below 18 years. Out of the total asthmatics, about 70% have other allergies and 10 million of Americans suffer from allergic asthma. Cases of asthma in children have shot up by a mind boggling 160% is the 1980-1994 period. Incidences of reported deaths have mounted to 5000 annually and direct cost of treatment is pegged at $11.5 billion and indirect costs at %4.1 billion. Prevalence is 39% higher in African Americans than white Americans. Total loss of work days is 24.5 million and school days lost is 12.8 million.

Some Yoga Poses that Help in Combating Asthma (Yoga for Health)

Here is a list of yoga poses for asthma. Regular practice of these workouts for asthma helps you combat asthma attacks better. There have been debates on how yoga and asthma relate to each other. But studies show that certainly there are definite health benefits of yoga.

Easy Yoga Pose

Sukhasana, is the easiest of the yoga poses for asthma as far as yoga and asthma goes. Sitting erect on the floor, cross your legs and clasp your knees easily and that's it. Breathe easy for 5 minutes.

Shoulder Lifts

Lie down flat on floor on your back with your hands stretched above head. Relax for a couple of breaths and slowly lift up shoulders towards front together with head crouching abdomen as in curls. Inhale as you get up and exhale when retracting.

Sun Salutation

Yoga sun salutation (Surya namaskara) is a combination of 12 poses in a sequence beginning and ending in stand-at-ease pose, the 5th and 6th of them being standing on four limbs with body horizontal to the ground while forehead and nose touches ground. The sequential breathing series during the Sun Salutation prepares respiratory mechanism for the asthma combats. This is also helpful for backaches. This is among the top 10 yoga asana to relive asthma.

Kapalabhati Breathing Technique

Yoga and asthma cannot distance themselves from pranayama, a highly meditated breathing technique. Kapalabhati requires that you breathe rapidly in short sequences and consciously control the movements of the diaphragm (a membrane separating abdomen from chest.) This exercises the entire respiratory system.

Anuloma Viloma Breathing Technique

This is known as alternate nostril breathing technique. You inhale through one nostril and exhale through the other with a long retention of the breath in between. This brings breathing a much needed rhythm.

From: yogamiracles.com