There can be a variety of different reasons why someone may have trouble breathing, and you should definitely consult a medical professional if you are having trouble because it could be some serious. Now, with that out of the way, I can talk about a few simple things that you can do to help to improve your difficulty with breathing whether it is simply from being deconditioned, having exercise induced asthma, or something more problematic like chronic bronchitis or COPD.

Lets start first with a little bit about your lungs. Basically, the lungs work with like a black smith bellows. As you breathe in, the diaphragm contracts and it generates a vacuum inside your lungs by opening space and lowers the pressure (like pulling apart the handles of the bellows). As a result, air travels into the lung to equal out the pressure by comparison with the higher pressure outside. As you breathe out, the diaphragm relaxes and air flows out of the body without much muscle contraction. This is called quite breathing and generally requires very little effort, but leaves a certain amount of “dead air” in your lungs that does not supply oxygen to the body.

However, once someone starts to exert themselves and the body requires more oxygen, the need for effective breathing is critical for the continuation of activity. This involves the ability of your body to forcefully exhale or breathe out. By increasing your ability to exhale you can get rid of more of the de-oxygenated air (dead air) and have more space for oxygenated air. So, here are two quick things to help with improving your breathing.

  1. Diaphragmatic Breathing - http://doctorlynk.wordpress.com/2010/07/24/diaphragmatic-breathing/
  2. Balloons – Yes, go out and buy a bag of balloons and blow up at least 10 per day (you can just keep blowing up the same one until it gets easy and then start another one). By blowing up balloons you will work on exercising the muscles used the exhale (transversus abdominis, intercostals), which allows you to create more space for oxygenated air when you breath in. As you continue to work on this the muscles will become more effective and allow for increased tolerance of higher activity and better lung function. It can also help you clear out fluid that is in the lungs if you are sick (just be prepared to cough a lot).
I hope that everyone can find this tip useful and if you have any questions feel free to post below.
Cheers to your health,
Lynk