The purpose is of course to help others that need you. Here I am exercising at 125 degrees and wondering if this is good for asthma, or at the least don’t want to trigger more asthma.
Pacheco SE, Guidos-Fogelbach G, Annesi-Maesano I, Pawankar R, D’ Amato G, Latour-Staffeld P, Urrutia-Pereira M, Kesic MJ, Hernandez ML; American Academy of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology Environmental Exposures and Respiratory Health Committee. Climate change and global issues in allergy and immunology. J Allergy Clin Immunol. 2021 Dec;148(6):1366-1377. doi: 10.1016/j.jaci.2021.10.011. Epub 2021 Oct 21. PMID: 34688774.–Green house gases will give you more pollen, but exercise in a controlled environment negates the pollen issue. So far, no adverse effects of exercising for asthmatics in a hot sauna.
Xiong J, Liu Z, Chen R, Xie D, Chi Z, Zhang B. Effectiveness and safety of heat-sensitive moxibustion on bronchial asthma: a meta-analysis of randomized control trials. J Tradit Chin Med. 2014 Aug;34(4):392-400. doi: 10.1016/s0254-6272(15)30038-8. PMID: 25185356.–Moxibustion is burning of mug wort leaves for healing benefit. Maybe helpful for asthma, but not the same as exercise in the heat. (for limited time of course)
Rossiello MR, Szema A. Health Effects of Climate Change-induced Wildfires and Heatwaves. Cureus. 2019 May 28;11(5):e4771. doi: 10.7759/cureus.4771. PMID: 31363452; PMCID: PMC6663060.–The key here is none of us want to exercise in a wildfire or prolonged heat wave. Probably not a good idea to run outside in Tulsa when those temperatures get > 95 degrees, but in a controlled environment your risk is limited.
This is an interesting study finding the risk of heat exposure and asthma has decreased because of adaptations and risk monitoring. You gotta be smart!
Konstantinoudis G, Minelli C, Lam HCY, Fuertes E, Ballester J, Davies B, Vicedo-Cabrera AM, Gasparrini A, Blangiardo M. Asthma hospitalisations and heat exposure in England: a case-crossover study during 2002-2019. Thorax. 2023 Apr 17:thorax-2022-219901. doi: 10.1136/thorax-2022-219901. Epub ahead of print. PMID: 37068951.
Background: Previous studies have reported an association between warm temperature and asthma hospitalisation. They have reported different sex-related and age-related vulnerabilities; nevertheless, little is known about how this effect has changed over time and how it varies in space. This study aims to evaluate the association between asthma hospitalisation and warm temperature and investigate vulnerabilities by age, sex, time and space.
Methods: We retrieved individual-level data on summer asthma hospitalisation at high temporal (daily) and spatial (postcodes) resolutions during 2002-2019 in England from the NHS Digital. Daily mean temperature at 1 km×1 km resolution was retrieved from the UK Met Office. We focused on lag 0-3 days. We employed a case-crossover study design and fitted Bayesian hierarchical Poisson models accounting for possible confounders (rainfall, relative humidity, wind speed and national holidays).
Results: After accounting for confounding, we found an increase of 1.11% (95% credible interval: 0.88% to 1.34%) in the asthma hospitalisation risk for every 1°C increase in the ambient summer temperature. The effect was highest for males aged 16-64 (2.10%, 1.59% to 2.61%) and during the early years of our analysis. We also found evidence of a decreasing linear trend of the effect over time. Populations in Yorkshire and the Humber and East and West Midlands were the most vulnerable.
Conclusion: This study provides evidence of an association between warm temperature and hospital admission for asthma. The effect has decreased over time with potential explanations including temporal differences in patterns of heat exposure, adaptive mechanisms, asthma management, lifestyle, comorbidities and occupation.
All in all, we have discussed the importance of taking care of yourself so that you can help others and explored how to manage heat and exercise with asthma patients. Yes, it can be done but caution must be taken. So take a step back once in awhile and recognize that if you are healthier mentally and physically, you’ll do more good for those that need your help. Exercise, breathing techniques, hydration…the list goes on. But don’t forget to add something extra like reading a good book or painting with watercolors; just do something that makes you feel better so you can be the best version of yourself possible. Don’t let life’s down days overshadow your journey – make sure to keep your cool and improve yourself with not only exercise but your choice of stress relief!
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