Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) is a chronic lung condition that makes it difficult for people to breathe. It affects millions of people worldwide, and symptoms can be worsened during the spring season due to environmental factors such as increased pollen levels and changes in temperature. 

If you're living with COPD, it's important to take steps to maintain your health and manage your symptoms during this time of year. In this blog post, we'll discuss some tips for maintaining a healthy life while living with COPD during the spring season.

Avoid Outdoor Triggers

During the spring season, pollen levels are typically higher, which can exacerbate COPD symptoms. Try to stay indoors as much as possible on days when pollen counts are high. Keep windows and doors closed to prevent pollen from entering your home, and use an air purifier with a HEPA filter to help remove airborne allergens. You may also want to avoid using fans or air conditioning units that can circulate pollen and other allergens around your home.

Exercise Regularly

Regular exercise is an important part of managing COPD symptoms and maintaining overall health. However, it's important to be cautious when exercising during the spring season, as changes in temperature and air quality can make it more difficult to breathe. 

If you're planning to exercise outdoors, try to do so early in the morning or in the evening when pollen levels are lower. You may also want to consider wearing a face mask or scarf to help filter out airborne allergens. If you're unsure about exercising outdoors, consider joining a gym or participating in indoor exercise classes instead.

Stay Hydrated

Staying hydrated is important for everyone, but it's especially important for people living with COPD. Drinking plenty of water can help thin mucus in the lungs and make it easier to breathe.

Additionally, if you're taking medications for COPD, staying hydrated can help ensure that they are properly absorbed by your body. Aim to drink at least eight glasses of water per day, and consider carrying a water bottle with you throughout the day to remind yourself to stay hydrated.

Eat a Healthy Diet

Eating a healthy diet can help support your overall health and manage COPD symptoms. Aim to eat a variety of nutrient-rich foods, including fruits, vegetables, whole grains, lean protein, and healthy fats.

Avoid processed foods, sugary drinks, and foods high in saturated and trans fats, as these can contribute to inflammation and worsen COPD symptoms. If you're struggling to maintain a healthy diet, consider working with a registered dietitian who can provide personalized recommendations and support.

Manage Stress

Living with a chronic illness like COPD can be stressful, and stress can exacerbate symptoms. It's important to find ways to manage stress and prioritize self-care. Some strategies for managing stress include practicing mindfulness, deep breathing exercises, meditation, and yoga. Additionally, it's important to make time for activities you enjoy and to prioritize rest and relaxation.

Follow your Treatment Plan

If you're living with COPD, it's important to work closely with your healthcare provider to develop a treatment plan that's right for you. This may include medications, oxygen therapy, pulmonary rehabilitation, and other treatments.

Be sure to follow your treatment plan as prescribed, and let your healthcare provider know if you're experiencing any changes in symptoms or if you have any concerns about your treatment.

Get Vaccinated

People living with COPD are at increased risk for complications from respiratory infections, including influenza and pneumonia. It's important to get vaccinated to help protect against these illnesses. Talk to your healthcare provider about which vaccines are recommended for you and when you should receive them.

Monitor your Symptoms

It's important to monitor your symptoms and seek medical attention if you experience any changes

Increasing Oxygen Levels 

As humans, oxygen is one of the most important elements for our survival. Our bodies require a constant supply of oxygen to function correctly. However, some people suffer from conditions that make it difficult for them to breathe properly, leading to low oxygen levels in their blood. 

This condition, known as hypoxemia, can cause serious health problems if left untreated. Fortunately, the advent of portable oxygen concentrators (POCs) has made it easier for people with low oxygen levels to manage their condition and maintain a healthy lifestyle.

A portable oxygen concentrator is a small, lightweight device that can be carried around and used to provide a continuous supply of oxygen. The device works by taking in air from the environment, filtering out nitrogen and other gases, and delivering purified oxygen to the user. POCs are battery-powered and can be recharged, making them ideal for people who need oxygen therapy on-the-go.

One of the most significant benefits of using a portable oxygen concentrator is the increase in blood oxygen levels that it provides. When someone with hypoxemia uses a POC, the device ensures that they are getting a steady supply of oxygen. This increase in oxygen helps to raise the oxygen levels in their blood, which can have a range of health benefits.

One of the most immediate benefits of increased blood oxygen levels is that it can reduce feelings of fatigue and exhaustion. Hypoxemia can make it difficult for the body to carry out everyday tasks, leading to a lack of energy and motivation. 

However, by using a portable oxygen concentrator, individuals with hypoxemia can ensure that their body is getting the oxygen it needs to function correctly, reducing feelings of tiredness and improving their quality of life.

Another benefit of using a portable oxygen concentrator is that it can improve cognitive function. When the brain is not receiving enough oxygen, it can lead to confusion, forgetfulness, and other cognitive problems. By increasing the amount of oxygen in the blood, a POC can help to improve cognitive function, allowing individuals to think more clearly and stay focused.

Using a portable oxygen concentrator can also help to reduce the risk of further health problems. Hypoxemia can cause a range of health issues, including damage to vital organs such as the heart and brain. By using a POC to increase blood oxygen levels, individuals can reduce the risk of further complications and ensure that their body is receiving the oxygen it needs to stay healthy.

A portable oxygen concentrator is an essential device for individuals who suffer from hypoxemia. By providing a steady supply of oxygen, a POC can help to increase blood oxygen levels, reduce feelings of fatigue and exhaustion, improve cognitive function, and reduce the risk of further health problems. If you or a loved one suffers from hypoxemia, speak to your doctor about whether a portable oxygen concentrator may be right for you. 

With the help of a POC, you can manage your condition and maintain a healthy, active lifestyle.

The Best Portable Oxygen Concentrator for Treating COPD 

The ARYA Airvito Max portable oxygen concentrator from LPT Medical can help control COPD (Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease) symptoms in the spring by providing supplemental oxygen to those who suffer from breathing difficulties.

Spring can be a challenging season for COPD patients, as the air is often filled with pollen, dust, and other allergens that can exacerbate their symptoms. The ARYA Airvito Max is designed to provide a constant flow of oxygen, which can help alleviate shortness of breath, fatigue, and other COPD symptoms caused by these environmental triggers.

Using the ARYA Airvito Max portable oxygen concentrator can also help COPD patients maintain their daily activities, even when the air quality is poor. 

This device is compact and lightweight, making it easy to carry around and use wherever you go. It provides a steady stream of oxygen that can help increase stamina, reduce fatigue, and improve overall quality of life.

It's important to note that the ARYA Airvito Max is a medical device and should only be used under the supervision of a healthcare professional. They can help determine the appropriate oxygen flow rate for your individual needs and guide you in using the device correctly. 

If you have COPD and are experiencing symptoms in the spring, it may be worth considering using a portable oxygen concentrator like the ARYA Airvito Max to help manage your condition.

Conclusion 

In conclusion, while spring can pose some challenges for individuals with COPD, there are several ways to maintain good health and enjoy the season. Taking precautions to avoid respiratory irritants, staying hydrated, eating a healthy diet, and staying active can all help reduce symptoms and improve overall health. 

Additionally, following a COPD management plan and working closely with healthcare providers can provide guidance on how to manage symptoms and prevent exacerbations. By taking these steps, individuals with COPD can continue to lead healthy and active lives during the spring and beyond.

Also remember that the ARYA Airvito Max portable oxygen concentrator can provide significant relief to COPD patients by delivering a steady flow of oxygen to their lungs. This device is designed to be lightweight, portable, and user-friendly, which makes it easy for patients to use at home or on the go.

By providing the required amount of oxygen, the ARYA Airvito Max can help ease COPD symptoms such as shortness of breath, fatigue, and confusion, enabling patients to engage in their daily activities with ease. Overall, this device is a reliable and effective solution for COPD patients who need supplemental oxygen therapy to manage their symptoms and improve their quality of life.

If you are a parent or guardian, then you know what it's like to worry about your children's health, whether it's concern about illnesses, unhealthy environments, or risk for future disease. This worry is natural, and even rational, as early childhood experiences can have an effect your children's long-term health.

Childhood is a particularly vulnerable time for young lungs, in fact, which are much smaller, narrower, and more susceptible to injury compared to adult lungs. Because of this, children's lungs need extra protection from illness and airborne hazards like pollution and smoke.

Unfortunately, lung damage sustained during childhood can significantly increase a child's risk for asthma and lung problems later in life. It can even set the stage for more serious lung conditions that appear in older adulthood, including COPD.

Fortunately, there are a variety of different precautions you can take to minimize your child's risk for lung damage and disease. But in order to do so, you first need to understand children's lung sensitivities and how to recognize a variety of different substances and activities and that are hazardous to their lungs.

That's why we created this guide specifically for parents who want to know how to keep their children's lungs safe and healthy as they grow. It includes dozens of practical tips for reducing the number of respiratory hazards in your child's lives and helpful strategies for creating a more lung-healthy home.

We'll start by explaining how illnesses, environment, and lifestyle can affect your children's lungs and even pre-dispose them to lung problems later in life. Then, we'll explain how to make some simple changes to household habits and routines in order to minimize your children's exposure to respiratory irritants at home.

Finally, we'll discuss what you can do to prepare your children with the knowledge and values they need to take care of their lungs for the rest of their life. In these sections, you'll find helpful advice (curated from experts) for talking to your kids about smoking, as well as additional tips for teaching them the skills they need for good respiratory health.

Why Worry About Lung Disease So Young?

Most serious lung diseases, like COPD, begin in older adulthood, which is usually when the first major symptoms start to appear. Because of this, it might seem strange to start worrying about lung disease so early in your child's life.

However, it's important to understand that COPD is caused by lung damage, and lung damage that leads to COPD usually happens much earlier in life. However, because COPD tends to develop very slowly over the course of many years, the results of that damage might take decades to show.

Most cases of COPD are caused by smoking, but research shows that many other factors besides smoking can contribute to the disease. These factors include early childhood experiences, including respiratory infections and exposure to environmental hazards like smoke.

Because children's lungs are small and still developing, they are even more sensitive to these hazards than adults. This makes them more likely to sustain lung damage from breathing toxic substances, and also increases the risk that this damage will result in long-term effects.

This is also one of the reasons why children develop asthma during childhood, and sometimes later as adults. After all, experts have long known that a child's risk for asthma is strongly influenced by illnesses and harmful substances in their environment.

Because of this, it's particularly important to protect children from lung-damaging substances early in life. Doing so can reduce their risk for lung problems in adulthood, both minor (e.g. reduced overall lung function) and severe (e.g. COPD).

If you are a parent who has COPD, or if you know a loved one with the disease, then you probably have an idea of how terrible and painful it can be. Fortunately, if you are willing to take action in your home and in other areas of your children's lives, you can significantly reduce their risk for lung problems both now and later in life.

Is Your Child At Risk for Lung Disease?

Now that we've established that children's lungs are vulnerable at an early age, let's take a closer look at what specific kinds of things can put their respiratory health at risk. Researchers have identified a number of early childhood risk factors for asthma, COPD, and other lung diseases, most of which you can prevent.

Exposure to Air Pollution and Respiratory Irritants

There are many different kinds of substances that can damage the lungs when you breathe them in, including noxious chemicals, gases, and small airborne particles. Unfortunately, we encounter many of these substances every single day both outdoors and inside our own homes.

Because of this, it's not realistic to avoid respiratory irritants entirely; however, you can take steps to minimize how much and how often your children breathe them in. This is particularly important if your child has asthma or another respiratory condition that makes their lungs extra sensitive to irritation.

Fortunately, there are many things you can do to reduce the amount of air pollution and other respiratory irritants your children are exposed to at home. In fact, we'll show you a variety of practical tips and techniques later in this guide to help you make your house a safer environment for developing lungs.

Common respiratory irritants include:

• Air pollution (both indoors and outdoors)
• Fumes from wood-burning fireplaces and stoves
• Chemical fumes from cleaning solutions and household chemicals
• Volatile Organic Compounds (or VOC's) found in products like paints, solvents, perfumes, pesticides, and chemically treated lumber
• Smoke and second-hand smoke

This list covers only a few of many potential respiratory hazards that could affect your children's lungs. We'll go over many more examples, including specific household sources of respiratory irritants, all throughout this guide.

Childhood Asthma

If your child suffers from asthma, that factor alone can make them more likely to develop COPD later in life. In fact, research has established a very strong link between asthma and COPD, especially severe and persistent childhood asthma.

This connection is at least partially caused by chronic inflammation in the lungs and airways, a symptom that both asthma and COPD share. Over time, the inflammation caused by asthma can cause irreversible changes to lung tissues, resulting in airway obstruction and permanent lung function loss.

In other words, asthma can cause the exact same type of lung damage that leads to COPD.

This is known as Asthma-COPD Overlap Syndrome, and it's more common in children who experience severe and frequent asthma symptoms. The risk is much lower for children whose symptoms are mild or well controlled.

Unfortunately, having asthma also makes your child's lungs more susceptible to the damaging effects of respiratory irritants (also known as asthma triggers) like allergens, cooking fumes, and smoke. This means that a child with asthma has a higher risk for COPD if they are repeatedly exposed to these hazards.

Respiratory Infections

Research shows that children who have severe respiratory infections—such as pneumonia and bronchitis—in early childhood are more likely to develop COPD in adulthood. The reason for this is that lung infections can damage the delicate, under-developed tissues in a child's lungs, resulting in respiratory decline and sensitivity that can last for the rest of their lives.

One study, for example, found that people who had a serious respiratory infection before the age of five were more likely to have reduced lung function and asthma in adulthood. It also made them more susceptible to the negative effects of second-hand smoke, which can cause severe asthma symptoms and permanent lung function decline.

The risk for for respiratory problems is higher for children whose infections are severe, repeated, or occur at a very early age. Unfortunately, all of the factors we've mentioned—serious lung infections, asthma, and reduced lung function—are all factors that can increase a child's risk for COPD.

Exposure to Smoke and Second-Hand Smoke

Repeated exposure to second-hand smoke is hard on developing lungs, and it can cause measurable, long-term damage that persists into adulthood. It can also make a child's lungs more prone to future damage, which increases the health dangers of smoking—and exposure to other respiratory irritants—for the rest of their life.

Research shows children who were frequently exposed to second-hand smoke grow up to have poorer lung function in adulthood. These children are also more likely to develop COPD decades later, even if they stay smoke-free throughout their lives.

Even smoking while pregnant (or simply being exposed to second-hand smoke during pregnancy) can affect your child's long-term health. For example, children born to mothers who smoked while they were pregnant may suffer from permanently reduced lung function and a higher risk for respiratory conditions like asthma and COPD.

However, the potential for respiratory problems is only one of many reasons why you should protect your child from second-hand smoke. Research shows that second-hand smoke exposure during childhood can lead to a variety of serious health problems later in life, including high blood pressure, heart disease, and stroke.

Here is a more extensive list of health problems caused by childhood exposure to second-hand smoke:

• Ear infections
• Tooth decay
• Illnesses like coughs and colds
• Respiratory infections like pneumonia and bronchitis
• Increased risk of developing asthma
• Increased risk of cognitive problems and learning disabilities
• Increased risk for ADHD
• Increased risk for heart disease later in life
• Increased risk of being a smoker
• Acute respiratory symptoms, including:
• coughing
• wheezing
• breathlessness
• phlegm

Negative health problems caused by smoking during pregnancy:

• Lower birth weight (which can lead to other health complications)
• Increased risk for sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS)
• Increased risk for miscarriage and stillbirth
• Increased risk for developmental problems, including learning disabilities
• Reduced lung function
• Increased risk for asthma and other lung conditions

Early Prevention is Key

It's important to realize that lung damage is cumulative, which means that repeated exposure to lung-damaging particles and environments can add up over time. Too much exposure to respiratory hazards over the course of a lifetime can trigger COPD, even if no single event or exposure can be traced back as the cause.

Most people only get COPD from smoking or from exposure to other airborne substances (e.g. chemical fumes and second-hand smoke) if it happens repeatedly over an extended period of time. But because COPD is such a slow-moving disease, it usually takes years for the long-term damage to show.

Part of the reason it takes so long is that lungs are extremely resilient; they have enough extra capacity built in to compensate for a lot of damage. You can lose a surprising amount of lung function before it begins to noticeably affect your ability to breathe.

Unfortunately, this also means that it's impossible to know whether or not you have COPD until your lungs have already been severely damaged by the disease. You have to lose a large percentage of your lung function before you can be diagnosed with COPD, and it's notoriously difficult to catch in the early stages.

Because of this—and the fact that there is no cure for COPD—prevention is absolutely key. The only true way to prevent COPD, however, is to protect your lungs from hazards like air pollution and smoke as much as possible throughout your life.

This should begin in early childhood, when the lungs are particularly vulnerable to the environment. In fact, it should begin in pregnancy, when any harmful substances a mother gets exposed to can lead to health problems after the baby is born.

How to Reduce Early Childhood Risk Factors for Lung Problems

Fortunately, most of the major childhood risk factors for asthma and COPD are preventable as long as you take the right precautions. Let's take a look at some specific actions you can take while your children are young to minimize their lung disease risks.

Quit Smoking

If you are a smoker, then quitting is—by far—the best thing you can do to keep your children's lungs healthy and safe. After all, research shows that parents are the main source of second-hand smoke exposure during childhood, and that simply living with a parent who smokes can significantly increase a child's risk for lung disease later in life.

One study, for example, found that children who live with a smoker are 31 percent more likely to die from COPD as adults. Smoking can also have an immediate effect on your child's respiratory health, increasing their risk for lung infections and respiratory illness-related hospitalizations.

According to the EPA, second-hand smoke causes up to 300,000 extra cases of lower respiratory tract infections in children under 18 months of age. As we discussed earlier in this guide, childhood respiratory infections are another major risk factor for developing COPD.

Minimize Your Child's Exposure to Outdoor Air Pollution

Outdoor air pollution is a common respiratory hazard that can cause serious damage to lungs. Air pollution is even more dangerous for children because, in addition to being more vulnerable to lung damage, children get higher doses of air pollution due to their faster breathing rate.

In fact, one major air pollution study (pdf link) found that children who grow up in areas with higher than normal outdoor pollution experienced permanent respiratory decline. Their lungs not only developed more slowly than usual, but also functioned less effectively as adults.

Children with asthma are even more sensitive to air pollution, which can exacerbate asthma symptoms and make them more likely to develop other lung problems like bronchitis and COPD. In many cases, the effects of air pollution are irreversible, which means that children who are exposed to heavy air pollution during childhood may have weakened lungs for the rest of their lives.

Because of this, it's a good to get in the habit of checking the the air pollution levels in your city, which can change significantly from day to day. Then, do your best to plan your children's outdoor activities during days when the outdoor air quality is good.

Keep in mind that things like the weather, temperature, and the even time of day can influence both the amount and the types of pollutants in the air. If you keep your children indoors on days when air quality is poor, you can minimize their exposure to the dangers of heavy pollution.

While this might seem inconvenient, limiting how much time your child spends outside breathing polluted air can make a difference in their respiratory health. In most places, you can still ensure plenty of outside playtime on low-pollution days.

However, in some cities, air pollution is so persistent and heavy that it's impossible to avoid. If you live in an area like this, you may have fewer options for protecting your children's lungs.

In some cases, the best option is to move away from the pollution to a city with cleaner air. However, moving your family somewhere new is not a cheap or easy task, and it's simply not a realistic option for many.

But even if you can't get away from polluted outdoor air, what you can do is put extra effort into protecting your children from the respiratory hazards that you do have the power to control (e.g. smoke and chemical fumes). You should also watch your children closely for persistent respiratory symptoms that could indicate a developing problem with their lungs.

Protect Your Child from Respiratory Illnesses

As we've mentioned a couple times already, serious respiratory infections can significantly increase your child's risk for asthma and COPD. That's one reason why it's important to take precaution to prevent your child from getting sick.

Most common respiratory illnesses are minor, but young children have a higher risk of developing complications. If the illness becomes serious, it has the potential to cause permanent lung damage that will follow them through the rest of their lives.

The best way to prevent the spread of illnesses is to practice proper hygiene and teach your kids to look after their own hygiene, too. You should also take care to keep your children away from other children or adults who are sick.

If your child does get sick a with respiratory illness, you should keep a close eye on their symptoms until they get better. Over time, even a simple cold or flu can turn in to a more serious infection like bronchitis or pneumonia.

Unfortunately, it can be difficult to tell the signs of a respiratory infection apart from a less serious illness like a cold, so don't hesitate to call the doctor if you are worried about your child's symptoms. You should also take them to the doctor if their symptoms become severe or if they don't start to get better after being sick for several days.

Here are some of the most common symptoms of pneumonia in children to look out for:

• Rapid breathing
• Difficulty breathing
• Exerting extra effort to breathe
• A grunting or wheezing sound with breathing
• Shaking or chills
• Pain in the chest and/or abdomen
• Vomiting
• Fatigue or reduced energy
• Loss of appetite
• Bluish or gray skin color in the lips or fingernails (this is a sign of a medical emergency)

If you notice any of the above symptoms or otherwise suspect your child might have pneumonia, you should take them to the doctor right away. You should also make sure your child is up to date with all their vaccinations, but especially those that protect against respiratory illnesses like whooping cough, pneumonia, and influenza.

You should be extra cautious with children under the age of five, whose lungs are the most sensitive to to the damaging effects of infection. After all, pneumonia is one of the leading causes of death in young children, especially children under the age of two.

How to Create a Lung-Healthy Environment at Home

Believe it or not, the place where your children are most likely to be exposed to hazardous respiratory irritants is inside their own home. There are two main reasons for this: First, children tend to spend a large quantity of their time indoors, and the majority of that time is spent at home.

Second, many homes have poor indoor air quality due to unhealthy levels of airborne particles and fumes. In fact, research shows that a large percentage of houses have air quality that's poor enough to cause noticeable respiratory effects, especially in children with asthma.

Because of this, one of the best ways to protect your child's lungs is to minimize the amount of respiratory hazards they are exposed to at home. There are many simple ways to this, including removing sources of airborne irritants and making adjustments to household habits (e.g. cooking and cleaning).

Keep Your Home Smoke Free

Tobacco smoke, and smoke in general, is one of the most dangerous respiratory hazards you can have in your home. Even long after the source of smoke is gone, dangerous gases and airborne particles can persist for days or even months indoors.

As a result, no amount of indoor smoking is ever considered safe, especially in a house with children. Even if you only smoke in the house when your kids are not around, the air will still be contaminated when they return.

Because of this, making your house 100% smoke free is a vital part of creating a safe and clean environment for your kids. That means prohibiting any kind of smoking inside your house, and also outside the house near any open windows and entrances that could allow the smoke to drift indoors.

Other sources of smoke, like

For people with COPD, life is often filled with uncertainty: uncertainty about health, uncertainty about the future, and uncertainty about how bad your symptoms will be on a given day. That's why it's especially important for people with COPD have a safe, familiar place to retreat to when they need to get away from the stresses and inconveniences of the outside world.

For most people, that safe space is their home.

Home is one of the only places where you have the power to control your space and the environment that surrounds you. This is an advantage that you shouldn't take for granted—especially if you have a mobility-limiting condition like COPD.

When you're living with chronic disease and/or disability, the design of the space you live in can be a critical factor in your overall quality of life. It can mean the difference between being able to navigate your home comfortably and not being able to complete basic household tasks.

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Unfortunately, many people with COPD never get to see their true potential because their home was never adapted to accommodate their COPD. Fortunately, making your home more COPD-friendly doesn't have to be a large or expensive project, regardless of the size or shape of the space.

Even small, simple changes—if made in the right places—can have a significant impact on your everyday life. That's we created this guide to show you how to make any space in your home more accessible, more functional, and more comfortable to live in with COPD.

We cover everything from how to arrange specific rooms to make household tasks less physically taxing to how you can use affordable gadgets and accessibility equipment to make everyday activities more convenient. No matter what kind of budget, time, or skill level you're working with, you can find an idea for something practical, simple, and meaningful you can do.

We'll also cover:

• How to spot problem areas and identify opportunities for improvement in your home
• How to organize your belongings for maximum efficiency and accessibility
• How to optimize your space to save energy and reduce breathlessness at home
• How to eliminate safety hazards and make it easier to move around your home
• How to choose furniture and appliances that require minimal effort and strain to use
• Inexpensive adaptive tools and gadgets to make everyday tasks easier to do with COPD.

Making Your Home a Refuge That Accommodates Your COPD Needs

Your home (or your private living space) is a special, sacred place, because it's one of the only environments you can adapt to fit your personal wants and needs. It's a place where you should feel capable, comfortable and safe—a refuge from the uncertainties of life and the expectations of the outside world.

Home is also where you should be able to live life the way you want to and do the things you love. It should empower you to be as independent as possible, and help you perform daily tasks in a way that's comfortable to you.

This is especially important if you COPD, which can have a significant impact on your mobility, endurance, and overall strength. Having a space that works with rather than against your physical limitations can make a radical difference in your daily life and your ability to live comfortably with COPD.

People with COPD often have special needs that others do not, such as the need to conserve energy, avoid lung irritants, or use supplemental oxygen during the day. These needs can significantly affect how you go about daily activities, but how much they limit your activities depends heavily on how well your living space is designed to accommodate those needs.

Because of this, people with COPD (and other chronic diseases) have more at stake—and more to consider—when arranging their living space. You not only have to think about what you need in the present, but also about how your physical needs abilities might change in the future; for example, when you have an exacerbation, or as your COPD progresses (causing further lung function decline).

Taking It Room by Room

Though we often think about our homes in abstract or aesthetic terms, at its core, a house is primarily a functional space. It's not just a place that you live in, it's a place made up of many distinct rooms and functional areas, each of which is designed for a specific purpose.

Because of this, each separate room or area in your home will have a different set of requirements for “optimal” design. That's why creating a luxurious home is all about creating optimized spaces, and why you have to consider each part of your living space as a separate part of the whole.

That's why, in this guide, we're going go through each room (or functional space) in the home one-by-one. This lets us focus on optimization with an emphasis on the kinds of tasks and activities that tend to be the most difficult for people with COPD.

In the following sections, you'll find a wide variety of tips, techniques, and ideas—both big and small—for how to make your home more comfortable, efficient, and COPD-friendly. Most of them utilize simple tools and straightforward techniques that anyone can pull off with minimal cost and difficulty.

We know that everyone has different preferences, abilities, and constraints to consider, so we did our best to include a little bit of something for everyone. And since each section in this guide addresses a different type of living area, you can easily skip around to find tips for whichever rooms you're most interested in.

Defining the Scope of Your Project

As you begin working on your home, it's important to remember your end goal and what you're really trying to achieve: greater comfort, accessibility, and convenience in your home. Otherwise, it's easy to get caught up in unimportant details or end up working on a totally different project than the one you set out to do.

It's also important to consider the specific parameters of your home improvement project. Everyone has time, budget, and resource limitations, and these limitations will help you determine the scope of what you can and can't do.

Of course, there are also physical limitations to consider, like the amount of space you have to work with and the floor plan of your home. While some people can afford to make extensive renovations or move to a more accessible home, many people can't, which is why the focus of this guide is how to do the best you can with the space you already have.

However, it's important to be realistic about the things you can and can't change or control in your home. Doing so will help you get the most out of your efforts by directing your energy and resources toward the the things that will make the most difference.

Still, limitations don't have to be the end-all-be-all, and you don't have to let them discourage you or stop you in your tracks. Even when you're faced with unchangeable circumstances, you might still be able to get at least some of what you want, even if you have to go about it in a different way.

For example, if you live in a multi-level home, you might not be able to change the fact that you have to go up and down stairs. However, you can make your stairs easier to navigate, or organize your home in such a way that you don't have use the stairs as often.

Whenever you run in to snags or difficulties, try to take a step back and consider different approaches. That's the best thing about taking the initiative to improve your space on your own; you can be as creative and unconventional as you want to be, as long as the end results work for you.

Things to Keep Mind For Any Space

Starting any kind of home improvement project can be a daunting task, but you don't have to jump into it blind. Knowing some basic home design principles and organizational techniques can help guide you through a wide range of different projects in every area of your home.

Here are some tips to help you help you get started—and stay focused—no matter what part of your home you're working to improve:

• Start by identifying problem areas, clutter, and sources of inconvenience or strain.
• Prioritize the areas that get the most use and matter most to you.
• Pay close attention to how each room's design and furniture layout affects how you use and navigate the space.
• Arrange each area to facilitate the activities you do most often, or the activities that you struggle with most because of your COPD
• Organize things by category and function so you don't have similar items spread out (and likely forgotten) between multiple rooms.
• Minimize clutter by making space to store all of your belongings; as the old saying goes, there should be “a place for everything, and everything in its place.”
• In general, stick with simple solutions; complex designs and intricate organizational systems are difficult to pull off.

While the rest of this guide focuses on room-specific strategies, we'll continue to discuss these and other general organizing principles throughout this guide. That's why we recommend reading through all of the following sections, even if you only plan to work on a certain part of your home; you might find an idea or find inspiration in one section that can be adapted to a variety of different rooms.

Improving Your Home for COPD Room by Room

The Bathroom

Let's start by talking about the bathroom, a unique space that serves as a multi-functional hub for a variety of different hygiene and grooming activities. The bathroom plays a huge role in most people's morning and evening routines, and can even be a place for relaxation and respite during the day.

Unfortunately, bathrooms can also be difficult spaces to navigate (and tolerate) if you have COPD.

First, bathrooms tend to be full of mobility barriers like tight spaces, slick surfaces, and tall tub sides. Second, bathrooms tend to have more air quality issues than other places in the home due to their propensity to collect mold, trap excess humidity, and accumulate noxious cleaning product fumes.

Luckily, there are many ways to make your bathroom more accessible and keep the air inside it fresh. Mostly, it comes down to establishing proper ventilation, practical organization, and outfitting your bathroom with a few key features to mitigate safety and mobility concerns.

Because everyone uses the bathroom so often, it's important to make it a place that feels comfortable, functional, and safe. With some work, you can even turn it into a place you want to spend time in, which can open up new opportunities for pampering and self care.

Organizing Your Bathroom for More Practical Use

Bathrooms, like most frequently-used spaces in the home, are prone to clutter and disorganization. It's easy to end up with crowded cabinets full of disorganized bath and skincare products while everyday toiletries and medicine bottles pile up on the counter top.

This is especially true for small bathrooms that have limited storage space. That's why, in most cases, organizing and paring down all your bathroom belongings is the best place to start.

First, get everything out of your cabinets, drawers, and all the other nooks and crannies in your bathroom. Then, sort those items by priority: what do you and others in your household use every day, versus every week, down to those that you very seldom (or not at all).

Next, it's time to pare things down. Consider what actually needs to be in the bathroom, what would be better stored elsewhere, and what you wouldn't mind getting rid of altogether.

If you've whittled it down to the essentials but you still don't have enough room to store everything neatly, you might need to expand your bathroom storage capacity. There are plenty of ways to do this without having to add any permanent cabinets or shelving; for example, you could use cabinet organizers, over-the-door storage devices, or small, stackable plastic storage containers

When you put all your belongings back, do it neatly and in order of importance, placing the most frequently-used items in the most convenient-to-reach places. This will ensure that you can access everyday items with the minimal amount of physical strain.

Make Your Shower a Safer and More Comfortable Place to Be

Showering is often a challenge for people with COPD, and many find it to be the most taxing part of their daily routine. When you combine the heat and humidity with physical strain of standing and washing, showering is a recipe for breathlessness if you don't have the right tools.

Luckily, you can make showering much more tolerable—and even pleasant—in just a few simple steps. First, you need to establish good ventilation in your bathroom, and then consider installing some basic (and relatively inexpensive) accessibility aids.

Proper Ventilation

Ventilating your bathroom sucks away excess heat and humidity, making it easier to breathe while you bathe. It also helps to get rid of stagnant humidity after you're out of the shower, reducing the risk that air-polluting mold will grow.

It's also important to ventilate the bathroom when you clean it to protect your lungs from the harmful fumes that many cleaning products generate. This is especially important for small, enclosed bathroom spaces that tend to trap and concentrate noxious fumes.

There are many different ways to ventilate your bathroom, and the easiest by far is by using a proper ventilation fan, the kind that's usually installed in the ceiling and turns on with a switch. Alternatively, you can open up the windows and doors attached to the bathroom and help the airflow along using one or more fans.

Equipment that can help you improve your bathroom ventilation:

• A well-functioning ventilation fan that vents outdoors
• A window fan that adjusts to fit snugly in your window frame
• A standing fan or table fan to blow air out the windows and/or doors

Safe & Comfy Floors

Drips and splashes are inevitable in the bathroom, which—unless your bathroom is carpeted—leads to damp, slick floors. This can be a very dangerous fall risk, not to mention an uncomfortable inconvenience when you step into a cold puddle on the floor.

That's why, if your bathroom has hard flooring, it's a good idea to place a non-slip bath mat near the shower and/or sink. Just make sure you choose a mat that's not too bulky (to reduce the risk of tripping over the edges) and has a sufficiently grippy rubber backing to hold it firmly in place on the floor.

That said, you should never use throw rugs or traditional bath mats (that don't have non-slip backings), as they can significantly increase your risk of trips and falls. In fact, studies show that poorly-secured bath mats are one of the biggest causes of fall injuries in the home.

In addition to the safety benefits, a non-slip bath mat is an extremely simple and affordable way to add an extra bit of luxury to your bathroom. Even though it's a simple comfort, having a soft, warm mat to greet you in when you step out of the shower, or when you make a bare-footed trip to the bathroom in the middle of the night, is something that you can enjoy and appreciate every day.

Shower Accessibility Tools

There are lots of different adaptive aids and equipment to help in the bathroom, and most are designed to make the bath and shower easier to use. They include shower chairs, handles, and bars to provide extra stability, as well as equipment that makes it easier to wash yourself when you bathe.

Here is a list of some of the most common and practical shower accessibility tools:

• In-shower handles and bars: these make it easier to stabilize yourself in the shower and reduces the risk of falling when you get in and out of the tub (avoid handles that use suction cups or other insecure methods of attaching to the wall).
• In-tub non-slip mat: this can help you get extra grip on the floor in the bathtub while providing a softer, more comfortable surface for your feet.
• Shower chair: this allows you sit while you shower, which not only helps you save energy (which reduces breathlessness), but also significantly reduces your risk of slipping on the slick floor.
• Removable, Hand-Held Shower Head: this type of shower head gives you full control over the water angle and flow, a must-have if you shower sitting down in a shower chair.
• Long-handled scrub brush: this can help you reach all areas of your body without having to strain or contort yourself.
• Tub Transfer Bench: this is a simple seat that forms a bridge over the edge of the tub so that you can easily sit and slide yourself over to get into the tub.
• Raised toilet seat or toilet safety frame: either or both of these are great solutions for those who struggle to get up and down from a sitting position, or get breathless doing so because of their COPD.

Addressing Mold and Other Air Quality Problems

There are a number of causes of air quality problems in the bathroom, the main culprits being mold, strongly-scented products, and noxious cleaning fumes. Mold tends to be the most dangerous because it can hide in unseen places and continually release toxic spores that can damage your lungs.

It's important to check your bathroom for mold regularly, keeping an eye out for black spots or a musty, moldy smell. If you find mold, get it cleaned up immediately to prevent it from spreading or causing structural damage to floors, ceilings, and walls.

In most situations, it's best to let someone else do the cleaning; messing with mold tends to stir up the spores, which can be dangerous for sensitive lungs. Consider asking a friend or family member to help you take care of minor mold problems or hire a professional for bigger jobs.

You should also pay attention to what kinds of products you (and others in your household) use; do any of them make you cough, feel breathless, or otherwise irritate your lungs? Strong fragrances are a common COPD trigger, and many people find it easier to breathe when they use unscented and fragrance-free products in their home.

If your lungs are scent-sensitive, you should also avoid using air fresheners and aerosol spray products, especially in an enclosed bathroom space. You should also avoid using noxious cleaning products (opting instead for lung-safe alternatives) and make sure to let the bathroom air out after it's cleaned.

The Bedroom

While the bedroom might not seem like a top-priority place for a re-design, your bedroom is actually one of the more important environments in the home. Your bedroom not only sets the stage for how you start and end your day, but it also plays a major role in your ability to get a good night's sleep.

This is especially important for people with COPD, who often experience difficulty getting to sleep and staying asleep at night. And while changing up your bedroom won't solve all of your sleeping problems, it can help you control certain COPD triggers and create an environment that's more conducive to sleep.

To do this, you need to consider ambient factors, like temperature and noise control, in addition to tangible factors like bedding, furniture layout, and décor. You might be surprised at how much a bit of optimization in the bedroom can improve your sleep and quality of life.

Making Your Bed More COPD-Friendly

If you're going to optimize anything in your bedroom, your actual bed is probably the best place to start. It's centerpiece of every bedroom and, arguably, the most important piece of furniture you own, since you spend hours lying in bed every single night.

Making your bed more comfortable starts with the mattress and bedding, both of which should be comfortable and suited to your temperature needs. If you tend to get hot at night, for example, you might want to avoid memory foam mattresses and thermal bedding that are more likely to make you overheat.

You should also make sure to wash your sheets and blankets often to get rid of dust, allergens, and other irritants that can accumulate in your bedding and aggravate your COPD. This is especially important if your lungs are very sensitive or you notice your COPD symptoms getting worse after you go to bed.

It's also important to have the right tools for good sleep posture, which often means having some extra pillows for support. Whether you prefer to lay on your back, side, or stomach, some extra cushioning in the right places can help you sleep more comfortably and keep your spine aligned correctly while you sleep.

Some experts suggest that sleeping on

If you or someone you love has COPD, then you might have heard about a treatment known as pulmonary rehabilitation. This treatment is essentially a breathing and exercise training program specifically designed for people with COPD and other respiratory problems that make it difficult to breathe.

Traditional pulmonary rehabilitation programs come in a lot of different forms, including group classes and one-on-one instruction. You can also do pulmonary rehabilitation by yourself at home, an option that many patients choose instead of—or in addition to—taking a traditional class.

This is a great option for anyone who needs the flexibility, convenience, and easy accessibility that you get from practicing pulmonary rehabilitation at home. If you live in a rural area or lack the physical ability to take classes outside the home, home pulmonary rehab might be the only option that is realistic for you.

That's why we created this practical guide for practicing pulmonary rehabilitation at home. Whether you are simply interested in learning about the treatment or you're ready to try it out yourself, this guide will give you just about everything you need to get started, including direct links to all kinds of useful expert resources.

We'll start by explaining how both traditional and home pulmonary rehabilitation works, and why it's such an important therapy for people with COPD. Then, we'll explain all the elements you need to set up your own home-based pulmonary rehab program, including how to find the materials and resources you need.

What Pulmonary Rehabilitation Can Do for You

Pulmonary rehabilitation is a versatile, multi-faceted program that teaches practical strategies for managing everyday life with COPD and other serious respiratory conditions. It teaches you how to manage your breathing better, exercise more effectively, and stay active in spite of reduced lung function and uncomfortable respiratory symptoms.

As the Merck Manual puts it: “Pulmonary rehabilitation is the use of exercise, education, and behavioral intervention to improve how well people with chronic lung disease can function in daily life and to enhance their quality of life.”

Research shows that pulmonary rehab is a very effective treatment for COPD, offering a wide range of physical, mental, and educational benefits. Doctors often recommend pulmonary rehabilitation as a way to build physical endurance and learn how to manage the disease more effectively.

Pulmonary rehabilitation is particularly helpful for those who suffer from severe shortness of breath or have trouble keeping their symptoms under control. However, even people with well-controlled COPD symptoms can benefit from learning how to live a healthier life with their disease.

Here are some of the major health benefits of pulmonary rehabilitation for people with COPD:

• Reduced shortness of breath
• Improved exercise tolerance and endurance
• Improved physical strength
• Fewer COPD exacerbations
• Fewer hospitalizations
• Improved mental health
• Improved sense of well-being
• Greater knowledge and ability to manage COPD symptoms
• Greater knowledge and ability to make healthy diet and lifestyle choices

The main feature of pulmonary rehabilitation is a series of exercise training sessions designed to build physical strength and endurance. These sessions teach you exercises for improving respiratory health along with helpful breathing techniques to help you manage shortness of breath.

Pulmonary rehabilitation classes are a great way to begin exercising if you're used to being inactive or you struggle to exercise because of your symptoms. They help you learn to cope with physical exertion, gradually work up to more exercise, and teach you strategies to help you better manage everyday life activities.

This makes pulmonary rehabilitation particularly helpful for those with reduced physical mobility and endurance who want to learn how to exercise more effectively within the constraints of their disease. However, pulmonary rehabilitation offers more than just physical benefits; it also includes education on a variety of topics related to managing COPD.

A huge part of pulmonary rehabilitation is education and training on diet, lifestyle, COPD treatment, and general respiratory health. They include lessons about diet and nutrition, medications, and how to deal with the emotional hardships of living with COPD.

After completing pulmonary rehab, you'll have more of the skills that you need to get around better, do more, and live the best life you can in spite of your disease. These factors alone can do wonders for your mental health and your ability to live a good quality of life.

Whether you have mild COPD or a later stage of the disease, taking a pulmonary rehabilitation class can make a significant difference in your health and everyday life. Even after the course is over, doing pulmonary rehab at home can help you stay active, informed, and motivated about your health.

Pulmonary rehabilitation is helpful for everyone with COPD, but this treatment can be particularly helpful in certain circumstances. You might want to give it extra serious consideration if:

• You have severe COPD symptoms
• You are having trouble adjusting to life with COPD
• You are recovering from a COPD exacerbation or hospitalization
• You live an inactive or sedentary lifestyle
• You are too weak or breathless to exercise on your own
• You struggle with light physical activities like walking and going up stairs
• You want to work toward a specific physical goal (e.g. being able to walk around the grocery store or make it up a full flight of stairs on your own)

However, people with COPD are not the only ones who can benefit from pulmonary rehabilitation. It can treat a variety of different health conditions that affect your ability to breathe, including asthma, pulmonary fibrosis, severe pneumonia, and serious cardiovascular diseases like heart failure (especially coexisting COPD and heart failure).

What is Home Pulmonary Rehabilitation?

Most traditional pulmonary rehabilitation classes are group classes held in hospitals, medical clinics, and pulmonary rehabilitation centers. The class is run by a team of instructors—which often includes specialists like physical trainers and respiratory therapists—who conduct educational lectures, exercise classes, and hands-on skill workshops.

Home pulmonary rehabilitation, on the other hand, packages many of the same types of lessons and training that you'd get from a traditional pulmonary rehabilitation class into a format you can do at home. It's almost like taking an online or self-driven course; you gather the information and materials you need for each main topic, and complete the lessons on your own time.

Unfortunately, you may not be able to get the same kind of expert instruction and interaction that many group classes offer if you practice pulmonary rehabilitation at home. However, you can still get many of the same physical and mental benefits through self-driven lessons and activities.

This requires some planning and self-discipline, but it certainly doesn't mean that you will be completely on your own. You will be able to access to a wide variety of helpful resources and expert advice as you prepare for and work through the program at home.

You can work with your doctor to put together a personalized plan, or you can simply learn from existing guides. Either way, you will likely draw from a variety of different educational tools and materials as you go through your home pulmonary rehab program.

In the following sections, we'll introduce you to many resources you can use, including instructional videos, educational guides, and tele-health support. First, though, let's take a look at some of the benefits of doing pulmonary rehab at home, as well as some of the major reasons why you might choose to do a home-based program instead of—or in addition to—a traditional pulmonary rehab class.

Why Do Pulmonary Rehabilitation at Home?

Traditional in-person classes are the most studied form of pulmonary rehabilitation, but research suggests that home pulmonary rehabilitation programs may be just as effective, even if you only have minimal resources. Most experts also agree that home-based pulmonary rehabilitation offers many of the same benefits as in-person classes.

But even if traditional classes were the best option, there are many reasons why someone with COPD might choose to do pulmonary rehabilitation at home.

First of all, many people do pulmonary rehabilitation at home after completing a group class; it's a great way to continue practicing important skills and techniques. Second, many people simply don't have access to a traditional in-person class.

Pulmonary rehabilitation classes aren't offered everywhere, and they tend to be particularly sparse in rural areas. Because of this, many patients don't have any nearby pulmonary rehab options, or would have to drive hours to make it to the nearest class.

In areas where you can find a local pulmonary rehab program, there is often a very high demand for only a small number of classes. In fact, one 2019 study found that there were only 831 pulmonary rehabilitation centers in the US, which is far too few to serve the more than 16 million people in the US who have COPD.

The result is that many pulmonary rehabilitation centers have long waiting lists to get into classes. This forces some patients to wait weeks or months before they can begin getting the treatment they need.

Because of this, some people with COPD are better off starting with a home pulmonary rehabilitation program. It allows you to skip the wait and begin treatment right away, and it's certainly better than doing nothing at all.

Additionally, traditional in-person classes simply aren't the best option for every patient. Some people, for example, are too sick to leave their home for multiple weekly classes, while others find it impossible to fit it into their lives or budget.

You also need a doctor's recommendation to attend most traditional pulmonary rehabilitation classes, and sometimes these classes are reserved for highest-priority patients. In those cases, you might not even be eligible for a class unless you have very advanced COPD or serious complications.

For all of these reasons and more, researchers are increasingly recommending home-based pulmonary rehab, especially for patients who have trouble accessing traditional classes.

You might want to consider doing pulmonary rehabilitation at home if:

• You are not eligible to attend a traditional class
• You cannot find a class in your local area
• You are on a waiting list or all local classes are full
• You are unable to afford the cost of attending a traditional pulmonary rehabilitation class
• You are unable to get transportation to and from a local class
• Your physical condition prevents you from attending an in-person class (because of severe COPD symptoms or another health problem)
• You are unable to attend a class because of travel distance, time commitment, or another scheduling issue
• You will be attending an in-person class soon, and want to prepare by practicing ahead of time
• You are anxious about attending a group class and would like to try it out on your own first
• You have already taken a pulmonary rehabilitation class and want to continue building on the skills and benefits by practicing at home

How to Create Your Own Home Pulmonary Rehabilitation Program

In these next sections, we're going explain all the different components that a pulmonary rehabilitation class is made up of and how you can recreate each of these lessons at home. We'll start with a brief overview of the major topics and activities, and then we'll show you how to get the equipment, educational materials, and all the other information you need to begin your own home-based program.

The Basic Components of Pulmonary Rehabilitation

All pulmonary rehabilitation classes are different, but they all have the same basic makeup. Specific lessons and activities vary, but all pulmonary rehab programs aim to teach a similar set of practical, evidence-based skills for managing respiratory diseases.

These are the major components of a pulmonary rehabilitation class:

• Exercise training
• Breathing muscles training
• Nutritional counseling
• Education on proper medication use
• Psychological counseling and support

Your home pulmonary rehab program should address each of these topics, but how you approach them may depend on what kinds of resources you have. Because you may lack the specialized equipment and access to experts that traditional programs have, your home pulmonary rehabilitation programs may benefit from a couple of extra components:

• Working closely with your primary care doctor
• Tele-health support

Now, lets take a closer look at each of these components and how you can re-create them for your pulmonary rehabilitation program at home. For each of these topics, we've included links to a variety of helpful, high-quality resources you can use to get started right away.

Working With Your Doctor

Traditional in-person pulmonary rehabilitation classes are usually staffed with doctors, trainers, and specialists that facilitate each class. Since you won't have access to these experts at home, it is vital to work with your doctor—and any other members of your COPD treatment team—as you plan your home pulmonary rehabilitation program.

Your doctor can help you determine your primary health and lifestyle goals, and help you make a plan to get you there. It's also important to tell your doctor before you make any major changes to your lifestyle or exercise routine; this is not only for safety, but also so you can ask your doctor for advice—for example, on what kinds of exercises are appropriate for your physical condition.

Working with your doctor is also a great way to learn about lesser-known resources that you might not otherwise find. Your doctor might be able to give you helpful guides or pulmonary rehabilitation tools, or even refer you to a telehealth program.

Telehealth Support

It's certainly possible to do pulmonary rehabilitation successfully on your own with the guidance of your primary care doctor. However, it's always good to have some extra guidance and support along the way.

Luckily, modern technology makes it possible to work with doctors and other medical experts remotely without ever leaving your home. These are known as telehealth services, and they allow you to communicate with specialists and trainers from home using phone calls, text messages, and/or online platforms.

Research shows that home pulmonary rehabilitation supported by telehealth can be very effective at reducing hospital re-admissions and may work just as well as in-person, institution-based pulmonary rehabilitation programs. Unfortunately, it can be somewhat tricky to find a telehealth service that is both available in your area and suited to your needs.

The best place to start looking is local hospitals and pulmonary rehab centers, which sometimes offer their own telehealth programs and services. You can also ask your doctor to help you locate any other telehealth resources in your area.

Exercise Training

Exercise training is one of the largest and most important components of an effective pulmonary rehabilitation program. It helps you build strength and endurance by teaching you movements and techniques that are specifically tailored for people with respiratory diseases.

To get the best results, your home exercise training program should be as comprehensive as possible, including both cardiovascular and strength training components. You should do exercises that target all the major muscle groups in your body, including your arms, shoulders, back, legs, abdomen, and chest.

Arm exercises, leg exercises, and walking are cornerstones of most COPD exercise programs, because they work the muscles you need the most to function in everyday life. Start small and work your way up gradually, slowly adding more steps and repetitions to your routine as you go.

Even though you won't have an in-person trainer while exercising at home, you can get a similar experience from following exercise videos and DVDs. You can choose from a variety of high-quality instructional videos for exercising with COPD, some of which are specifically tailored for pulmonary rehabilitation.

In general, it is safe to exercise with COPD as long as your doctor says it is okay. However, you should still take care not to overexert yourself and to take breaks to catch your breath when needed.

If you experience any of the following symptoms when exercising, you should stop and rest:

• Severe shortness of breath that is worse than usual
• Excessive fatigue
• Dizziness or lightheadedness
• Nausea
• Pain in the chest, neck, or arm
• Irregular heartbeat or palpitations

Here are some tips for including exercise training in your home pulmonary rehab program:

• Find instructional videos (and other materials) for exercise techniques suited to your skill level, including videos made for pulmonary rehabilitation.
• Practice doing the exercises yourself step by step, modifying them to your ability if needed (e.g. try a lower-impact version of an exercise, or find exercises you can do while seated in a chair).
• Take regular walks to improve your endurance, trying to make it a little bit farther every day.
• Practice aerobic and strength training exercises in 15-30 minute long sessions; ideally, you should exercise 4-5 days per week
• Do not exercise if you are sick or experiencing a COPD symptom flare-up (ask your doctor if you are not sure)

Resources and Guides for Exercising with COPD

Exercise Training Videos for Pulmonary Rehabilitation

• Exercise and COPD Guide (PDF Download Link) from the Lung Association (Canada): This 16-page manual includes instructions for performing specific exercises and guides you through the process of starting a COPD exercise program.
• The Toronto Western Hospital Pulmonary Rehabilitation Home Exercise DVD (You can watch this instructional video on YouTube)
• Pulmonary Rehab Exercise Video from NHS Forth Valley
• Upper Body Exercises for COPD Treatment and Rehab from Burke Rehabilitation
• Arm Exercises for Pulmonary Rehab from Burke Rehabilitation

Text Resources for Exercising with COPD:

• Tips for Exercising at Home (for Pulmonary Rehabilitation) from Wexner Medical Center
• COPD Exercise and Activity Guide from the Cleveland Clinic
• Integrating an Exercise Program Into Your Life (PDF Link) from Living Well with COPD

Exercise Guides from Our Respiratory Resource Center:

• How to Exercise at Home with COPD
• Tips and Tricks for Exercising on Oxygen Therapy
• What Exercise Tests Can Tell You About Your COPD

Breathing Muscles Training

Another major component of pulmonary rehabilitation is strengthening and training the muscles in your chest that help you breathe. This is known as inspiratory muscle training, and research shows that it can both reduce shortness of breath and improve exercise endurance by reducing the amount of effort it takes to breathe.

In pulmonary rehabilitation, inspiratory muscle training is done through a combination of exercises and breathing techniques that target certain muscles in your chest. In order for these exercises to be effective, you'll need to practice them regularly and use proper technique.

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Just like with exercise training, video lessons can be an effective substitute for in-person ins

If you are like most people with COPD, you've probably experienced at least some degree of pain in your chest and ribs. This kind of pain can come in a variety of forms, including muscle aches, rib soreness, chest tightness, and general feelings of discomfort.

Unfortunately, these types of aches pains often don't get the attention they deserve, since discussions about COPD tend to focus on respiratory symptoms. However, research suggests that chest pain is exceedingly common, affecting more than half of people with COPD.

That's why we've created this guide all about chest pain, rib pain, and COPD. It contains all the basics you need to know about COPD-related chest pain, including why it happens, where it comes from, and what you can do to relieve it.

In the following sections, we'll explain the various types of chest pain that COPD can cause, and how to differentiate COPD-related chest pain from from other, more serious causes. Then, we'll show you how to manage and minimize that pain by walking you through nearly a dozen of helpful strategies that you can put to use right away.

What is COPD Chest Pain?

A large percentage of people with COPD experience some type of chest pain, whether it's frequent, chronic, or only just occasional. It can sometimes be difficult to pinpoint the exact source or reason for this chest pain because there are so many potential COPD-related causes.

Some of the most common types of COPD-related chest pain include:

• A general feeling of pressure, squeezing, or tightness in the chest
• Feeling of weight or pressure on the chest
• Chest muscle tightness and soreness
• Pain and soreness in and around the rib cage
• Aching and stiffness in the chest
• Soreness in the chest and/or ribs when breathing
• Feeling of fullness or discomfort in the chest when eating
• Tightness or heaviness in the chest when lying down

Some chest pains are triggered by COPD symptoms like shortness of breath or coughing, while others are related to physical changes (such as lung hyperinflation) caused by the disease. Some types of COPD chest pain tend to get worse in certain situations, such as when you eat, lie down, or experience a COPD exacerbation.

Most sources of COPD-related chest pain are harmless, but some types of chest pain are caused by health problems other than COPD. Certain types of chest pain can even signal a medical emergency like a heart attack.

In the next sections, we'll take a closer look at some of the major causes of COPD-related chest pain, and how to recognize other types of chest pain that might have a more serious cause. Then, in the following sections, we'll introduce you a to variety of practical strategies you can start using today to minimize your COPD chest pain.

What Causes COPD Chest Pain?

Muscle Fatigue

Normally when healthy people breathe, the diaphragm does most of the work required to move air in and out of the lungs. When your breathing is strained by COPD, however, you tend to rely more on the muscles in your chest to breathe.

Because of this, living with COPD tends to wear out your chest muscles, making them feel tired and sore. This soreness can be triggered by coughing fits, bouts of breathlessness, or even normal daily symptoms.

This type of chest soreness tends to get worse along with increasing shortness breath. This can happen during COPD symptom flare-ups and exacerbations, and during activities—like exercise—that are particularly demanding on your lungs.

This type of pain can range anywhere from mild to severe. For some people with COPD chest pain is simply a nuisance; for others, it is a significant source of pain that makes it even more difficult to breathe.

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Lung Hyperinflation

Lung hyperinflation describes lungs that are enlarged and take up more space in your chest than they should. It is a common COPD complication that tends to get worse as the disease progresses, and it's a major cause of chest and rib pain in people with the COPD.

Lung hyperinflation has a couple of major causes: The first cause is lung tissue damage, which happens gradually over time in lungs affected by COPD. This damage causes normally-stretchy lungs to lose the flexibility and elasticity that allows them to expand and collapse as you breathe.

Eventually, the lungs lose so much of this elasticity that they can't “bounce back” completely from their fully inflated state. This causes your lungs to remain slightly inflated even after you exhale, and it's known as static hyperinflation.

The second major cause of lung hyperinflation is trapped air in the lungs. This happens when airway constriction (often combined with weak and shallow breathing) makes it difficult to empty all the air out of your lungs, causing some of the air you breathe to stay trapped inside.

This leftover air takes up space and leaves less room for fresh, oxygenated air to come into your lungs; this makes your lungs less efficient and worsens shortness of breath. The trapped air also prevents your lungs from collapsing all the way, forcing them to stay partially inflated even after you exhale.

As a result, hyperinflated lungs are bigger, stiffer, and take up more space in your chest compared to healthy lungs. This causes them to press against your chest cavity, putting extra pressure on your ribs, the surrounding muscles, and the ligaments that support all the muscles and bones in your chest.

Because of this, hyperinflated lungs tend to cause a lot of pain and discomfort. This pain can range from sore ribs or aching muscles to a general uncomfortable feeling of pressure or fullness in the chest.

Unfortunately, hyperinflation tends to get worse over time, as the stiffened, expanded lung tissue becomes even more prone to trapping air. Fortunately, it is possible to reduce the symptoms of hyperinflation, even though the actual damage of lung enlargement often can't be reversed without surgery.

With proper treatment and management techniques, you can reduce chest pain caused by hyperinflation and potentially even slow down how quickly the condition gets worse. Treatments include brochodilators, breathing exercises, and other strategies which we will discuss more in the sections below.

Strain on Connective Tissues

The same COPD symptoms that wear out your chest muscles (e.g. coughing and shortness of breath) can also put stress on the ligaments and connective tissues in your chest. These tissues are responsible for connecting and holding everything in your chest in place, including your bones, muscles, lungs, and other organs.

In people with COPD, these connective tissues tend to get stretched and strained by frequent coughing and labored breathing. These tissues are also affected by hyperinflated lungs, which press on your ribs and chest wall, straining all the structures that connect and support them.

This stress on connective tissues can cause a great deal of soreness and pain in the chest and ribs, especially when paired with other symptoms like coughing. COPD can also cause permanent changes to the structure of your chest that could contribute to this pain.

Over time, inflammation caused by the disease can weaken and stiffen the connective tissues surrounding your lungs, making them less elastic and more prone to causing pain. While this phenomenon is not yet fully understood, researchers believe it could be a major contributor to chest pain in people with COPD.

Psychological Illnesses

If you suffer from a psychological illness like anxiety or depression, it can actually make any chest pain you experience significantly worse. However, that doesn't mean the pain isn't real or that it's “all in your head.”

The brain and body are intimately connected, and psychological illnesses can have biological effects that cause real, physical pain, or that amplify pains you already have. This phenomenon is widely recognized by researchers and mental health experts, which is why psychological therapy is a common treatment for chronic pain.

Unfortunately, a very large percentage of people with COPD suffer from depression or anxiety, especially among those with more severe disease. Research shows that these mental disorders can not only worsen COPD-related pains—such as chest pain—but also worsens quality of life and increases patients' risks for disability, hospitalization, and death.

GERD

GERD, which stands for gastroesophageal reflux disease, is condition that causes stomach acid to leak into your esophagus (a phenomenon known as acid reflux). For reasons that are not yet fully understood, GERD is extremely common in people with COPD.

Some researchers believe that the high risk of GERD may be caused by hyper-inflated lungs putting pressure on the abdomen and chest. Others believe that certain COPD medications may contribute to the risk by weakening the barrier that usually stops acid from leaking out of the stomach.

Unfortunately, GERD often causes symptoms that overlap with COPD symptoms, including coughing, shortness of breath, and chest pain. What's worse, GERD can cause stomach acid to leak into your lungs, which can exacerbate existing COPD symptoms and even trigger COPD flare-ups.

Because of this, GERD can be a significant contributing factor in COPD-related chest pain and discomfort. If you think you might have GERD, it's important to talk to your doctor so you can get treatment right away.

Some of the most common symptoms of GERD include heartburn, coughing, lung irritation, throat irritation, and disrupted sleep. Another sign of GERD is burning chest pain that tends to gets worse after eating and after you lie down.

When Chest Pain is an Emergency

Many types of chest pain are generally harmless, including most types of rib and chest muscle soreness caused by COPD. In some cases, however, chest pain can be a sign of a life-threatening emergency like a heart attack, heart failure, or another serious cardiac event.

Unfortunately, the symptoms of major cardiac events vary significantly from person to person and can sometimes be very mild, which makes them difficult to detect. They can also be disguised by other health conditions, like COPD, which has symptoms that mimic and overlap with the same symptoms caused by heart problems.

That's why it's important to be familiar with your COPD symptoms and what kinds of pains and sensations are typical for you. The better you know your disease, the better you will able to detect if something is abnormal or wrong.

You should also know how to recognize the symptoms of a heart attack so you can better differentiate it from other symptoms that are caused by COPD.

Here are the major signs and symptoms of a major cardiac event:

• Chest pain that doesn't go away with rest
• Chest pain that is different or more severe than chest pain you've had in the past
• Pain that spreads from the chest to the left arm, back, or jaw
• Sudden feeling of pressure, tightness, crushing, or squeezing in your chest
• Sudden shortness of breath, especially if it doesn't go away with rest
• Sudden drop in blood pressure
• Extremely slow or rapid heartbeat
• Extremely rapid breathing
• Dizziness or lightheadedness
• Nausea or vomiting
• Sweating
• Weakness or losing the ability to stand or walk
• A sense of impending doom
• Confusion or disorientation
• A family history of heart disease

If you experience these symptoms and have any doubt about whether they are caused by a heart problem or COPD, you should seek medical attention immediately.

There are also some signs you can look for that indicate your chest pain is not related to your heart. However, it's important to realize that having one or more of these signs does not rule out a heart attack completely.

Here are some signs that your chest pain might not be caused by a cardiac event:

• You can pinpoint the specific location of the pain.
• The pain gets worse when you take in a deep breath, and subsides when you hold your breath for a few seconds.
• The pain gets worse when you move in a specific way or press in a specific spot on your chest, neck, or shoulder.
• The pain gets better with medication, such as antacids.
• The pain doesn't last very long and goes away quickly.
• The pain feels identical to pain you've felt before, at a time when you knew for a fact that it was not caused by a heart problem (e.g. chest pain that you had diagnosed as being caused by COPD).

How to Reduce Chest & Rib Pain Caused by COPD

Now that you have a better understanding of how COPD causes chest pain, let's look at what you can do about it. In the following sections, we'll introduce you to a plethora of effective tips and techniques you can use to reduce various types of chest and rib pain related to COPD.

Adjust Your Posture

There's a reason that good posture is considered to be so important in activities that rely on your breath, such as singing, public speaking, and playing wind instruments. The reason is that your posture can have a significant effect on your lung capacity and your overall ability to breathe.

When you sit or stand in a slouched posture, it scrunches up your chest and restricts how much your lungs can expand. This increases the effort it takes to breathe and puts extra pressure on your chest and ribs, which can cause them to become sore.

Good, straight posture, on the other hand, opens up your chest cavity and gives your lungs, diaphragm, and chest muscles much more room to move when you breathe. This relieves some of the strain on your ribs and breathing muscles, reducing chest soreness and other posture-related pain (e.g. back pain, neck pain, and shoulder pain).

The most important aspect of good posture is holding your back up straight, which means avoiding bent positions like hunching and slouching. You should also keep your chin up and your shoulders back while keeping your shoulder muscles relaxed.

You should also practice proper sleeping posture, which can reduce chest pressure and make it easier to breathe when you sleep. Avoid sleeping sitting up, as some people with COPD do, and try to find a comfortable position on your side or back instead.

You should also make sure your back is properly supported both when you sit and when you lie down. Any chairs you sit in often should have lower back support and your mattress should be firm enough to keep your back straight while you sleep.

For more information and advice about posture and COPD, visit our guide on the topic here. You can also check out this guide to learn more about good sleep posture and how to get the best quality of sleep possible with COPD.

Practice Breathing Techniques

As we mentioned earlier, shortness of breath on its own can cause certain types of chest pain, especially muscle soreness. This is partially caused by the natural instinct to take much quicker and shallower breaths when you are struggling to breathe.

This essentially forces your breathing muscles to work overtime, wearing them out more quickly and causing muscle pain. Your muscles also have to work harder to push air through constricted airways, which tend to get even narrower during bouts of shortness of breath.

Fortunately, there is a special breathing exercise you can use when you feel breathless that reduces strain on your chest muscles. This technique, known as pursed lips breathing, works by physically opening up your airways to make it easier to breathe.

The basics of pursed lips breathing are simple: you breathe in through your nose for about two seconds, and then you purse your lips before breathing out. If you're pursing your lips correctly, they should make a small “o” when you exhale, as if you were whistling or blowing a kiss.

Finally, exhale for another four seconds or so, until there's no more air to push out. Make sure you empty your lungs as completely as possible before you take your next breath.

Breathing out in this way creates extra pressure in your airways, which holds your airways open and prevents them from collapsing. This reduces shortness of breath and can also reduce lung hyperinflation by helping you empty all the air out of your lungs.

Pursed lips breathing also helps you learn how to control your breaths, which allows you to slow and steady your breathing rate. This technique is particularly useful for bringing rapid and shallow breathing patterns back under your control whenever you start to feel short of breath.

To learn more about pursed lips breathing and get step-by-step instructions for how to do it, check out our guide on breathing exercises for COPD.

Practice Controlled Coughing

Many people with COPD have lots of extra mucus clogging up their airways, which can cause a chronic cough and painful coughing fits. This kind of uncontrolled coughing can be extremely hard on your chest, causing violent spasms that strain your rib cage and wrack the walls of your chest.

This can lead to muscle soreness, aching, and sharp pain in the ribs that gets worse when you move your chest. It can also make it extremely painful to cough, take breaths in, or make certain motions, and may even interfere with your sleep.

However, you can reduce the pain of uncontrolled coughing by practicing controlled coughing, which is gentler and puts less strain on your chest. It also does a better job than uncontrolled coughing at loosening up mucus and moving it out of your lungs.

Here are the basics of how to do it:

• First, sit down in a comfortable chair, placing your feet flat on the ground.
• Relax your body, fold your arms across your lower abdomen, and lean forward slightly in your seat.
• Inhale slowly through your nose.
• Then, cough by following these steps in order:
• Press your arms against your abdomen
• Lean forward
• Open your mouth and make 2-3 short, sharp coughs
• Make sure you use your diaphragm, not your chest muscles, to force the cough out (your belly should move when you inhale and exhale, while your chest muscles should stay still)
• Immediately take another slow breath in through your nose.
• Take a moment to rest, then repeat.

If you practicing controlled coughing regularly, it can help you breathe easier by clearing out excess mucus that's blocking up your airways. Less mucus also means you'll have less need to cough and likely have fewer coughing fits.

For more information about controlled coughing and how to do it correctly, check out this guide from the Cleveland Clinic. You can also find more ways to reduce coughing and get rid of excess mucus in our guide on mucus clearance techniques.

Improve Your Fitness

Getting regular exercise is absolutely essential for staying healthy with COPD. It helps you stay mobile, independent, and can even improve your COPD symptoms and make it easier to breathe.

Exercise can also improve how efficiently your respiratory system works. It does this primarily by strengthening your heart, strengthening your breathing muscles, and reducing how much oxygen your body needs to do physical activities.

This improves your exercise endurance, allowing you to stay active for longer without feeling too short of breath. It also helps your breathing muscles work better, improving how long and hard they can work before they get tired out.

In this way, exercise can improve COPD-related chest pain by reducing how sore and fatigued your chest muscles get from breathing. It can also reduce strain on those muscles by reducing how often you become breathless and reducing the overall effort required to breathe.

But in order to get these benefits, you need to make a commitment to living an active life. That means exercisin

It's easy to want to quit smoking, but taking action on that desire is much more difficult to do. Luckily, experts have come up with a wealth of tips, guidelines, and step-by-step instructions you can follow when you're ready to take those first steps.

In this final installment of our three-part quit-smoking guide, we're going to show you how to put all the different pieces—quit-smoking tools, medications, coping strategies, etc.—together into a successful quit-smoking strategy.

Then, we'll show you how to turn that plan into action and finally quit smoking for good. Well also introduce you to a variety of helpful techniques you can use in your day-to-day life to keep yourself focused and committed to staying smoke free.

We'll cover everything from how to plan your quit day and how to make it through quit day without smoking, to how simple strategies like knowing your triggers and practicing self-care can help you stay on track.

By the end, you should have all the information and resources you need to take your goal to stop smoking—and stay quit—from theory to reality.

Strategies for Staying Smoke Free

We talked a lot in parts 1 and 2 of this guide about resources and tools to help you quit, but we haven't talked much about strategies you can use when you're on your own. After all, even if you have outside assistance, it still takes a lot of personal effort and willpower to stop smoking.

In order to succeed, you'll need some solid strategies for managing temptations and keeping yourself on track. Luckily, there are are many proven methods and simple techniques you can use to resist cravings and adjust to living smoke free.

These strategies are recommended by experts and ex-smokers who have used them before to successfully stop smoking. If you learn those same techniques and how to apply them to your life, you'll be more resilient to relapse and better equipped to handle life in general after you quit.

Get Rid Of Smoking Reminders

If you're a regular smoker, there's a good chance you have smoking-related paraphernalia in various places around your home, car, workplace, and other places you frequent. These simple items, which include things like cigarettes, cigarette boxes, matches, lighters, ashtrays, and any other items that remind you of smoking, can trigger strong temptations if you see them after you quit.

That's why you should take the time to get rid of all these things before the day you decide to stop smoking. It will not only help you with cravings, but it will be more difficult to slip up or relapse if you don't have easy access to cigarettes, lighters, and other smoking tools.

You should throw away your cigarettes, get rid of all your ashtrays and lighters, and re-arrange any indoor and outdoor spaces that are arranged to facilitate smoking. You'll be more likely to succeed in quitting if you can go about your day without seeing constant reminders of when you used to smoke.

Take it One Day at a Time

If you think about whether or not you can quit smoking forever, it may feel like an impossible task. But if you think about whether or not you can abstain from smoking today, then that probably feels more achievable.

That's why it's best to focus on one day at a time when you make a major lifestyle change like quitting smoking. Otherwise, you can get overwhelmed and discouraged by the enormity of the task.

It's no secret that quitting smoking is a long, hard journey, but it's made up of small, simple steps, and you only have to take one step at a time. Just like any other big, long-term project, it's much more manageable if you break it down into smaller chunks.

In this case, instead of thinking about the entirety of what “quitting smoking” entails, it's better to think about the individual steps you can take each day to abstain from smoking. Instead of trying to take in the whole picture, focus your efforts on individual tools and techniques you can use to make it through this moment or this day.

Doing that allows you to focus on the small things you can do, instead of worrying about the larger things you think you can't do. If you ground yourself in the here and now, you can put all your energy into building the skills you need to handle the challenges that come in the future.

That's why it's so important to have a quit-smoking plan in place before the day that you quit, one that includes plenty of simple, practical strategies you can use to manage cravings and keep yourself on track. Then, when your quit day comes, following through can be as simple as following the steps already laid out in your plan.

Let the present “you” deal with present day problems and cravings, and leave future worries and cravings for future “you” to deal with. You can't predict or control what will happen in a week or a month or a year from now, but you can take actions each and every day that put you on a path to success.

Whenever you get the desire to smoke a cigarette, remind yourself that all you have to do is make it through one craving at a time. If you feel discouraged or overwhelmed, just focus on not smoking today; you can deal with tomorrow when it comes.

Celebrate the Small Victories

In the same vein as taking it one day at a time, it's important to take the time to acknowledge each bit of progress you make. Every day you don't smoke is a success worth celebrating, and recognizing this can help you stay motivated to abstain another day.

Quitting smoking isn't just a one-and-done thing; it's a journey that requires you to wake up every morning and re-commit to not smoking. There will never be a definite endpoint to celebrate once and for all, which is why you should celebrate each and every day that you manage to stay smoke free.

Whenever you successfully use a strategy to defeat a cigarette craving, take a moment to acknowledge the victory. When you make it through a whole day without smoking, pause to reflect on how far you've come before moving on to face the challenges of another day.

When you acknowledge and track your achievements, even the little ones, it helps you build confidence and fight off discouraging feelings. It will help you trust that the skills and confidence you build through small, incremental steps will carry you on to the next success and your next smoke-free day.

You should even plan out some rewards you can give yourself once you reach certain milestones and goals, such as one day, one week, or two weeks smoke-free. Those rewards can be as simple as watching a favorite movie or getting a favorite meal, or treating yourself to a luxury like a fun purchase or massage.

For example, you could put all or some of the money that you save from not buying tobacco products in a special reward fund for yourself. At the end of the week (or after you reach one of your milestones) you can then use that money to splurge on something for yourself, such as going out to do something fun or buying something new.

Here are some ideas for fun things you can do to reward yourself for staying smoke free:

• Buy some new supplies for a hobby you enjoy (e.g. a new video game, sporting equipment, cookware, or crafting supplies)
• Pamper yourself by getting a massage, going to a nail parlor, or going to the salon
• Plan a fun night out with your family or friends
• Plan a cookout, movie night, or other celebration with family or friends
• Go shopping for a new outfit or something else you look forward to buying
• Go on a day trip to a place you enjoy

Practice Self-Care

When you rely on cigarettes to feel good every day, quitting can make you feel like you've lost something important. It can be difficult to cope with everyday stressors when you don't have your usual smoking habits to fall back on as a coping mechanism.

After all, many people smoke as a source of comfort and as a way to relieve stress. Because of this, when you quit, you will need to find new, healthier ways to find comfort in your daily life.

One way to do this is by practicing self-care, which essentially just means taking the time to look after your personal needs. However, it's more than an abstract concept; self-care is all about taking specific and deliberate actions for your mental, emotional, and physical well-being.

For example, one way you can practice self-care is by scheduling more “you time” every week. It could also mean taking action in an area of life you want to improve, such as learning to cook, joining a gym, or spending more time with family and friends.

Practicing self-care actions is a wonderful habit to start as soon as you quit, especially since you can use it to fill up the extra time that you used to spend smoking. It's also a great way to reduce anxiety, boost your mood, and distract yourself from the desire to smoke.

In some cases, self-care means saying no, or not doing certain things that affect your mental or physical health in a negative way. For example, you could take steps to eliminate unnecessary stressors from your life, or make the decision to cut specific items from your busy schedule in order to make room for other needs.

As you can see, self-care is a personal thing that requires concentrated effort, careful planning, and honest introspection. However, the reward for all that work is feeling better and living healthier every day.

Your self-care activities should be tailored to you, your lifestyle, and your unique personal needs. In order for them to be effective, you'll need to spend some time thinking about yourself and your routine before you choose for what kinds of self-care activities are right for you.

Think about the things that cause you stress and hinder you the most in everyday life. Then, think of some thinks in your life that you'd like to improve, and come up with some ideas for how to make some positive changes.

Then, take the time to write down some concrete physical, mental, and emotional self-care goals; for example, you could strive to de-clutter your living space, spend more time on hobbies, or think more positive and uplifting thoughts throughout the day. Along with each goal, include a list of at least a couple specific actions you can take toward achieving it.

Here are some general self-care ideas to help you get started.

Self-care for Physical Needs:

• Take a quick walk around the block to stretch your legs and breathe some fresh air.
• Make time in your schedule to prepare healthy, nutritious meals and snacks.
• Stand up and stretch your body throughout the day.
• Spend a few minutes in the sun to relax and soak up some Vitamin D.
• Reduce stress by changing into some soft, comfy clothes that make you feel good.
• Give yourself some extra time to sleep by taking a nap, going to bed early, or scheduling some time to sleep in.
• Take a relaxing shower or bath and lounge around after.
• Free up some time by choosing one task or commitment on your schedule that you can remove, delay, or delegate to someone else.
• Take just one small step toward completing a project, goal, or errand you've been putting off (e.g. cleaning out your fridge or making a healthy lifestyle choice)

Self-care for Mental and Emotional Needs:

• Take some time to journal about your thoughts, worries, or things you are grateful for.
• Spend time outdoors in a green space like a park or hiking trail.
• Make a playlist of some of your favorite songs to relax and enjoy when you need a mood lift.
• Have a “date night” with yourself to do anything you'd like to do, e.g. watch TV, rent a movie, order takeout, read a book, play video games, work on a hobby, etc.
• Allow yourself to feel whatever it is you feel (happy, sad, anxious, angry) without any judgment or reservations.
• Schedule some quiet down time during the day to read, meditate, or just sit around and do nothing.
• Take care of one thing in your home or your life that is bugging you (e.g. a cluttered closet, a disorganized cabinet, or a lightbulb that needs to be replaced).
• Spend some time with friends or family that care about you.
• Place several notes of affirmation and encouragement around your house, car, and workspace.
• Ask someone you trust for some help or support, whether you need some advice, encouragement, or just need someone to listen.
• Make a list of all your worries, fears, and other things that are bothering you to get them out of your head.
• Make a list of some of your good qualities and things that you like about yourself to remind yourself whenever you feel insecure or discouraged.

Try a New Hobby

When you're trying to get rid of a bad habit like smoking, it often helps to replace it with something new. That's why you should consider starting a new hobby or activity on or before your quit day.

Working on a new hobby can help you cope in a variety of ways; it serves as a distraction from nicotine cravings, can act as a form of self-care, and it gives you something to do with your extra time. If you can find a hobby you really enjoy, it can also give you something (in place of smoking) to think about and look forward to every day.

Learning a new skill or activity can also help you feel good about yourself and build confidence in your own abilities. This self-esteem boost can transfer to other areas in your life, making it easier to tackle challenges and cope with discouragement.

Here are some hobby ideas to get you thinking:

• Learn how to knit, crochet, or sew
• Learn how to play a new instrument
• Start a photo scrapbook
• Start writing a journal
• Try an outdoor hobby like gardening or bird-watching
• Start a new exercise hobby like biking or hiking
• Take a class at your local gym or community center (e.g. dancing, cooking scrapbooking, etc.)
• Start reading books or listening to podcasts
• Join a local club (e.g. a sports club or a choir)
• Start cultivating an indoor jungle made up of houseplants
• Find a fun puzzle game you enjoy like picross or sudoku
• There are a million other more obscure hobbies to chose from: e.g. candle-making, origami, terrarium-building, bonsai tree growing, miniature figure painting, and just about anything else you can think of!

Know Your Habits and Triggers

When you smoke every day, the habit tends to get woven into many different areas of your life. You might smoke as part of your morning routine, take smoke breaks during the work day, smoke in your car and during your free time, etc.

Because of this, your brain starts to associate all sorts of actions and habits with smoking. Then, when you stop smoking, those same actions and habits are likely to trigger cigarette cravings.

This is one of the things that makes quitting so difficult to do; no matter what you do or where you go, little things can remind you of past smoking habits and give you the urge to repeat them again. The association can become so strong after smoking for months or years that you can't imagine doing certain things without a smoke.

Certain moods and psychological states can also trigger tobacco cravings and the habitual impulse to smoke. For example, many smokers experience extra strong cigarette cravings when they're angry, anxious, or stressed.

There are three main types of smoking triggers to watch out for:

• Emotional triggers: e.g. anxiety, stress, anger, boredom, loneliness, frustrating situations, etc.
• Habitual triggers: e.g. driving, drinking alcohol, after eating, during breaks at work, etc.
• Social triggers: e.g. social events with friends, being around others who smoke, vacations, going out to a bar, etc.

For your quit smoking plan to be successful, you'll need a way to handle and ride out these triggers without giving in to the cravings. There are two main ways to do this: by replacing habitual smoking sessions with an entirely new habit, and by changing your routine to avoid the triggers altogether.

Replacement Habits

Before you quit, take note of all your smoking habits and all the situations and circumstances you know of that make you want to smoke. Then, think of a simple, easy action you can take whenever you find yourself in one of these triggering situations.

The idea is to replace the habit of smoking with a healthier habit in order to weaken the association you have between the trigger and the desire to smoke. Over time, situations that used to trigger you to smoke should instead trigger the impulse to do the new, healthier action instead.

This is where your list of distracting activities, self-care ideas, and new hobbies can come in handy. In each situation where you used to take the time to smoke, pick out an appropriate activity from one of these these lists that you can do instead.

For example, you could replace the smoke breaks you used to take at work with short breaks to take a walk around the block. Or you could take a few minutes to enjoy watching a short video or enjoy a hot cup of coffee instead.

If you find a good alternative and stick to it long enough, chances are that you'll start to really enjoy the new habit even more than you enjoyed smoking. Instead of simply being a replacement for smoking, it can become a pleasant part of your routine that you look forward to every day.

Changing Your Routine

Sometimes the association between smoking and a certain situation or circumstance is so strong that it's impossible or impractical to try to replace it with something new. In these cases, it's often easier to simply avoid the trigger if you can.

For example, if spending time with other smokers makes you want to smoke, sometimes the easiest solution is just to avoid being around smokers. If a certain activity triggers craving, such as going to the bar with friends, try avoiding that activity and replacing it with a different one that you don't associate with smoking—like going out to a different restaurant or to the movies instead.

Taking yourself out of triggering situations can make it much easier to abstain from smoking, especially in those difficult first weeks and months after you quit. However, that doesn't mean you have to avoid those things forever; after you've had the chance to form some new habits and your cravings have reduced, you might find that you can cope with those triggers much better than you could before.

Stay Focused on the Benefits

If you focus too much on the difficulties of quitting smoking, it might seem like too much effort with too little payoff. However, if you take a closer look at all the good things that can happen when you stop smoking, you'll see that the benefits far outweigh the short-term discomfort of quitting.

That's why it's important to learn about the many different ways that quitting smoking can improve your health. Doing so can help you keep your eye on the prize and remember why you're quitting in the first place.

Any time the going gets tough or you start to feel discouraged, it can help you stay on track to focus on what you have to gain if you persevere. You might even want to keep this list, or another list of quit-smoking benefits, on-hand in case you need a quick reminder of why it's worth it to quit.

Physical Health Benefits

Most people know that quitting smoking is good for your heart and your lungs. However, many smokers don't realize just how huge the health benefits of quitting can be.

When you stop smoking, it not only reduces your risk for lung diseases like cancer and COPD, but also protects you from heart disease, stroke, and other serious health conditions. It allows many parts of your body to heal and improve in a variety of different ways.

Here's a more extensive list of the many health benefits you can get once you quit smoking:

• Reduced cholesterol levels
• Lower blood pressure
• Better blood circulation
• Reduced risk of heart disease
• Reduced risk of stroke
• Reduced risk for COPD
• Reduced risk of lung cancer
• Reduced risk for a variety of other cancers (e.g. cancers of the mouth, esophagus, kidneys, and pancreas)
• Reduced risk of lung infections
• Increased energy levels
• Increased fertility
• Reduced risk of problems during pregnancy
• Reduced risk of blood clots
• Improved ability to control symptoms of lung conditions like asthma and COPD

Mental Health Benefits

Studies show that quitting smoking can improve your mood and mental health in a variety of different ways. Most of these benefits are a direct result of no longer having the drug in your system and no longer experiencing the symptoms of nicotine withdrawal.

First of all, it just feels good to no longer be dependent on smoking to get you through the day. Once the nicotine withdrawal wears off, you will also no longer have to deal with the physical and psychological symptoms that smokers must constantly fend off between smokes.

In fact, many studies have found that quitting smoking can impact just about every measure of psychological health in a positive way. This might seem too good to be true, but it's a pattern found over and over, even though the reasons are not completely clear.

This might be surprising, since many smokers mistakenly believe that smoking helps them cope with negative emotions like anxiety and stress. However, the truth is that smoking actually does the opposite, and it only seems to help because it relieves the psychological symptoms of nicotine withdrawal.

Here are some of the mental health benefits you might receive after you stop smoking:

• Improved overall mood
• Reduced anxiety
• Reduced stress
• Reduced depression
• Increased positivity
• Increased psychological quality of life

Long-term Health Benefits

You can gain some of the positive effects of quitting almost immediately after you stop smoking; for example, it only takes 24 hours to significantly improve the health of your heart and circulatory system.

Other benefits, however, come later, within weeks, months, or years after you quit. These long-term benefits won't be apparent at first, but in time they can make a huge difference in your health and quality of life.

In the following lists, we've organized some of the immediate and long-term benefits according to when they tend to appear. This timeline will give you a better ide