The Health Road with Asthma

I have asthma. I've lived with asthma for all my life and it is an apparent fact that there is no cure for this illness. It will never permanently go away and will always be waiting to attack me again; literally. Not forgetting I have acute bronchitis that occurs pretty much anytime the weather changes or I am around areas with smoke or dust (i.e: construction sites, open burning or smokers).

I can't do a lot of things others can easily do and of course this used to cripple my self confidence and I would feel very insecure. While others get together to play sports at school, I had to sit aside after just 10 minutes due to shortness of breath.  However, 22 years of living with this disease taught me a lot about minding my health and being accepting of my own differences and so-called weaknesses.

One of the ways I keep my health in check is definitely by doing my own workout routine. I realise that cardio is one of the hardest exercises to do for people who have respiratory diseases since we run out of breath very easily.

However, I LOVE doing cardio exercises...particularly jogging around the neighbourhood as we can enjoy the scenery at the same time; it is especially fun in my neighbourhood since it's pretty much hills and we are surrounded by nature. I prefer running outside than in a gym though I do use the treadmill at my Shah Alam apartment when I am back in UiTM since it is a busy industrial area filled with dust and general air pollution. It is critical for me to mind my surroundings since bad air = on-coming asthma attack. Other than that, I don't run too often within a week; usually once or twice a week since I find that running too often will actually cause me to feel very weak on a day to day basis. To me, cardio is an exercise that I love doing but not often. It trains my lungs to endure the stress but I can't overdo it or it will just cripple my health.

Strength training is something I have a love and hate relationship with. I love that you can immediately feel your muscles working and after a day of soreness, you feel stronger. I personally feel most comfortable in doing leg exercises but anything for my arms or core, I am near-death. Of course, I don't regret doing them but I try to limit my sets and do them all in random orders instead of following a certain routine.

Finally, stretching is something I think should be done regularly by anyone even when you are not exercising. I love when my muscles and limbs feel light and loose. I've always been practising stretches before bed since high school especially since I was in the Karate team and stretching was crucial for us to become stronger and more flexible and 'light' with our moves. Yoga is something that I've done a few times with my cousin but she is far more passionate about it than me since I just like to do the stretches that I prefer rather than following a certain step or form. It just feels more freeing for me and a lot more relaxing in a way. It does not force my lungs to overwork and I can do them by my own pace and free time.


Today, I ran 9km within 55 minutes which is probably the best I've ever done but this only comes after three weeks of going out for a jog twice or once a week. I don't think I can jog for another two days since I do feel a bit of constraint in my chest but I don't have shortness of breath thus far. It is an achievement I feel proud of <3

I am going to document certain achievements or things that I do to grow stronger physically in relation to my health so I guess, look out for more of these types of posts in the future!



Assalamualaikum and ciao~

| Anis Diana