Children with asthma should not avoid exercise, and parents should not pull them from physical education classes — a common practice in Taiwan — a doctor said.
Taiwan Academy of Pediatric Allergy, Asthma, Immunology and Rheumatology secretary-general Yeh Kuo-wei (葉國偉) said that far from being harmful to children with asthma, exercise helps in managing their condition, provided it is regular, accompanied by adequate warm-up activity and conducted in an allergen-free environment.
Children with asthma can grow into excellent professional athletes, Yeh said, with research showing that 14.8 percent of the 659 Olympians who competed in the Games between 2000 and 2012 have asthma.
Star soccer player Chen Ya-hui (陳雅惠) from Hualien Taikai Women’s Football Team is a good example.
Chen said she has asthma like her mother and sister, but since she started playing soccer during third grade in elementary school, she was able to ease her condition with the help of regular exercise.
She said she has not been dependent on drugs since junior-high school and very rarely suffers an attack.
“I did not expect soccer would help me manage my condition and keep me fit,” Chen said.
Exercise improves quality of life by reducing abnormal respiratory reactions, exercise-induced asthma and asthma attacks, and increasing maximal oxygen uptake, cardiovascular fitness and quality of sleep, Yeh said.
However, parents who keep children from physical activity put them at greater risk because a lack of adequate exercise impedes fitness, which hinders management of asthma symptoms, Yeh said.
The doctor advised parents of children with asthma to encourage them to exercise, and gave three tips on minimizing the risk of attacks during exercise.
First, 10 to 15 minutes of warm-up and 10 minutes of cool-down exercise is mandatory. Second, exercise should be regular and initially paced at three times a week, with gradual increases in duration and intensity. And third, parents should watch for asthma triggers when selecting a place for exercise. Poor air quality and the presence of allergens such as excessive aerosols or drastic changes in temperature or humidity should be avoided, Yeh said.
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