PODCAST - why asthma feels random (but isn’t)
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[00:00:00] Welcome to the Athlete with Asthma Show. I'm your host Johnny Ha, an ultra runner endurance athlete, and yes, a guy who's had an inhaler prescribed since birth. Despite doctors telling me I could never play soccer nor run a marathon, let alone a hundred K ultra. I prove them all wrong. This show is where I share everything I've learned from breathing techniques to mindset shifts to help you become the athlete and the person you truly want to be.
So if you're ready to achieve your goals, despite limitations, let's get started.
Asthma can feel very random, especially when you first get diagnosed or when you first start having asthma symptoms come on. I remember back when I was three, four or five years old, I [00:01:00] knew that if I pushed too hard in a workout without having my inhaler, that I would feel my asthma come on. But there were other times when it would just come on.
I eventually figured out that if I was sick, my asthma definitely would hit me more, but there were still times when I had no idea if it would hit me or not. And this can be extremely scary, which is why we asthmatics are advised to have our inhalers with us at all times, have the supportive care that we need with us at all times.
Have that nebulizer around so that you can get relief. Now, I'm not a healthcare professional. I'm not a doctor. I'm just an ultra athlete with asthma who teaches on this channel, on this podcast based on my experience. So I have a disclaimer in the show notes and in the YouTube video description below.
Make sure that you check with your healthcare professional when considering any of this. The great thing though is over the years I have [00:02:00] learned what triggers stack to cause what? In the past may have felt like a random asthma attack. I can now not only predict when my asthma attacks are gonna happen, I can take actions to prevent them from happening in the first place.
And it's all about for me, alleviating the stacking. Of triggers the stacking of factors that affect asthma, because really what ends up happening for me is that multiple things have to stack up for me to have an asthma attack. Here's an example. If I'm sick and I'm eating a lot of dairy, I'm more likely to have an asthma attack.
If I go take a run. There's three. Factors right there. Sick dairy, which creates inflammation in my body and a run, those three things should probably be careful asthma attack may happen. So this awareness that not only one [00:03:00] trigger but multiple stacked up is what makes it more likely for me to have an asthma attack is very interesting because if in my head.
I said, well, if I have dairy, I'm probably gonna have an asthma attack, and then I didn't have an asthma attack. I would think, well, yeah, you can't predict it, but instead of thinking about it that way, think of cumulative stacking of multiple factors, and that's what I'm gonna share with you today are the factors for me that tend to affect my asthma, and when they're stacked on top of each other, this is where I can start predicting and making choices.
To prevent asthma attacks from happening. Now, these are in no particular order. It's just what came to mind when I was putting this episode together for you. So the first thing is environmental factors. Now this, out of all of the factors though, of all the things that I'm gonna go through, maybe. [00:04:00] What makes us think that asthma attacks, that asthma symptoms can be random, and I get it because you can't always predict what your environment that you are in is going to do or impact.
You don't know how it's gonna impact you, but some overall basic things that I make sure that I'm aware of are, how's the air quality, so poor air quality? Is almost guaranteed to have an effect on my asthma and cold weather. Cold weather tends to affect it as well. So when I go outside and maybe there's a warning, 'cause there's been fires around.
I live in Colorado, there's fires that happen and then there's smoke in the air. I know that I should probably breathe through something best I can. Even breathing through something is going to impact my asthma, but it's more likely that if I go into this that I'm gonna have a problem. Now, you may not always be [00:05:00] looking at what's going on in your environment around you before entering the environment.
I get it. But just know that you can. Put some forethought into this. If it's zero degrees outside Fahrenheit, Celsius, whatever, then you're probably gonna have a harder time than if it's 50 or 60 degrees Fahrenheit. Not Celsius, 50 or 60 degrees Celsius is gonna be way too hot. But these are environmental factors to be aware of.
Now when you stack this with other factors like diet decisions, so this is an interesting one because in previous episodes on the channel and on my podcast, I have shared that there's specific things. That create extra inflammation in all of us humans. And then there's other things that create inflammation, more inflammation in us as individuals.
These are food sensitivities. These are food allergies. Well, whatever it is, you need to figure out what they are for you. [00:06:00] Because the randomness of an asthma response may actually be you eating something that creates inflammation in your body or that creates inflammation on top of other things that are happening, and it just puts you over the top.
For me, this means that if I increase my dairy intake, then I'm gonna have more issues with asthma. If I eat more fried food, I'm gonna have more issues with asthma. 'cause there's a lot of inflammatory factors in fried food. And like I said, allergies and other sensitivities. If I eat peanuts, then I'm not only gonna have an issue with asthma, I'm probably gonna break out everywhere and I'm not gonna feel very good.
I may even go into anaphylactic shock. That hasn't happened for a long time in my life. 'cause my allergies have. Really changed over the years and become less severe in some cases, but allergies and sensitivities. So even think about just layering these two together. If you eat a bunch of dairy and then you go outside and [00:07:00] it's very poor air quality, I mean, that's probably worse than just having one of the two.
It's definitely worse than having neither of the two. So when you stack factors, you are more likely to have a problem next, being sick. For me, this is the biggest factor that impacts my asthma When I'm sick. I actually need to use my inhaler sometimes Now. Now I've been sick twice this past winter and I actually haven't used my inhaler either time, so I'm very proud of myself.
My lungs are getting stronger, and I wasn't as sick as I had been before. When I need my inhaler, it was also probably because. The second I start feeling sick. I make sure that I stop eating any dairy. I make sure that I stay away from fried foods. I stay away from my allergies and sensitivities versus being sick and then starting to eat a bunch of pizza.
These things stack know what affects you. And then eliminate the stacking of factors. Next, stress and nervous system [00:08:00] load. Yes. Stress. Putting a lot of stress not only on your body, but on your nervous system. This can cause an asthmatic response. One of the simplest stressors that we all really should put on ourselves is exercise.
Exercise, consistent exercise. Dr. Peter Attia of the book Outlive, author of the book Outlive, shows that all cause mortality rates are decreased by 35%. When you integrate. Consistent exercise into your life. So exercise is extremely important. If you're asthmatic or not, it's extremely important. When you're asthmatic, you just need to be aware that it can also cause asthma symptoms.
So if you know that exercise does this for you, then if you're going to. Prioritize exercise. Then you might want to make sure you're not exercising in poor air quality, cold weather. Change your dietary decisions to support your asthma instead of hurting your asthma, and focus on [00:09:00] exercise when you're sick.
Make sure that you're safe when you exercise. I like to exercise when I'm sick, when I've been doing it for a long time, and I know how much I can push myself. Without hurting myself, without having an asthmatic response. That exercise is a stressor that can cause an asthma response. When you layer it on with these other things, you're more likely to have an asthmatic response.
'cause you may have thought to yourself that, you know, Tim, if you wanna exercise, I'm fine. But today I exercised and I had an asthma attack. Why is that? Let's look at the other things. What else is going on? Compounding effect of these things. Next. Poor sleep. This is an interesting one, and this is really in the background of all of this.
If you stack poor sleep or sleep debt, which really just means that you're falling behind on your sleep days and days and days, lacking sleep, lacking good sleep, the poorer sleep when you combine it with these other factors can [00:10:00] really impact your asthma and dehydration. Another one. That can really show up in the background, dehydration, poor sleep, exercise.
If you aren't taking care of your body, if there's certain things you're doing to your body and then you do a stressor like exercise, or you throw in going into an environmental factor that affects you in your asthma, then you may have. An asthmatic response that you weren't expecting. So there's other things as well, but really the point here is when you are looking at asthma, I know it can feel random, and I know it feels scary when it is quote unquote random, but when you start looking at this.
Creating this awareness, creating this mental shift, becoming mindful of what causes you an asthmatic response, then it gives you a lot more control on how to manage it, and that's my goal for you today, is to have control. [00:11:00] Over your situation as much as you possibly can. That doesn't mean that all of a sudden you're not gonna have any random asthmatic moments.
It doesn't mean that. That's why you always want to have your inhaler with you have a great medical support team, great doctor, et cetera, but. This can really help you manage things and have some control and power back over your life. I hope this served you today and to serve you even deeper, I have my three Pillars of Healthy Living Guide.
You can grab it in the show notes or in the YouTube description. You can also go to www.athletewithasthma.com/healthy-living-guide to grab your copy today. The three pillars of Healthy Living are. Movement slash exercise tracking, which is kind of what we're doing here. We're keeping track of what causes our asthma and accountability.
When you combine these three pillars and integrate them into your [00:12:00] life, you'll start living healthier and happier. You'll be creating good habits in your life to support you and your goals. Just like. These three pillars of healthy living have helped me on my journey. I wish that the same for you. I'll see you in the next episode.
Thanks for tuning in to the Athlete with Asthma Show. I hope today's episode inspired you to overcome any perceived limitations you may have. Remember, your health and wellness journey isn't about perfection. It is about progress. So I invite you to take a small step right now towards your goals, and if you found something helpful here, make sure to subscribe, leave a review, and share the podcast with others on a similar path.
Until next time, keep challenging yourself and redefining what's possible.
