PODCAST - how asthma actually saved my life
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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.
I was devastated when I found out I had asthma. I thought my life was over. I would never play soccer again. I wouldn't be able to play with my friends on the playground running ground up in the mountains. I wouldn't be able to do any of [00:01:00] these things. Fast forward more than three decades later. And I feel completely different, and that's why today on the show, I'm gonna share with you how asthma has actually saved my life to kick it off.
Asthma has taught me to listen to my body. I was forced into this as a kid. I was told by multiple doctors that I needed to be very in tune to how I feel, because in order to use my inhaler at the right time, use my nebulizer at the right time in order to save myself from various food allergies. I. I was deathly allergic to peanuts and nuts growing up, and to this day I still have these allergies.
They're a little less severe now, but I've always had to ask myself, how am I feeling? Am I [00:02:00] feeling like I need one of these medical interventions in order to stop or prevent an asthma attack in order to prevent an allergic reaction? I've always had to be a little more mindful about what I eat, be mindful of the different triggers that can stack up and cause a severe asthma attack.
I've had to be mindful of different injuries over the years, and really how I got so attuned to this was because of my lungs, because of my asthma. So I'm telling you, if you have asthma. Asthma is a superpower. I have a whole video and podcast episode about why it is a superpower, and I've gotten so many amazing comments over the past few years since I started this channel and this podcast.
That's why I even wanted to dig deeper into this thought today about how asthma isn't [00:03:00] something bad. It is something that empowers you and I. To live our lives differently. To live our lives more powerfully, to potentially save our lives in certain circumstances. A couple years ago, about 45 minutes into a yoga sculpt class, I blacked out in my right eye and I knew right away that something was wrong.
I think anyone would. But I was even more in tune that this was not just a I'm feeling dizzy or lightheaded moment. This was something very different. And what this experience ended up leading to was figuring out what had caused it, which was a supplement I had just started taking, and it really allowed me to learn a lot more about my body.
Than I even already knew. I learned that taking different tests to test different parts of our body is really important. I learned that what a [00:04:00] typical doctor even looks at or. What the medical system even requires or asks of us to do on a yearly basis may not be enough to really know how healthy we are.
And because I'm so in tune to my body and I listen to my body, I go outta my way to do more tests to know how. My body is actually doing how healthy I actually am, and ultimately I learned that I have a hole in my heart. And part of that is living my life a little differently, being mindful of different things, being mindful of how high my heart rate gets, doing various activities, running HIIT workouts, hiking, et cetera.
So yes, asthma has. Actually saved my life. Number two, asthma has forced me to eat healthier. I guess I didn't have to eat [00:05:00] healthier, but I have had so many athletic goals throughout my life. That the only way I would be able to perform at this high level that I perform to this day, I have had to eat more mindfully.
That means eating a lot less dairy, eating a lot less fried food. In recent years, I've given up drinking alcohol almost. All together, and I really only will drink one or two times per year if that. And it's because early on in my life, because I had asthma, I knew that if I was going to play soccer, I was going to do these things that if I ate specific things, I felt worse.
My asthma was worse. So this taught me early on that what I put into my body really can have an effect on how I feel. I use this knowledge to feel better, to perform higher, and to overall [00:06:00] live a healthier life. And these roots come from my early journey with managing my asthma. Number three, asthma pushes me to exercise consistently.
If I don't exercise consistently, then I try to exercise. After not exercising for a couple of weeks, my asthma flares up. I personally have to exercise consistently. In order to keep my asthma at bay in order to keep my lungs strengthened, in order to feel good exercising, I need to exercise consistently.
While I'm not a healthcare professional, and I highly recommend that you speak with yours about any sort of exercise routine and really anything that I'm talking about here today, but what I have learned from reading various books and most specifically. From Dr. Peter Attia, the author of Outlive, is that a consistent exercise routine [00:07:00] reduces all cause mortality rates by 30 to 35%.
There is no drug on the planet that has this type of results across all cause mortality rates. Well, I thank asthma. For pushing me at a young age to consistently work out. Now, the first doctor that I talked to about having asthma told me that I wouldn't be able to work out much throughout my life, and that if I did, I would need to use my inhaler all the time.
I'm so grateful that I got more advice from other doctors throughout the years that taught me that by consistently exercising, I can actually strengthen my lungs because I'm not only strengthening my lungs, I'm strengthening my entire body and. Reducing all cause [00:08:00] mortality for myself by 30 to 35%. This may be the greatest blessing that asthma has given me, is a love for working out because I've done it for so many years.
And more importantly, a love for exercising consistently now, and I've built the habit, so I plan on doing this for as long as I can throughout my life. Number four. Asthma showed me I can do hard things. I don't know about you, but that first soccer practice that I made the leap to have my inhaler with me, but instead of using it before practice, I decided to use it five or 10 minutes in, or when I felt asthma symptoms coming on.
That was hard. That was brutal. It was brutal. Building up my lungs. It was brutal. Going from not being able to play at all without using my inhaler to being able to play three or four games [00:09:00] in a day without using my inhaler. It is brutal every time I get back into working out after being sick. Now I like to work out while I'm sick.
I just do it on a much lower level, but it's brutal. It is brutal being an ultra runner with asthma because I consistently need to keep working out to keep my lungs strong, and I still find myself trying to catch my breath throughout races. Well, all of this has shown me that I can do hard things and now I apply this to everything else in my life.
I don't know if I would've learned this lesson as quickly in my life if it wasn't for asthma. Maybe you have asthma. Maybe you have a family member, a loved one, a friend that has asthma. Maybe you've seen their struggle. Maybe you have something else. Maybe you have something else that you have had to [00:10:00] overcome in your life.
Well, I invite you to use that, use that experience as fire to show you, to show yourself maybe that family member, that loved one, that friend. Maybe you can help them. Send them to watch this video. Listen to this podcast episode to empower them to know that they can do hard things. You can do hard things.
I believe in you. You can use your experience with asthma. To help you overcome other things that are hard. And number five, asthma has given me purpose. Asthma has inspired me to start this podcast and YouTube channel athlete with asthma. Asthma has taught me that even though I have had to live my life differently because of it.
This isn't a bad thing. This is an empowering thing, and if you have asthma, if you have a [00:11:00] loved one who has asthma, or maybe you have some other sort of limitation in your life, I am telling you. That you can do hard things. You can achieve your goals. You may just have to achieve them a little differently, and that's okay.
And that's really why I even created this brand is my purpose is to teach and inspire people like you to overcome your limitations and achieve your goals. I want to hear from you. What reasons, what things, how do you feel that asthma has impacted your life? How do you feel you have been able to use your experience with asthma as fuel to live a healthier life?
How do you feel asthma has actually saved your life? I want to hear that in the comments. If you're [00:12:00] listening to this as a podcast, you can email me at Johnny. At J-O-N-N-Y, at athlete with asthma.com. 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.
