It is extremely rare for a person to think about how he breathes. It is quite natural if he is completely healthy. But if often there is a feeling of tightness in the chest, lack of air, then you should seriously think about it. Such sensations are known to almost every person. Indeed, dyspnea most often occurs during physical exertion. The causes of this condition can be quite diverse, ranging from completely harmless factors to serious pathologies.
The mechanism of shortness of breath
First of all, you should understand that this is a symptomatology, which is characterized by three external signs:
- the patient feels a lack of air, he has a feeling of suffocation;
- there is a change in the depth of inspiration, exhalation, noise is heard;
- breathing becomes quite frequent.
This condition is familiar to many people, because they often experience shortness of breath during exercise. The reasons for this phenomenon are the desire of the body to maintain the level of oxygen necessary for life. As a result, there is an acceleration of respiratory contractions. The signal about the lack of oxygen, the main suppliers of which are the lungs and the heart, enters the brain. There is an activation of the respiratory center. It gives a signal about the need to accelerate the inhalation-exhalation.
This condition is familiar to every person. Shortness of breath after exercise is a normal reaction of an untrained body. It can occur after a quick walk, jogging, serious cleaning. After such a load, there is a desire to catch your breath, take a breath.
With this state, it is quite easy to fight. It is necessary to begin to engage in physical education. Especially those people who lead a sedentary lifestyle. After all, their muscular system functions half-heartedly. Accordingly, these contractions are few to support the functioning of the heart. Therefore, performing tasks of the same difficulty, physically trained people are less prone to feeling short of air than those who suffer from physical inactivity.
When to watch out for?
Obviously, shortness of breath during exercise, the reasons for which are hidden in low mobility, can be easily eliminated. However, is this symptom always the result of such a harmless phenomenon?
Unfortunately, sometimes severe shortness of breath during exercise can be a sign of the development of serious pathologies. It is quite difficult to independently determine when this symptom portends adverse factors.
The presence of a disease can be suspected as follows. For example, a person runs the same route daily. One day he notices that it has become difficult for him to walk. In doing so, he moves at his usual pace. There is a need to stand a bit and catch your breath. Such movement with periodic stops is the first symptom of trouble. Indeed, as a result of normal physical activity, an increase in the frequency of respiration occurs.
There are several reasons that can cause such problems in the body.
Sources provoking shortness of breath
Many reasons can trigger this phenomenon. Rather frequent sources of such discomfort are:
- pathology of the cardiovascular system;
- various allergies;
- obesity;
- lung diseases
- psychogenic factors (aggression, anger);
- serious blood infections;
- climate change;
- panic attacks;
- hormonal disbalance;
- smoking;
- physiological disturbances that prevent passage through the nose, mouth or throat of air.
Very often, people do not pay special attention to alarming symptoms. And practically does not think about why shortness of breath during physical exertion began to occur more often. This phenomenon is attributed to the environment, hard work, bad habits. Ignoring this problem is completely wrong.
Doctors say that in people who suffer from severe shortness of breath during exercise, the following pathologies are most often diagnosed during the examination:
- Heart disease. This is one of the common causes of this phenomenon, especially among older people. The heart muscle is unable to cope with its functions. As a result, the flow of oxygen to the organs decreases. The brain also suffers from this. Such disorders lead to increased breathing.
- Diseases of the lungs, bronchi. These are quite common causes of shortness of breath. The phenomenon is provoked by a narrowing of the bronchi, changes in the lung tissue, as a result of which the necessary amount of oxygen cannot get into the blood. In such conditions, the respiratory system begins to work in an intensive mode.
- Anemia The patient has a normal enrichment of the blood with oxygen due to the proper functioning of the lungs. The heart also copes with its function. It normally pushes oxygen to all organs and tissues. However, there is a lack of hemoglobin and red blood cells (red bodies), as a result of which the blood flow does not bring the necessary amount of oxygen to the tissues.
Pathology of the heart
Diseases of the cardiovascular system in most cases are accompanied by such an unpleasant symptom as shortness of breath. Among the pathologies that can provoke this phenomenon, the following are distinguished:
- heart failure;
- hypertension;
- myocardial infarction;
- paroxysmal tachycardia;
- pulmonary embolism;
- coronary artery disease;
- angina pectoris;
- rupture of an aortic aneurysm.
Heart failure
In this case, shortness of breath is observed with little physical exertion. For example, this condition can occur while walking. With further progression of the pathology, dyspnea persists for a long time, including at rest and in sleep.
As a rule, this condition is accompanied by the following symptoms:
- swelling of the legs ;
- heartache;
- bluish tinge of fingers, nose, feet, earlobes;
- intermittent palpitations;
- decreased or increased pressure;
- fatigue, weakness;
- dizziness, periodic fainting;
- dry cough that occurs paroxysmally.
Hypertonic disease
High blood pressure causes heart overload. As a result, the pumping function of the organ is disrupted. This causes shortness of breath. Long-term ignoring this problem significantly aggravates the patient's condition and leads to the development of heart failure. The patient often has shortness of breath after exercise, even a slight one. And with a hypertensive crisis, the symptoms are greatly enhanced.
With this disease, along with shortness of breath and high blood pressure, the following series of symptoms occur:
- facial redness;
- dizziness;
- fatigue ;
- recurrent heart pain;
- flickering spots before the eyes;
- headache;
- noise in ears.
Myocardial infarction
A dangerous acute condition is characterized by the death of a certain part of the heart. The functioning of the body is deteriorating sharply. Blood flow is seriously impaired. As a result of a lack of oxygen, the patient experiences severe shortness of breath.
Myocardial infarction has a characteristic symptomatology that makes it quite easy to determine this condition:
- heart pain (stitching, cutting);
- cold, sticky sweat;
- pallor;
- interruptions in the functioning of the heart;
- panic feeling of fear;
- drop in blood pressure.
Pulmonary dyspnea
Damage to the respiratory tract causes difficulty in passing air. Thus, shortness of breath occurs (even with a small load). Its appearance is associated with difficulty in the normal penetration of oxygen through the walls of the alveoli into the bloodstream. It should be noted that in almost all pathologies of the bronchi and lungs, this symptom is present.
Most often, the following diseases cause shortness of breath:
- bronchitis;
- chronic obstructive pulmonary disease;
- pneumonia;
- bronchial asthma;
- tumors.
Signs of bronchitis
In the case of this pathology, even with little physical exertion, shortness of breath appears. This is a characteristic symptom of bronchitis. This phenomenon is observed both in acute and chronic course of pathology.
If obstructive bronchitis is diagnosed, then the patient has difficulty exhaling. The chronic form of the disease can lead to constant shortness of breath or to periodic exacerbations.
Obstructive pulmonary disease
This pathology is characterized by a narrowing of the lumen in the bronchi. This causes shortness of breath. It should be said that this is the main symptom of this pathology. The question arises: as a result of which this disease appears, and with it unpleasant symptoms, in particular shortness of breath during physical exertion?
The causes of obstructive disease lie in the effects of harmful irritating substances. Most often, such a pathology is diagnosed in heavy smokers. The risk group for the development of this disease includes people working in hazardous industries.
The following features may indicate the development of pathology:
- constant increase in shortness of breath;
- the patient inhales easily, but very hard exhales air;
- there is a wet cough with the presence of sputum.
Causes of pathology in children
It is very important to pay attention to when and how shortness of breath occurs during physical exertion in a child. If this condition is observed after active outdoor games, while quickly passing, there is no reason for concern. But if unpleasant symptoms occur even at rest, you should immediately consult a doctor.
Dyspnea in children can be a sign of a wide variety of diseases:
- laryngitis;
- heart defects;
- diseases of the respiratory system ;
- anemia
- VSD.
Sometimes unpleasant symptoms indicate the development of respiratory distress syndrome of the newborn. With this pathology, blood flow in the lungs is disturbed, resulting in edema. This disease can develop in a baby whose mother suffers from heart disease, diabetes. Such crumbs have frequent and extremely severe shortness of breath. In this case, the skin turns pale or acquires a bluish tint.
Why can shortness of breath occur in a child (2.5 years) with physical exertion? Causes may lie in anemia. It can be triggered by a violation of iron absorption, heredity or malnutrition.
In addition, shortness of breath can occur in babies even as a result of a common cold. It almost always accompanies diseases such as bronchitis, pneumonia, laryngitis. As a rule, the symptoms are resolved on their own after the baby is completely cured of the disease that provoked it.
Treatment methods
It is very important to understand that shortness of breath is not a disease, but a symptom that characterizes the development of a certain pathology in the body. That is why you should not resort to various methods, including folk, trying to eliminate such manifestations of the disease. You should look for the source that provokes it, and fight this disease.
Thus, until causes are found that cause such a phenomenon as shortness of breath during physical exertion, the reasons, treatment will be impossible. In addition, it should be recognized that improper therapy can seriously harm the patient. That is why if you experience shortness of breath, you should initially consult a doctor.
The patient may need to consult the following specialists:
- cardiologist;
- pulmonologist;
- neurologist;
- oncologist.
It is these doctors who should prescribe drug therapy.
Dyspnea arising from heart failure is observed and treated by a cardiologist. It is extremely important to provide first aid in a timely manner if a person has developed an attack with heart pathologies:
- Provide fresh air to the room.
- The patient should be completely at ease.
- If possible, release the patient’s chest from squeezing.
- The patient needs an oxygen pack to breathe.
- Under the tongue should be given a tablet of Nitrosorbide.
- The use of diuretics is recommended.
If shortness of breath is provoked by a psychogenic factor, taking any sedative medication will bring significant relief to the patient. The same measures are also appropriate for symptoms provoked by VVD. It is important to understand that sedatives only temporarily relieve shortness of breath. They do not cure the underlying disease.
A complex treatment prescribed by a doctor can get rid of an unpleasant phenomenon with bronchitis.
To use folk remedies for the treatment of shortness of breath is possible only if painful symptoms occur sporadically, after extremely heavy exertion. To combat this phenomenon, it is recommended to use a decoction of valerian, mint, lemon balm or tincture of motherwort.
Preventative measures
Here's what you should remember for people who periodically experience shortness of breath during physical exertion: treatment will only be effective if they themselves make certain efforts for this. Recommended:
- give up smoking;
- try to avoid negative environmental conditions;
- lead an active life;
- strengthen immunity;
- do sport;
- timely treat various diseases (especially chronic pathologies of the heart and lungs).
Such measures will not only allow you to eliminate shortness of breath, but also save you from trouble in the future.