Call 999 if:
- you’re struggling to breathe or have sudden shortness of breath
- your breathing does not go back to normal after exercise
- your chest feels tight or heavy
- you have pain that spreads to your arms, back, neck and jaw
- you feel sick or are being sick.
Get your heart rate up
Aerobic activities warm up your body, make your heart beat faster, and make you breathe quicker and deeper.
Try to do at least 150 minutes of moderate intensity activity every week. That works out at about 20 minutes a day.
Activities that get your heart rate up include:
- brisk walking
- jogging or running – you could try the couch to 5K challenge, or joining a parkrun
- swimming
- cycling
- playing tennis
- playing football
- you could try our Keep Active: exercises to help you feel more energetic video.
Activities like gardening can also get your heart rate up. Weeding, digging or mowing the lawn can improve your breathing and overall fitness. If you find pollen and mould trigger your symptoms, you could take an antihistamine and wear a mask when gardening.
Use the talk test to make sure you’re working at the right level for you.
Strengthen your muscles
Stronger muscles will help you manage your breathlessness. If your body muscles are weak because they’re not used enough, they need more blood flow, which makes your heart and lungs work harder.
Try to do activities that improve your muscle strength at least twice a week. You can fit this into your daily life, for example by:
- carrying shopping bags
- doing yoga
- using weights – you could use cans of soup or bottles of water
- climbing stairs
- cycling or using an exercise bike
- you could try our Keep Active: exercises to help you feel stronger video.
If you have problems getting out of chairs or are worried about falls, try to strengthen the muscles around your hips and thighs. Climbing stairs and using an exercise bike can help strengthen these muscles.
Improve balance and flexibility
Improving your balance and flexibility will help you to manage aches and pains and improve your posture. Along with strength training, it can also help to reduce the risk of falls in older people. Try to include balance and flexibility activities at least twice a week.
Our Keep Active programme includes exercises to help improve your balance and flexibility.
The NHS also has a number of exercises to help improve your balance.
The talk test
When you’re active, it’s normal to get out of breath, but not too much. You can check if you’re doing the right amount of exercise with the ‘talk test’.
When exercising, say the sentence “this activity is going to do me good!”:
- If you can say the sentence without stopping for breath, you can increase the intensity of exercise if you want to.
- If you need to stop for breath when saying the sentence, this is a sign that you’re exercising at the right level for you.
- If you can’t speak or can only say one word at a time when saying the sentence, you need to slow down and find an activity that’s easier for you to do.
