Walking in bronchitis: benefit or harm?

Many people believe that respiratory diseases accompanied by cough and fever are a reason to lock yourself in a warm, cozy room with a cup of warm tea for the duration of the illness and not leave it until the illness subsides. How true is this behavior, we will try to figure out in this article. And at the same time, we will discuss whether it is possible to walk with bronchitis, because with this pathology, cough and fever are common symptoms.

Bronchitis and its features

Bronchitis is one of those pathologies that equally affect both adults and children. There are no gender or national differences for it. This means that any of us can get bronchitis.

The disease is the development of an inflammatory process in the bronchi, which is accompanied by the release of mucus and sputum that accumulates in the lumen of the respiratory tract. Coughing in this pathology is a physiologically conditioned reaction of the body to an obstacle to breathing. Thus, with the flow of air, it tries to push the mucus accumulated in the respiratory tract outward in order to facilitate air circulation in the bronchi and lungs.

The only way to combat a cough caused by bronchitis is with the help of expectorants, which help the body do its job of clearing the respiratory tract.

Bronchitis can be acute or chronic. In the first case, the disease lasts about 3 weeks with the possibility of relapses several times a year. In the second case, recovery can be delayed for up to 3 months. In this case, relapses of the disease occur much less frequently.

There is also a special form of respiratory pathology called obstructive bronchitis. It received this name because the disease is characterized by significant blockage of the bronchi with sputum secreted from the respiratory tract due to the narrowing of the bronchial lumen, which prevents the process of ventilation of the lungs. This pathology is most often characterized by a sluggish course both in the acute (more common in children) and chronic (characteristic of adults) stages of the disease.

Bronchitis can be caused by both respiratory infections and other factors of a non-infectious nature.

The disease is quite widespread among children, especially in kindergartens and schools, where the infection spreads quickly. But adults are not immune to it either. The acute course of the disease is often accompanied by a strong cough and fever, which forces people to be on sick leave for a long time. It is clear that such a long isolation cannot but raise a fair question: is it possible to go for a walk with bronchitis and how to do it without provoking dangerous complications?

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Bronchitis in adults and walks in the fresh air

Adult working people hate being on sick leave so much that they go to work despite feeling unwell and coughing. But for some, such walks in the fresh air bring relief, while for others, they provoke complications of the disease. So what is the reason and is it possible for an adult to walk with bronchitis?

Let's start with the fact that treatment of acute bronchitis and visiting public places, including the workplace at an enterprise or organization, are incompatible until the attending physician allows you to do this by closing the sick leave.

As for walks in the fresh air, they are considered useful for any illness, no matter what it is associated with. Being in a room with insufficient ventilation, inhaling dust and infection in the air of an isolated room (in case of infectious etiology of the disease) do not contribute to a speedy recovery. And with bronchitis, on the contrary, they can provoke attacks of severe coughing.

Often in apartments there is also such a circumstance as low air humidity, which further irritates the inflamed bronchi, causing more and more painful attacks. But even humidified air inside the room cannot alleviate the patient's condition as much as fresh, cool, moderately humid air outside.

Fresh air not only helps to cough up phlegm that accumulates in the bronchi more easily, stimulating active blood circulation in the lungs, but also strengthens the immune system, helping to quickly cope with the disease and prevent its relapse in the future.

Can a child go for a walk if he has bronchitis?

Isn't this the question that worries caring mothers the most, who understand how much fresh air is necessary for their children to develop normally? Understanding the importance of walks outside, however, does not prevent some caution, typical of a mother whose baby is sick. But a strong cough and temperature with bronchitis can confuse any woman, even the most advanced in matters of medicine, when it comes to children.

And here it is necessary to understand that walks in the fresh air with bronchitis are useful for children no less than for adults. But in this matter it is necessary to be careful, relying on the condition of the large or small patient, the stage of the disease, weather conditions.

By being careful during regular or periodically repeated walks with children suffering from bronchitis, it is possible to achieve a significant improvement in the child's condition, stimulation of the lungs and bronchi with fresh air will lead to easier elimination of phlegm without the use of drugs. And isn't this what mothers want, trying to protect the baby from the harmful effects of some synthetic drugs prescribed by doctors. And the effect of herbal medicines that thin phlegm will only be stronger if the child's body helps them with all its might.

If the child is very small, walks in the fresh air can be allowed only when the local pediatrician gives the go-ahead. Walks with children under 2 years old, especially in the acute stage of the pathology, can only delay the recovery process due to the insufficient formation of the body's immune system. In this case, it is better to trust a specialist who will assess the child's condition and the degree of safety of his stay in the open air.

When and how can you walk if you have bronchitis?

To ensure that walks in the fresh air do not provoke the appearance of other unpleasant symptoms or an increase in existing manifestations of bronchitis, you need to take into account some points.

So, contraindications to walking outside with bronchitis may include:

• The first 2 or 3 days of illness, when symptoms are particularly pronounced (the beginning of the acute period)
• Severe weakness and malaise,
• Elevated body temperature (37 degrees and above), which is what provokes various complications during the disease.
• If bronchitis is of an allergic nature, you should avoid walking outside during the period of active flowering of trees (April-May) and flowers that can cause allergy attacks in the summer-autumn period.
• Bad weather conditions (very cold air causing coughing fits, windy or rainy weather). It is also undesirable to walk when the curly poplar fluff is actively falling, which complicates the breathing process.

For those who are concerned about whether it is possible to walk with bronchitis in winter, autumn or early spring, when the air around is much lower than the room temperature, which seems most comfortable during the illness, one answer can be given: it is possible and even necessary. The only condition is relatively calm weather without precipitation with an ambient temperature of at least -10 ^o C. Frost up to 10 degrees and humid air are unlikely to harm with bronchitis, but the lack of the opportunity to breathe fresh air is very likely to negatively affect the patient's well-being.

Autumn is considered to be a rainy season, and this causes concern among many parents whose children fall ill during this period. Can a child go for a walk in autumn with bronchitis? Will breathing in cool, humid air worsen the child's condition? And what if it is raining outside?

All these questions are quite understandable, because autumn has always scared us with the rampant respiratory diseases. And it is easy to catch complications in damp weather.

Nevertheless, doctors consider autumn walks even useful for children. However, this also applies to adults. The moisture in the air helps sputum to be removed more easily, and the cool air, as we remember, stimulates blood circulation in the lungs and bronchi, reducing the viscosity of the mucus that accumulates in them. Such walks are even more useful than summer ones, when due to the heat you have to constantly stay in the shade, trying not to overheat, which is no less dangerous than hypothermia.

By the way, walks at any time of the year should be done at a leisurely pace. Active games are contraindicated for children with bronchitis during the acute period of the disease. And adults during this period should not get carried away with physical activity and sports. You need to give the body the opportunity to calmly rest in the fresh air.

Rainy and windy weather is not suitable for walks with bronchitis. In this case, it is better to limit yourself to ventilation and humidification of the air in the room with a spray bottle.

In good weather, especially at the beginning of the illness, you also need to be careful, starting with short walks and gradually increasing their duration as the symptoms of the illness subside.

Is it possible to go for a walk with acute bronchitis? In good windless weather, if you feel well and have no fever. But you can't sit in a closed room for 3 weeks (or even more). What kind of immunity will you have? And your mood noticeably decreases after a long stay in a closed space, and with it, the hope for recovery fades.

You should refrain from walking only in the first days of illness, when in most cases you don’t even want to walk because you feel unwell.

Obstructive bronchitis and the possibilities of outdoor walks

Obstructive bronchitis is a special, rather severe form of pathology of the bronchopulmonary system, in which structural changes in the bronchi occur, making it difficult to remove sputum. In this case, patients of different ages experience:

• a severe cough with an abundance of difficult-to-separate mucus, accompanied by wheezing,
• shortness of breath, which first appears as a result of physical exertion and gradually becomes constant, haunting the patient even at rest,
• a slight increase in body temperature (usually up to 37 and a half degrees) against the background of weakened immunity,
• weakness, causeless attacks of fatigue that are felt even in the morning, when the patient tries to get out of bed.
• attacks of suffocation in severe cases of the disease.

The causes of such a condition of the respiratory system may be infectious diseases with insufficient or absent therapeutic measures, smoking, poor ecology. Risk factors in this case are: increased sensitivity of the pulmonary system and a tendency to allergic reactions, heredity.

Children and the elderly, whose immunity is weaker than that of young people, are more susceptible to the disease.

Studying the symptoms and developmental features of the disease makes you wonder whether it is possible to walk at all with obstructive bronchitis, and whether walks in the fresh air will provoke an exacerbation of an already serious disease?

Doctors prescribe bed rest for both regular and obstructive bronchitis only during the first 2-3 days. The rest of the time, in the absence of fever, the patient should move (of course, without any special activity that would result in increased sweating and cooling of the body as a result) and receive a therapeutic dose of fresh air. Visiting educational institutions and going to work during the acute period of the disease is prohibited, since this can worsen the patient's condition or contribute to the spread of infection by airborne droplets in acute bronchitis.

It is better to start walking with 10-15 minutes, gradually increasing their duration to 1 hour. In good weather, you can walk longer, about an hour and a half. It is recommended to take walks daily once, or better yet, twice a day (in summer, it is better to do this in the morning and evening, when the sun is least active).

Rest on the water and sunbathing will have to be postponed during the illness (at least until complete recovery), as well as various hardening procedures, useful only for a healthy body. In the meantime, it is better to limit yourself to quiet walks, getting a boost of energy from saturating the body with oxygen and contemplating the pleasing to the eye landscapes of native nature.

It is best to walk in park areas, away from highways, industrial enterprises and public institutions. If you breathe, then breathe clean air, not smog and dust.

When walking with a child, you need to protect him from contact with other children due to the possibility of transmitting the infection. To do this, it is better to stay away from playgrounds where children like to play. This is also useful in the sense that in a company, children tend to start active games (children are children, it is difficult for them to resist the temptation to run, jump, tumble), which are still contraindicated for children with bronchitis.

There is no clear answer to the question of whether it is possible to walk with bronchitis that occurs without a rise in temperature. If the patient feels well enough, then walks in the fresh air will only do him good. If the patient's health leaves much to be desired, the absence of temperature may be due to a greatly weakened immune system. In this case, walks should be postponed until the patient feels better.

But the most important thing with obstructive bronchitis is not to ignore the doctor's orders. If medications are prescribed that help thin and remove phlegm from the bronchi, you should not replace them with walks in the fresh air. Fresh air only helps the body fight the disease, but it is not a cure.