Coping with breathlessness

This leaflet provides information for people with a limiting illness about how to cope when suffering from breathlessness. There are also some tips to help you avoid becoming breathless.

Breathlessness can affect all areas of your life and make you feel anxious. However, it is important to remember that being breathless is not harmful.

Managing everyday activities

Try to remember the following basic principles to manage your breathlessness:
Plan ahead
Think through your daily activities and try to plan what you need to do and when.
Prioritise
Delegate some household chores and tasks to others if possible, such as shopping or housework. Try to conserve your energy for specific activities, and for things you enjoy.
Pace yourself
Intersperse periods of activity with periods of rest.

Breathing Control

Breathing control is the name given to a method of gentle breathing using the lower part of your chest whilst leaving your upper chest and shoulders relaxed. This helps by:
Making breathing easier and allowing energy to be used more effectively
Relieving breathlessness
Encouraging your breathing pattern to be more normal
Improving ventilation of the lower part of the lungs.

How to control your breathing

1. Settle yourself in a relaxed position, such as sitting in a chair
2. Make sure that your back is well supported
3. Rest your hand on your lower rib/upper abdomen
4. Keep your upper chest and shoulders relaxed
5. Breathe in gently through your nose and out through your mouth, feeling the expansion in your lower chest under your hand as you breathe in
6. Remember that breathing out is just as important as breathing in - imagine you are blowing out a candle

If you practice breathing control often for short periods of time, it will become much easier.

When you become breathless, try to breathe as gently as possible using this method. Breathe at your own rate, but as you begin to gain control, slowly try and bring your breathing rate back down to normal.

Use breathing control if you are feeling anxious, and to help you manage everyday activities such as getting dressed, climbing stairs, bathing etc.

Avoid holding your breath.