Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is an umbrella term for several lung diseases, such as chronic bronchitis and emphysema. With COPD, you may experience shortness of breath, a frequent cough, or an abnormal amount of phlegm. Though the lung damage caused by COPD cannot be cured or reversed, work with your provider to improve your COPD symptoms and enjoy a better quality of life.
By working directly with your provider, you can develop an action plan to follow so that you start seeing positive results as soon as possible or prevent your COPD from worsening to the point where a hospital trip is needed.
Developing a COPD Action Plan That’s Right for You
COPD affects patients differently, so it’s important to know that what works for one person may not work as well for someone else. This challenge is why it’s important to visit your provider to develop an action plan, even if you’ve been living with COPD for years.
Together with your provider, you’ll be able to discuss what specialists, if any, you’ll want to make appointments with. Then you can identify any unhealthy habits, like smoking, that may be contributing to your COPD worsening. You can also discuss ways to exercise comfortably and safely since COPD can hinder your ability to breathe easily. Getting regular exercise is vital to your overall health.
1. Work Closely with Your Providers
The goals of disease management are to minimize and monitor your symptoms, improve your quality of life and slow the progression. Meeting these goals requires a multidisciplinary, team approach. Members of your care team may include:
- Primary care provider
- Pulmonologist
- Respiratory therapists
- Nurses
- Pharmacists
Within this team, your primary care provider acts as the director of your care.
In the early stages, your provider diagnoses your condition and refers you to a pulmonologist or other specialist. As you learn to live with COPD, your provider monitors your condition and guides your treatment, making necessary adjustments and coordinating your care.
2. Stop Smoking
Early on, you and your provider will work to find ways to maximize your lung capacity. The primary way to do this is to remove the root cause of COPD. Most cases of COPD in America are caused by smoking. Stopping smoking can improve your COPD and leave you breathing easier.
If you experience COPD due to air pollution or chemical fumes, avoiding them in the future may improve your COPD symptoms. Continuing to smoke or breathe chemicals or air pollution can worsen your COPD and increase your risk for other health conditions, like cancer.
3. Watch Your Weight
If you are overweight or obese, you can improve your COPD by working with your provider to reach and maintain a healthy weight.
If COPD has made it harder for you to stay active, eating a balanced diet and avoiding excess calories can help you lose pounds if you’re overweight and reduce your risk of becoming overweight.
However, it’s important to keep in mind that COPD doesn’t mean regular exercise is off-limits. Talk with your provider to determine what exercise is right for you. Adding light exercise to your routine will not only improve your lung function, but it can also help you maintain a healthy weight.
4. Strengthen Your Lungs
Exercise is one of the best ways to strengthen your lungs. Regular exercise is a great way to maintain a healthy lifestyle while living with COPD. Exercising can ease many of the symptoms of COPD, including your body’s usage of oxygen, your energy levels and even your shortness of breath.
Pulmonary rehabilitation is an outpatient program administered at hospitals and rehabilitation facilities that’s highly recommended for people with COPD. The program is a combination of education to help improve awareness of the disease and exercise to help reduce its impact on daily life. Some patients receive oxygen therapy as part of their COPD treatment, but its effectiveness isn’t proven.
Other types of exercise that can make a big difference in your lung function and quality of life after being diagnosed with COPD include:
Stretching
Stretching helps you relax before exercise, reduces the risk of injury and can help you focus on your breathing technique.
Aerobic exercise
Walking, biking and swimming help build lung strength and stamina and should be performed for at least 30 minutes a few times per week.
Resistance training
Lifting weights and using resistance bands at home or the gym helps build muscles all over the body, including respiratory muscles used in breathing.
Breathing exercises
Four types of breathing exercises that can help reduce stress and strengthen respiratory muscles in people with COPD include:
- Deep breathing—Take a deep breath, hold it for as long as you can, exhale, and then cough forcefully.
- Pursed lip breathing—Breathe in through your nose slowly until your lungs are full of air, pucker your lips and breathe out slowly through your mouth.
- Diaphragmatic breathing—Lie down on a flat surface, placing one hand below your ribs and the other in the middle of your chest. Breathe in slowly and deeply through your nose, tighten your abdominal muscles and breathe out slowly through pursed lips.
- Controlled coughing—Sit on a chair, lean forward and fold your arms across your stomach. Breathe in slowly through your nose, then press into your stomach as you exhale. Open your mouth and cough a few times, and then gently inhale through your nose.
How Do You Stop COPD from Progressing?
After being diagnosed with COPD, you and your provider will likely focus on two goals:
- Minimize your daily symptoms, which in turn will improve your day-to-day quality of life.
- Avoid behaviors that can worsen your symptoms and cause your COPD to progress.
Because COPD is a progressive disease, and because lung function decreases with age (even in people without COPD), it’s impossible to stop COPD. However, working with a provider as you age can help you minimize the disease’s progression while also maximizing your remaining lung function.
Can COPD Be Reversed?
No, COPD cannot be reversed. However, almost every COPD patient has room for improvement. Making the right lifestyle changes, avoiding things that worsen COPD like smoking, and becoming an active participant in your own health will all benefit your quality of life.
No matter how long ago you were diagnosed with COPD, your primary goal should be slowing its progression.
A COPD diagnosis can be frightening, especially since it’s progressive and can be life-threatening in its later stages. Thankfully, COPD is a disease that can often be successfully managed, especially when patients work in conjunction with their providers.
Listen to a Podcast
There is good news for people diagnosed with COPD – you can still live a long, healthy life! Join lung specialist Dr. Sunil Swami for a conversation about what to do to improve your COPD, breathe better now and how to care for your lungs so you can keep feeling your best well into the future.
More to Read
- Nutrition for Lung Health and COPD
- COPD and Exercise: How to Benefit from Staying Active
- Build an Action Plan for COPD Flare-ups
- COPD Warning Signs
Medically reviewed by Jason Birnbaum, MD.
