This years allergy season upon us, and me and my daughter are starting to feel
some effects on airways congestion. Time to scale-up
the exercise routine!
Admittedly, we have been slacking a little during the winter time
as this year nobody got any asthma attacks or even a cold.
Which is by itself remarkable and might be a result of regular
exercise before. Alas, it is common to become complacent if
everything looks good for long.

All the talk about swine flue also contributes to our
increased awareness of the need of breathing exercise.
After all, it does promote automatic (without thinking) nasal breathing and
widens the airways. Which both are a benefit in
a potential flu epidemic.
Why?
1) prevention (nasal breathing allows to "sample" the virus in small
quantities as it gets stack in the nose mucus without reaching the lungs, and
develop an immunity without actually getting sick). Gradually increasing number
of people with indirect immunity is a reason why all pandemics eventually stop.
It is good to be one of these "blocking" people, rather than one of the
patients.

2) better outcome if hit (wider airways make bronchial spasm less likely as it
disrupts CO2 depletion pathway, and of cause the symptoms of inflammation such
as shortness of breath are also less severe). Particularly swine flu is known to
cause an over-reaction of immune system with massive inflammation in the lungs.
That is where patient would benefit from any additional diameter of the airways
that he can get.

Of cause even with exercise the good practices as staying away from the crowds
and religiously washing hands while avoiding touching face are still important.
One good outcome of the excessive publicity about swine flu might be increased
awareness of this practices, which might save thousands of lives in up-coming
normal flu season. After all, completely normal common flu kills 25000 people
every year in USA alone.

Regards,
Yevgen