Abstract
Asthma is a chronic inflammatory airways disease, estimated to affect 300 million people worldwide. Asthma management plans focus on optimisation of asthma pharmacotherapy. Lifestyle interventions also hold great promise for asthma sufferers as they are accessible, low cost and have minimal side-effects, thus making adherence more likely. This review explores lifestyle interventions that have been tested in asthma, including improving nutrition, increasing physical activity and introduction of relaxation therapies such as yoga and massage therapy. Available evidence suggests a protective effect of increasing fruit, vegetable and wholegrain intake and increasing physical activity levels in asthma. Weight loss is recommended for obese asthmatic patients, as just 5–10% weight loss has been found to improve quality of life and asthma control in most obese asthmatic patients. Other lifestyle interventions such as meditation, yoga and massage therapy show promise, with positive effects on asthma seen in some studies. However, the study protocols are highly variable and the results are inconsistent. Additional research is needed to further develop and refine recommendations regarding lifestyle modifications that can be implemented to improve asthma.
Key points
Improving diet quality, by increasing fruit, vegetable and wholegrain intake and reducing saturated fat intake, should be recommended in asthma, as there is evidence suggesting that this leads to improvements in airway inflammation, asthma control and exacerbation risk.
Regular physical activity should be promoted for people with asthma, as it can improve quality of life and lung function, as well as general health.
In obese asthmatic patients, weight loss should be recommended, as it leads to numerous health benefits, including improvements in asthma. Even small amounts of weight loss in adults (5–10% body weight) have been shown to improve asthma quality of life and asthma control in the majority of people with asthma.
There is some evidence of benefit of meditation, yoga and breathing exercises for adults with asthma, while massage therapy shows promise in children with asthma. However, the evidence is inconsistent and more research is needed to make definitive recommendations.
Educational aims
To summarise current knowledge on lifestyle interventions in asthma.
To improve awareness of how lifestyle modification can be used in asthma management.
To identify areas for future research on lifestyle interventions in asthma.
Abstract
Lifestyle interventions may be key to living well with asthma, as increasing fruit, vegetable and wholegrain intake and exercise levels are shown to improve asthma. Future recommendations may include yoga, meditation and massage. http://bit.ly/2wbJp2J
Footnotes
Conflict of interest: I. Stoodley has nothing to disclose.
Conflict of interest: L. Williams has nothing to disclose.
Conflict of interest: C. Thompson has nothing to disclose.
Conflict of interest: H. Scott has nothing to disclose.
Conflict of interest: L. Wood reports research grants and non-financial/other support (travel support) from the nutraceutical manufacturers NSA LLC and DSM, personal fees and other support from CGi LLC (travel support and honorarium for speaking at Nutraceuticals in Medicine conference), and personal fees from Boehringer Ingelheim (travel support and honorarium for speaking at Transatlantic Airways Disease conference), all outside the submitted work.
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