Swimming is one of the great summer pastimes and has been long thought of as a great exercise for asthmatics.
Swimming is promoted as an exercise for people with asthma because you breathe in warm, moist air rather than the cold, dry air that may trigger asthma symptoms. Swimming can also help you develop good breathing practices.
Recent research, however, has indicated that some of the byproducts of chlorine can significantly contaminant the air around swimming pools. Not surprisingly, people using indoor pools seem to be more affected.
While more study needs to be done before your doctor tells you to stay away from the pool, I wanted to know what your experience with asthma and swimming pools was? Please take the quiz and leave a comment.
Swimming is promoted as an exercise for people with asthma because you breathe in warm, moist air rather than the cold, dry air that may trigger asthma symptoms. Swimming can also help you develop good breathing practices.
Recent research, however, has indicated that some of the byproducts of chlorine can significantly contaminant the air around swimming pools. Not surprisingly, people using indoor pools seem to be more affected.
While more study needs to be done before your doctor tells you to stay away from the pool, I wanted to know what your experience with asthma and swimming pools was? Please take the quiz and leave a comment.
Hi Pat,
While there has been research suggesting a link between chlorine and asthma, more recent research concluded there’s not enough evidence to support the link. There’s a great post on Asthma Mom (http://bit.ly/idlIC) on this topic, which I would encourage you to read. Chlorine still remains a necessary component in making sure our pools stay clean.
Best Regards,
Jeff
Jeff Sloan
American Chemistry Council
I have not been able to excercise for the past decade due to my asthma. Last time(in school) I tried swimming in a pool I used to have an asthma attack. However I went for a swim yesterday and swam for an hour without any problem neither while swimming nor afterwards even though I was quite exhausted and I had definetly been excercising.