Self-Care Tips for COPD Patients
Russell shares some self-care tips to help make it easier for you to manage your disease, be a little bit happier in everyday life, and minimizing risks and triggers.
Think About How You Can Minimize Your Risks
I guess the first thing I do every day when I get up is thinking about minimizing my risks for the day.
When I talk about reducing your risks, I mean have a look outside and what's happening out there. Is there a lot of pollution, is it a humid day, is there smoke outside?
What is it that's going to trigger your exacerbations and if there is something, try and avoid it.
Be Social
Being social is an important part of my day. And whether that's in a work environment, so talking to work friends.
Or if I'm not working, going to my local coffee shop which I love to do, and having a chat with the staff there. I think it's important to be out and about and be social; it keeps you in a good, positive frame of mind.
Remember to Relax
Part of my day involves resting and relaxing just to sort of–you know, calm yourself down.
Some people that can be meditation, for me it's more focusing on breathing and breathing techniques, we've talked about breathing techniques before and they're an excellent idea just to relax and feel calm about yourself. Identifying what makes you happy, that's important.
We all like a good laugh, so when you are out and about and you're having a good time, think about the environment you're in and try and repeat that, use those sort of activities on a regular basis to keep you happy and in a positive frame of mind. Helping out other patients, I really get a kick out of that.
Helping out other patients, I really get a kick out of that. I love engaging with other patients and swapping ideas, sometimes I can help other people, sometimes they can help me.
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We can talk to each other on there, we can comment on different articles, and I think it's good to be engaged with everyone.
Get Involved In An Activity
Of course part of my day always has to include some activity. So that could be in the form of training for an event, or if I'm not training for an event, it's about getting out and being active in any kind.
I try to aim for around 10,000 steps a day on my trusty activity tracker. I don't always get there, and in fact today I'm about 2,000 steps, so I probably need to get out and about soon and do something.
In Conclusion...
But all these things are bound to putting you in a good frame of mind and taking less focus off your disease and the breathlessness, and more about enjoying a good quality of life. So there are my self-management tips, I hope they're beneficial for you, certainly try them if you hadn't used them before because nothing ventured, nothing gained.
So there are my self-management tips, and I hope they're beneficial for you. Certainly try them if you hadn't used them before because nothing ventured is nothing gained.
