New Study: Exercise reduces mortality for BE patients

I bought an exercise bike and am trying to fit that back in to my schedule. I prefer bicycling outside in the fresh air but live in Florida so it is just too hot or rainy. Having the stationary bike is very convenient. I started this week using the Albuterol inhaler, then cycling 15 minutes and then doing the Arikayce so hopefully my lungs are open and medicine can get deeper inside them.

You can also try pulmonary rehabilitation. Its a program that you need a doctors referral when you start the first time— three times a week an hour including a warm up then 15/15 minutes of exercise you pick and 15 min of calming down. In the meantime your blood pressure and o2 level are measured a few times watching your vitals. This is usually two months. If you decide for more and you qualify you pay 100 dollars a month- the difference is you monitor your oxidation level after each set of exercises. Of course all this if there is a program like this that your local rehabilitation program offers.

I forgot to add that during that time you always listen to the educational part- breathing techniques, using oxygen, types of nebulizers etc

I was a bit taken back when the Pulmonary Rehab center here associated with one of the large hospitals did not require everyone to mask. After three short visits I came down with Covid in 2024 for the first and only Covid illness for me.
Not to say they are all that way but some do require masking. Pulmonary Rehab, and as we know, are people with lung problems who need to be very careful.
Just wanted to forewarn anyone who would like to try Pulmonary Rehab, which overall seems like a good choice, just be forewarned if you feel all should mask in that type of environment.
Barbara

Interesting @blm1007blm1007 It’s a basic healthcare ‘safety’ measure for people with lung issues. It’s so odd that Pulmonary Centres and Respiratory clinics don’t require masking in their sites, especially during the respiratory illness season when cases of colds, Covid, RSV are highest. Some encourage it.

There may be some people who truly can’t tolerate a mask, but the majority of people can do so during the peak season for illness. Data can be used to determine the peak illness time periods. Data already proves that masking prevents infections.

@blm1007blm1007 We can ask professionals to wear a mask, but during the peak season for respiratory infections, we shouldn’t have to ask someone in a Pulmonary Centre to please mask up because we’re vulnerable to infections and prone to nasty outcomes. They should know better. It should be standard care at these specialized centres or any respiratory clinic. It’s a common sense protocol.

I mask to protect myself, and if I feel under the weather, to protect others. I ask once for others to mask, if yhey resist, I stop unless they will be in my face/in my space when I cannot mask (eg dental appt) I insist they do so.

Otherwise I have made peace with the fact that the world at large is not going to do mask, and I save my breath for other fights.

Our Urgent Care Clinic at home is an exception -- all staff who approach patients are masked and ask patients to do so as well. It always seems to me that ERs should do the same.

Many here in the Rio Grande Valley mask indoors to protect themselves and loved ones, far more than we see in MN -many live in 3 and 4 generation households and culturally, my local neighbors seem more selfless and compassionate than many other places.

Thanks for posting this. It’s interesting that even those with discontinued exercise fared better.
I am a believer in exercise and am sure we benefit, but one thing in the study struck me as quite odd and makes me wonder if they could reach valid conclusions.
“ Key variables impacting mortality, such as disease severity—including exacerbation history, lung function, specific treatments, and bacterial colonization—could not be analyzed due to the lack of available data (52–54).” Disease severity might have a bigger impact on their survival than exercise; they might not be able to exercise due to severity. It also seems odd that they had info on the comorbidities, but not PFT’s, exacerbations and severity. Those seem like key variables.
As I said, I’m a believer in exercise and think we benefit. I wish they’d included more info.

Cathy - This was a really interesting read, but it was not an independent study. It was a review of their quite regimented required annual/biennial physicals.
The information we would like to see probably did not exist in the records of physicals that they studied. They would have had to drill down into the patients' actual treatment records for their lung conditions, which was outside the bounds of their research.
However, if you look at the citations, these docs are fully immersed in the research, and may get to studying more variables in a subsequent review.

In the meantime, I am headed out for a quick walk and then will do some digging in my pots - I have plants crying for attention and it is cool and not windy today.

LOL .. as much as I appreciate science, I definitely don't need a(nother) study to tell me that exercise is good for me. Though there are many that come to this conclusion generally. NTMinfo's podcast also mentioned studies that show exercise improves all-cause mortality for BE patients; if you need studies to motivate, I suggest reaching out to those doctors for the specific references. But really, isn't this something we all already know? Like, does anyone ask for studies to support regular teeth-brushing? Of course, it can be challenging to move with certain medical issues (which for may of us include age related mobility and chronic pain issues), and if that is the case, speak to your doctor about a PT referral. If you don't know how/what to do for the best exercise(s), find a trainer. There are many great online resources these days. Our own Linda Esposito might be a wonderful resource in this regard.