EXERCISE-INDUCED BRONCHOCONSTRICTION

Exercise-induced bronchoconstriction (EIB) used to be called exercise-induced asthma. It causes the airways to narrow due to physical activity. More specifically, EIB is caused by loss of heat and water from the airways during exercise, causing a person to breathe in dry air that can trigger symptoms. Most people with asthma also suffer from EIB, but not everyone with EIB has asthma, which is why the term “exercise-induced asthma” is no longer preferred. The activities that commonly trigger EIB require constant running (like soccer and basketball) or cold weather (like ice hockey and cross-country skiing). The activities least likely to trigger EIB are walking, road biking, and sports that require only short bursts of energy (like volleyball, baseball, and swimming).

P.S. For years, it was thought that cold air triggered exercise-induced bronchoconstriction, but more recently it is believed to be caused by the dryer air of cold weather, rather than the temperature.

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