Breathlessness is a normal response to being active, but it is also normal to experience some breathlessness doing simpler tasks after having a lung infection, such as COVID-19.
It is important that you don’t completely avoid the things that make you breathless, but you should use how breathless you feel to guide how much activity you do.
This is the BORG breathlessness scale and it describes how much effort your breathing feels.
When you are being active or exercising in the first 6 to 8 weeks after being discharged from hospital, you should aim to keep your breathlessness score at or below 3.
Pursed-lip breathing can be used at any time to control your breathing. You can also use it during an activity that makes you breathless to help you feel less short of breath:
In the future if your breathlessness persists, your doctor may suggest attending something called Pulmonary Rehabilitation. This is a programme designed to help people that are breathless because of a lung condition, which could be of benefit to you.
There are also lots of resources and information available from the British Lung Foundation.
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