The same backflow of stomach acid into the esophagus that causes heartburn can bring on asthma, especially if you're lying down, experts say. This is most likely to be an asthma trigger in adult nonsmokers with no history of lung disease or allergies. We can do tests to determine the extent of their reflux and see if it correlates with symptoms they are having. Relax with massage. In one study people with asthma who got weekly 15-minute upper body massages reported drops in chest tightness, wheezing, pain and fatigue.
Stress often makes asthma symptoms worse.
Breathe better with yoga. Try exhaling for twice as long as you inhale. This is a yoga breathing technique, and in one experiment, it helped reduce the number of attacks in people with asthma. To do this easily, breathe in normally, then exhale normally, but as you come to what seems like the end of your exhalation, continue for a bit longer without forcing out the breath, says Mary Pullig Schatz, M.D., a pathologist in Nashville, a yoga instructor and author of Back Care Basics . Turn off the fireplace.