Healthy Living With COPD

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Healthy Living with COPD

How to live your best life while managing COPD

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There’s no cure for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) — but there are steps you can take to live well with it. 

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Quit smoking or vaping.

Stopping smoking or vaping is the most important thing you can do to keep COPD from getting worse. 

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Watch what you breathe.

This means avoiding lung irritants such as:

Smoke, including secondhand cigarette smoke

Pollution 

Cleaning products 

Chemicals/sprays

Air fresheners 

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Stay active and maintain a healthy weight.

Both of these things may make it easier to breathe with COPD. 

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Get vaccinated. 

Staying up to date on vaccines is an easy, effective way to protect yourself from infections that affect your lungs, like Covid, pneumonia and the flu. 

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See a pulmonologist regularly.

It’s important to have regular check-ins with a specialist who understands COPD. Since COPD gets worse over time, it’s important to get re-assessed as you age to make sure your treatments are changing with you. 

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Take your medicine.

There are many treatments available that help with COPD symptoms, but they only help if you take them.

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Learn breathing exercises.

Just like aerobic exercise strengthens your heart muscle, breathing exercises can help your lungs. 

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Join a support group. 

Sharing your experience with others who know what you’re going through may make the hard times easier. 

This educational resource was created in partnership with the COPD Foundation and with support from GSK, Regeneron and Sanofi.