Why am I short of breath?

It is very common for people to feel breathless when they have been in hospital with COVID and when they are getting better from COVID.

You can get breathless for lots of reasons. It can be scary and make you feel anxious.

Breathlessness might stop you from doing your daily activities or you might find them more difficult.

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What does breathlessness feel like in everyday life?

Getting out of breath when you walk up and down the stairs
Getting out of breath when you go for a walk and having to stop a lot to catch your breath
You notice your shoulders going up and down as you breathe
You may find yourself gripping or holding onto things tightly to help yourself feel less breathless
Tightness in your chest

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How can I manage my breathlessness?

Planning Ahead

It is important to plan ahead and make sure you do not rush back into doing the activities and tasks you did before you got COVID.

Plan your tasks and activities and think about the best time of day to do things.

When planning your day think about how much you can manage
Do not plan too many things in one day
Break down your larger tasks into smaller ones
Plan to do easy tasks and some difficult tasks too

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Rest and pacing

Start off doing tasks for a short time then slowly do more tasks for a longer time as you get better
Give yourself time to relax and rest – this can help you feel in control of your breathlessness
Take your time when you are doing a task
Rest before you get tired – this will help to save your energy
Take a lot of short breaks rather than a few long breaks
Even when tasks are difficult do not stop them altogether
Carry on doing things that make you feel breathless because this will make your muscles stronger – if you feel worse or your breathlessness increases, you may need to reduce the activities and your healthcare professional can advise you on this
If you use support to walk, such as a stick or a frame, you can lean on it when you feel breathless to help you catch your breath

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It’s important to remember: We all get breathless and short of breath when we do exercise.

Learn more about:

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Breathing exercises

Remember that your breathing will be better on some days and worse on other days. If you do these breathing exercises regularly they should help your breathing to get better over time.

You can learn to have better control of your breathing when:

You are moving around
After you have carried out a task

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How can I control my breathing?

The following exercise can help you to breathe gently with the smallest amount of effort:

Practice when you are sitting first
Put one hand on your chest and the other hand your stomach
Keep your mouth closed and slowly breathe in and out through your nose
If this is too hard, breathe in through your nose and out through your mouth
If you’re relaxed, you will be able to take a deep breath and you will feel your stomach push out
If you are controlling your breathing then the hand on your chest should hardly move
When you breathe out your stomach will gently move back
Every time you breathe out try to feel more relaxed
Try to breathe more slowly every time you do this exercise

When you can easily do this task sitting down, try it out when you are doing your daily tasks.

Relaxation can also give you a sense of control over feelings or problems such as breathlessness. Try to give yourself time to relax and rest.

There is another breathing exercise that can help you control your breathing and relax. This is called the breathing rectangle method:

This should be done sitting down in comfortable chair
Look for a rectangle shape such as a door, window, picture or book
Follow the sides of the rectangle with your eyes as you breathe in and out using the diagram below as a guide
Gently slow the speed that your eyes move round the rectangle
Stop at each corner to slow your breathing

breath in out

When you breathe out this should be twice as long as when you breathe in.

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Top Tips

Try wiping a cool wet flannel over your nose and cheeks – this sometimes helps reduce the feeling of breathlessness
It is a good idea to open windows to get fresh air
If you have a fan at home, you can sit by an open window and have the fan near to you but do not point it directly at your face
Focus on your daily progress and remember everyone’s recovery journey is different
Be kind to yourself – some days will be better than others so take each day as it comes and do what you can based on how you feel each day

If I get very breathless with daily activities, what can I do?

Choose a position to help reduce your work of breathing and effort (see images below)
Try and support your arms rather than gripping them
Try to stay calm, stop, relax your shoulders and use the breathing control methods above
When walking, putting your hands in your pockets or tucking your thumbs into your belt loop or resting your hands on your handbag can help keep your shoulders from becoming tense and rising up
If you are getting worse, increased breathlessness, or no better, then contact your healthcare professional, hospital team or GP
If you get suddenly short of breath, especially with chest pain, seek urgent medical advice via 999/111

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