Winter Health Care for Patients with Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease

COPD, or chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, is a chronic inflammatory disease of the airways, mainly airway and lung inflammation caused by airway and lung structural changes, and ultimately airflow restriction is not completely reversible, that is, “can not breathe”, showing progressive aggravation. However, it is a preventable and treatable disease. Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) includes chronic bronchitis and emphysema. The main symptoms are chronic cough, sputum, dyspnea or shortness of breath, with progressive exacerbation, and systemic manifestations such as weight loss, anxiety and loss of appetite. The triggers of COPD include smoking, occupational dust and chemicals, and long-term inhalation of indoor and outdoor air pollution, which cause inflammation of COPD and induce chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). There are 43 million COPD patients in China, and its mortality rate is the fourth highest (the first mortality disease is malignant tumor), which should be given enough attention. Normally pay attention to the prevention, especially in winter to pay attention to the prevention is particularly important. Pay attention to the following points: 1, quit smoking: because smoking can be directly caused by chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, so it is very important to quit smoking, and pay attention to not in the place of passive smoking. 2, actively prevent infection: because COPD acute exacerbation once, lung function will be more obvious decline. (1) Maintain good family environmental hygiene, fresh indoor air circulation, a certain degree of humidity, control and eliminate all kinds of harmful gases and smoke, pay attention to warmth, avoid cold. (2) pay attention to nutritional dietary health care, good nutrition can increase the body’s immunity, especially for severe COPD and the thin and weak is more important. The appropriate diet has lean meat, eggs, milk, fish, soybeans and soy products. Because soybean products contain lecithin, the repair of damaged cells and tissues have an important role; eating lilies, fungus, loofah, honey, kelp, lotus seeds, lotus root, walnuts, pears and other foods, expectorant, asthma, moisturizing the lungs and so on have a certain role. Avoid spicy and stimulating foods. (3) appropriate activities, activities emphasize moderation, can not be inactive, because activities can accelerate blood circulation, promote metabolism, conducive to intestinal peristalsis, improve appetite, increase resistance. However, exercise can not be hard to exercise, excessive activity will aggravate the body hypoxia, especially in patients with moderate to severe, in order not to shortness of breath, not the degree of shortness of breath; in addition to do qigong, taijiquan, practicing eighteen methods, etc., these activities are long-term adherence to the cold, rainy days can be indoor activities. (4) Pay attention to the change of climate. In winter, the cold air stimulates the bronchial mucosa, which can cause excessive secretion of mucus glands, bronchial spasm leading to increased airway resistance and difficulty in discharging secretions, resulting in acute exacerbation of symptoms. The indoor temperature of patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease should be 12°C in winter, with daily variation of ±3.5°C and humidity of 40-50%; when going out, wear a mask in case of cold and sandy wind, and increase the clothes to prevent cold and flu and aggravate the condition. (5) For patients with low immunity, they can apply influenza vaccine or drugs to increase immunity before the winter, to improve immunity and prevent infection. 3, adhere to drug therapy: consult a respiratory doctor, according to the classification of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, individualized treatment. Correct drug treatment can significantly delay the decline in lung function, reduce the number of infections and improve the quality of life. Do not covet the temporary effect and economic application of some homemade drugs with unclear names. 4, oxygen guarantee: COPD4 or with chronic respiratory failure or pulmonary heart disease should be performed long-term home oxygen therapy, namely, continuous low-flow oxygen inhalation, oxygen inhalation for more than 15 hours a day. Dyspnea can be intermittently applied home non-invasive ventilator is best. 5, appropriate respiratory muscle rehabilitation exercise: (1) shrinking lips breathing: for severe COPD patients, these patients tend to over-inflation of the lungs, the patient with the nose inhalation, slowly exhale with the mouth, inhalation and exhalation time to reach the target of 1:4, increase the airway pressure, prevention and treatment of airway trapping, each time the amount of ventilation rises, the respiratory rate decreases. (2) Abdominal Breathing: During inhalation, maximize the outward expansion of the abdomen and keep the chest still; during exhalation, maximize the inward contraction of the abdomen and keep the chest still. Abdominal breathing can increase the range of motion of the diaphragm, and the movement of the diaphragm directly affects the ventilation of the lungs. Research has proved that for every centimeter the diaphragm drops, lung ventilation can increase by 250 to 300 milliliters. Adhering to abdominal breathing for six months can increase the diaphragm’s range of motion by four centimeters. This is greatly beneficial to the improvement of lung function and is one of the important rehabilitation means for senile emphysema and other lung ventilation disorders. In conclusion, it is hoped that patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease will have a correct understanding of the disease, maintain a good state of mind, and choose defensive measures suitable for themselves according to their own specific conditions, so as to ensure the stability of their condition and improve their quality of life.