Recently I came down with the standard mix of bronchitus and pneumonia to complicate my asthma. It wasn't a pleasant two weeks. While just trying to breath one day, I tried to relax by driving around. Well, I ended up at the local range.
A couple of hundred rounds later, I discovered that I now felt much better. For five or six hours later I had little or no trouble breathing and had no trouble working on a multitude of projects. My initial belief was that I was simply getting better.
Wrong. The next day I had an even harder time breathing. Driving around, I hadn't made the connection to shooting yet, I ended up at the range and used up a few more rounds. Sure enough, I was considerably better for hours.
Since, I've had asthma practically from the day I was born I'm fairly adept at finding the relationships between my breathing and environmental conditions so about this time I started wondering if shooting could be making the difference.
So, I waited until the next time I was having difficulty breathing. It only took a day. It worked again, and has multiple times since.
I use to shoot a considerable amount when I was much younger in my late teens and early twenties. During that time I had little or no problems with my asthma. I had always assumed and have been told by multiple doctors, that was due to my age. I believed them. But now, I'm beginning to wonder a bit.
Asthma can definitely be affected by my emotional and mental state. It's a common trick of many asthmatics to very deeply relax to help ease the breathing difficulties we have. Becoming angry or upset while having difficulty breathing is simply extremely foolish.
I'm beginning to wonder if the mental concentration required by target shooting may have helped me. Perhaps, target practice may be a great relaxation technique. Or maybe it's something else.
I've only recently restarted shooting fairly often, so I don't have as much experience with this as I should. Has anyone else ever noticed anything like this?
A couple of hundred rounds later, I discovered that I now felt much better. For five or six hours later I had little or no trouble breathing and had no trouble working on a multitude of projects. My initial belief was that I was simply getting better.
Wrong. The next day I had an even harder time breathing. Driving around, I hadn't made the connection to shooting yet, I ended up at the range and used up a few more rounds. Sure enough, I was considerably better for hours.
Since, I've had asthma practically from the day I was born I'm fairly adept at finding the relationships between my breathing and environmental conditions so about this time I started wondering if shooting could be making the difference.
So, I waited until the next time I was having difficulty breathing. It only took a day. It worked again, and has multiple times since.
I use to shoot a considerable amount when I was much younger in my late teens and early twenties. During that time I had little or no problems with my asthma. I had always assumed and have been told by multiple doctors, that was due to my age. I believed them. But now, I'm beginning to wonder a bit.
Asthma can definitely be affected by my emotional and mental state. It's a common trick of many asthmatics to very deeply relax to help ease the breathing difficulties we have. Becoming angry or upset while having difficulty breathing is simply extremely foolish.
I'm beginning to wonder if the mental concentration required by target shooting may have helped me. Perhaps, target practice may be a great relaxation technique. Or maybe it's something else.
I've only recently restarted shooting fairly often, so I don't have as much experience with this as I should. Has anyone else ever noticed anything like this?
