Shortness of breath is the feeling that you can't get enough air: breathing in the oxygen your body needs becomes hard or uncomfortable.
Harmless or serious
- Often mild: a stuffy nose or intense exercise can leave you short of breath for a while.
- Sometimes a warning: it can also be a sign of a serious disease.
Common causes
| Cause | How it affects breathing |
|---|---|
| Lung conditions | asthma, emphysema and pneumonia affect the lungs themselves |
| Airway problems | trouble in the trachea (windpipe) or bronchi, the tubes that carry air to the lungs |
| Heart disease | a heart that can't pump enough blood leaves the body short of oxygen, and you feel breathless |
| Anxiety and panic attacks | can bring on the feeling of not getting enough air |
| Allergies | can make breathing harder |
What to do
If you often have trouble breathing, it is important to find out why. See a health care provider, who can look for the cause.
Sources
Based on "Breathing Problems," MedlinePlus, U.S. National Library of Medicine; a work of the United States government in the public domain.
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