Summer Recreation For Asthmatics

I am currently in the midst of a stay-at-home vacation (staycation). I got a bunch of cleaning done around my house. Then I decided to participate in some recreation. It’s neat that you don’t need to go far to have fun when you live where I do - and much of it is very asthma-friendly.

Kayaking

This is what I did today: Two and a half hours on the Pere Marquette River. By the time we were done, we were pretty pooped out. But it was fun and it was a great workout. It was 82 degrees and sunny. So we got our fix of vitamin D, something studies show beneficial to us asthmatics.

It was a fellow asthmatic and me. Two other friends also came. I do not know if they have asthma or not; the topic never came up. I saw no inhalers. I had mine, but it stayed in my pocket. And that is a testament to good asthma control. It was also a testament to how asthma-friendly kayaking is.

It’s neat because you paddle, but you also stop paddling and relax. You can take up the scenery and absorb rays. We saw many otters. Some were swimming in the middle of the river. One even swam alongside my kayak for a bit, allowing me to get a nice photo. And we saw many swans and one mama duck followed by six or seven baby ducklings.

It was a great day to see nature. This was the second time we went kayaking with this group. I’m sure we will do lots more before summer ends.

The beach

Lake Michigan is about a mile from my house, so my kids and I go there quite often. Lake Michigan is our pool. We went there yesterday for the first time in 2021. And we didn’t take our towels. We have a tradition of digging holes until we find water. And sometimes, we make castles surrounded by moats - that’s what we did this time.

Then we decided to go home. Before we went home, dad decided to walk into the water and Laney and Myles decided to play catch with a ball. Before long, all three of us were playing catch in the water. It actually felt pretty nice for this early on in the season. And, as with kayaking today, we used no inhaler. The beach is a pretty safe place for us asthmatics.

We ended up not going further than our waists. And the only reason, so it turned out, was because we didn’t bring our towels. We decided this would be the last time we went to the beach without towels. In 80 degree weather like this, the water warms up pretty fast. So, this weekend we will probably be splashing and swimming, and this is usually a very asthma-friendly activity.

And, as with kayaking, it’s done with the sun shining, so lots of vitamin D is absorbed.

Other activities

We also have lots of dunes around here. It’s fun to run down sandy hills and a great workout walking back up. You want to make sure the sun is not too hot. Or, at the very least, I hope there are some shady spots to cool off your feet. And, of course, you don’t usually wear shoes when climbing dunes — a great workout, even for us asthmatics.

Another activity we do lots of is hiking. We have one of the best state parks near us. It's the Ludington State Park. We went kayaking there the other day. You can also go there to hike. There are lots and lots of trails. The Native Americans used to walk these lands also. So, if you keep your eyes open, you might see some arrowheads. I have a friend who has a collection of them. I personally have never found one.

There are endless places you can hike. And there are also lots of bike trails. And biking is another asthma-friendly activity. And I still have seven days left of my staycation. I think the plan tomorrow is to take it easy. Maybe I'll sit in the sun and write a few articles for this site. As long as it's sunny like this, we might as well take advantage of it, right?

So, these are just some of the fun summer recreational activities we do here on the western shoreline of Lake Michigan. What about you? What types of summer recreation activities do you do? Please let us know in the comments below.