Normally, a person breathes without being aware of it. But when a person becomes aware of it, it is painful. Breathlessness (dyspnoea) is associated with many uncomfortable sensations like palpitations, restlessness and sweating.

Breathlessness can occur if somebody does severe unaccustomed exertion. Sudden fright, anxiety or excitement can also produce breathlessness. But this is occasional and short lived. Similarly climbing uphill can produce dyspnoea in one who is not habituated to it.

Obesity also produces breathlessness. A fat man or woman starts panting just after walking few steps.

A number of diseases can cause breathlessness. The most common condition causing breathlessness is a choked nose. Every person at one time or another must have experienced the discomfort caused by a choked nose some time. But this is a harmless condition and short lived. Bronchitis asthma is another common cause of breathlessness. The moment one prone to asthma is exposed to dust or fumes, or a change in weather, he or she starts suffering from shortness of breath. This is, however, a reversible condition. Medicines provide relief and the affected person remains comfortable till the next exposure

Long standing anaemia also causes breathlessness. Long time smokers develop  productive cough and  breathlessness on slight exertion. Quitting smoking at this stage helps to prevent further damage to the lungs, but the one already occurred is irreversible. Therefore, smokers need to watch out for this condition. Persons working in factories or mines or quarries are also prone to develop similar condition because of chronic exposure to dust of various kinds.

Some people have deformity of the spine. These deformities cause disfigurement, difficulty in walking and even breathlessness since the space of the lungs is encroached upon hampering good functioning.

Chronic lung diseases like pulmonary tuberculosis or chronic pneumonias damage the lung not only during the active disease but also during healing by producing scarring, leading to breathlessness.

Any allergy is known to induce severe breathlessness. But the breathlessness subsides once the offending substance  is withdrawn.

Pulmonary edema, where fluid accumulates in the lungs, is a serious cause for breathlesness, as in cardiac failure, cirrhosis of liver, kidney failure and severe anaemia. All these conditions are irreversible. With treatment, symptoms are abated but the basic underlying pathology continues in most of the cases thus perpetuating breathlessness.  

The problem of breathlessness develops slowly. Initially, the affected person gets breathless on doing the amount of work; he or she is not habituated to. Later on, amount of work done to induce dyspnoea reduces, i.e, the affected person gets breathless easily. Up to this stage, if the underlying cause is corrected, the problem of breathlessness can be cured. But if the cause persists, this problem persists and is aggravated. In the later stages, the person becomes breathless even on sitting and lying down. The infected person spend whole nights sitting up.

Chronic breathlessness not only troubles a person, but also  affects their work. Severe breathlessness can be fatal.

Early diagnosis and therapeutic intervention can help prevent progress of a disease causing breathlessness.

Avoiding smoking and chronic exposure to dust  is useful to prevent lung diseases. Maintaining a good general health and resistance by means of balanced diet, regular exercise, disciplined life and good exposure to sunlight and air, keeps away the diseases causing breathlessness.

Breathing exercises are very useful in keeping patients of spinal deformity,  asthma and chronic lung diseases comfortable and free from breathlessness.

One needs to breathe comfortably until his last breath. Any difficulty in breathing should not be disregarded.