Definition

The conscious awareness of the labored breathing or air hunger in conditions other than heavy exercise.

Dyspnea is critical to understand because it is common to many of the pulmonary diseases and is often the predominant and at times an overwhelming symptom which greatly alters or effects the lifestyle of patients with lung disease.

Breathing is typically an unconscious activity and a common method to induce the sensation of dyspnea is breathing Breath-holding.