Prospective participants will complete four assessment visits (V1-V4) and 15 supervised exercise-training (T1-T15) sessions (3 sessions per week for 5 weeks). The purpose of visit 1 (V1) is twofold: 1) to screen potential participants for study eligibility; and 2) for participants identified as eligible, complete pulmonary function testing and an incremental exercise treadmill test to determine the relative intensity for visit 2 (V2). At V2, participants will undergo a dual-energy x-ray absorptiometry (DEXA) scan to assess body composition prior to the 5-week supervised exercise training. Participants will also perform an exercise endurance treadmill test at V2 performed at 75% of peak power achieved on the incremental exercise test from V1. Following V2, participants will be randomized to 5-weeks of 3x/week (total of 15 sessions) supervised exercise training to one of the two experimental conditions: (i) fan-to-face; or (ii) no fan (control). Exercise sessions will be individualized based on participants' ITT and progressed to ensure the participant is exercising at an intensity corresponding to a breathlessness intensity rating of between 3-5 Borg CR10 units and can complete at least 20-min of continuous walking. Exercise duration will be increased in 5-min intervals up to 40-min. Thereafter, exercise intensity will be increased by 5-15% of baseline speed. Visit 3 (V3) will be done after the completion of the 5-week exercise training and will comprise of a second DEXA scan to assess for changes in body composition and the same exercise endurance test at V2 to assess for changes in exercise endurance time. Visit 4 (V4) will comprise of the same incremental exercise test as V1 to assess for changes in cardiovascular fitness.
The purpose of this study is to explore the role of a stream of cool air to the face, through fan-to-face therapy, as a novel adjunct non-pharmacological therapy to enable symptomatic adults with cardiopulmonary disease to exercise at higher intensities for longer durations and maximize the psycho-physiological benefits of a supervised exercise training program. The investigators hypothesize that, compared to no fan, fan-to-face therapy will result in relatively greater improvements in exercise endurance time and intensity ratings of perceived breathlessness during constant-load cardiopulmonary exercise testing on a treadmill at 75% of peak power output.