Can exercise help black women breathe easier? new study aims to find out

Copied word for word from the study's registry entry, so the wording is the study team's rather than ours.

Inclusion Criteria: * Self-identify as female and Black or African-American * Age \>/= 18 * Physician-diagnosed persistent asthma that is sub-optimally controlled based on Asthma Control Test (ACT \< 20) OR history in the past year of an asthma exacerbation (a need for systemic corticosteroids or hospital admission or emergency treatment for worsening asthma) * Willing to enroll and provide written-informed consent * Willing to be randomly assigned to treatment or control group * Low- active: engages in less than 150 minutes per week of moderate-to- vigorous physical activity * Has a smartphone and texts every day or almost everyday Exclusion Criteria: * Plans to relocate outside of the Chicagoland area during the study period * Unable to ambulate without the use of a wheelchair or scooter * Diagnosis of COPD (emphysema or chronic bronchitis) suggested by patient report of doctor diagnosis or smoking history (≥ 20 pack years) * Current tobacco smoker * A contraindication to exercise as indicated by the Physical Activity Readiness Questionnaire unless written permission by a health care provider * Significant medical (e.g., unstable heart disease, uncontrolled high blood pressure, active cancer treatment in past 1 year, end-stage organ failure) or psychiatric (e.g., active bipolar disorder, psychosis) comorbidities * Participation in another physical activity or asthma research program * Asthma exacerbation, defined by an urgent care visit for asthma in the last 4 weeks, or need for acute course of systemic corticosteroids for asthma in the last 4 weeks * Family/household member of another study participant or staff member * Inability to speak, read or understand English * Investigator discretion for safety or protocol adherence reasons * Unable or unwilling to provide complete accelerometry data at the baseline assessment after two opportunities to wear the monitor