If you have chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), your doctor has probably prescribed one or more medications taken by inhaler – a device that delivers the substance directly into the lungs.

COPD is an overall term for certain conditions that affect breathing, such as emphysema and chronic bronchitis. Medications help relieve COPD symptoms by relaxing the smooth muscles of the respiratory tract and opening up the bronchial passages (tubes that carry air).

By taking these medications with an inhaler, you’re sending them directly to the airways where they’re needed, providing relief with smaller doses. And since less of the drug is absorbed into the rest of your body, you may experience fewer side effects, says Zab Mosenifar, M.D., executive vice chair and co-medical director of the Women’s Guild Lung Institute at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles.

The problem? Many people have trouble using inhalers correctly, says lung specialist Raj Dasgupta, M.D., assistant professor of clinical medicine at the University of Southern California’s Keck School of Medicine in Los Angeles.