Sarah Michelle Gellar on How She and Her 2 Kids Manage Their Asthma: We Don't Let It 'Limit' Us

Sarah Michelle Gellar is getting candid about how she and her two kids live day to day with asthma.

While recently chatting with PEOPLE about teaming up with pharmaceutical company Teva for their latest campaign — which aims to help inhaler users understand how to better utilize their devices and have important conversations with their doctors — the actress, 44, says that she and her kids don't allow the disease to hold them back.

Speaking about herself, the Buffy the Vampire Slayer star tells PEOPLE, "I don't let any of that stuff limit me."

"I find, in terms of any kind of health, you have to figure out what it is, and if there's a treatment available — utilize it. That's why we live in the modern world and sciences, right?" she says. "... Not everyone's case is the same as mine, but I should be an example of someone who hasn't let a diagnosis of asthma stop them from doing anything, and the same for my children."

Gellar shares two kids — daughter Charlotte Grace, 12, and son Rocky James, 9 — with her husband of 19 years, Freddie Prinze Jr.

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Noting how there is "nothing scarier than when you can't get air," Gellar says that learning about and fully understanding your health "in the correct way" offers "a better way of protecting yourself."

And because she has managed her health so well over the years since she was first diagnosed with asthma as a young girl, the Scooby-Doo star says that the disease doesn't stop her from partaking in any activities.

"I'm probably one of the most active people around," she tells PEOPLE. "I run, I hike, I do every kind of exercise known to man. I chase two children, I was a figure skater, I did Taekwondo."

"I mean, all those things would not have been possible unless I had the right medicine so that when those moments [where I needed my inhaler] hit me, I was able to take care of myself," the mother of two adds.

For Gellar, being asthmatic does mean, however, that she still has to look out for her health and always be her own advocate.

"The last two years [amid the COVID-19 pandemic] have been extremely difficult, and you really realize in this time period how much of an advocate you have to be for yourself," she says.

As doctors visits became difficult during the beginning of the ongoing health crisis, Gellar says, "We really had to learn how to be self diagnosticians at the same time, and really verbalize how we are feeling and what's happening to our bodies."

"And to be able to do that," the Scream 2 star adds, "you have to have all the correct information."

Now, Gellar's partnership with Teva is set to do just that. The pharmaceutical company has officially launched Inhaler Tales — its national campaign that has a goal of raising awareness about the misuse of inhalers.

In the campaign, Gellar lends her voice to an animated inhaler and shares her own experience living with asthma as she encourages others to take control of their disease.

Asked how newly diagnosed individuals should handle their asthma diagnosis, Gellar tells PEOPLE there are two important main factors.

"First, have a conversation with your doctor. Tell them how you're feeling and what you're scared of," she says, adding that taking your prescribed medicine is the next step. "What's the point of getting treatment if you're not getting the full benefit of the treatment?"