Sometimes we take our lungs for granted. They keep us alive and well and for the most part, we don't need to think about them. That's why it is important to prioritize your lung health.
Your body has a natural defense system designed to protect the lungs, keeping dirt and germs at bay. But there are some important things you can do to reduce your risk of lung disease. Here are some ways to keep your lungs healthy.
Your lungs allow your body to take in oxygen from the air and clear carbon dioxide (a gas than can become toxic) from your body. This gas exchange is an essential part of breathing, which is a vital function of your life.
When thinking about lung diseases, lung cancer is often the first thought, but there are many other diseases and conditions of the lungs that can be prevented or better managed with these lung health solutions.
Types of Lung Diseases
Pneumonia
Pneumonia is a serious lung infection caused by a bacteria or virus that causes a buildup of mucus or fluid that can narrow your airways and reduce airflow in and out of your lungs, making it difficult to breathe. Bacterial pneumonia is the most common form and can be more serious than the other types.
Certain risk factors such as age, environment, lifestyle and medical conditions can increase the risk of pneumonia. In general, infants ages two years old or younger and people who are 65 years old or older tend to be most at risk due to immature and aging immune systems.
Asthma
Asthma is a chronic condition that can swell and narrow the airways in the lungs. During an episode, people with asthma often experience symptoms such as wheezing, chest tightness, shortness of breath and coughing.
Asthma affects everyone differently. Some may have mild symptoms while others more severe symptoms that are triggered by more things, more often.
Managing Asthma
Asthma tends to run in families, and while you might not be able to prevent it, you can manage its symptoms by being proactive with an asthma management plan.
This often includes partnering with your physician or specialist to control your asthma using a combination of frequent monitoring, avoiding triggers and medications.
This often includes partnering with your physician or specialist to control your asthma using a combination of frequent monitoring, avoiding triggers and medications.
Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD)
COPD is a group of progressive lung diseases that damage the airways overtime, which makes breathing more difficult. The most common cause of COPD is smoking or long-term exposure to lung irritants such as air pollution, chemicals or dusts.
Symptoms of COPD include coughing with mucus, wheezing, shortness of breath and chest tightness.
Preventing COPD
Avoiding smoking is the best way to care for your lungs and prevent COPD. If you smoke, talk with your physician about the best and most supportive way to help you stop. Since other lung irritants can contribute to COPD, such as air pollution, chemical fumes, dusts and secondhand smoke, ensuring that the air quality in your home, school and work environment is healthy can be an important step in protecting your lung health today and in the future.
Don’t smoke or stop smoking
You probably already know that smoking increases your risk of lung cancer. But that’s not the only disease it can cause. In fact, smoking is linked to most lung diseases, including COPD, idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis, and asthma. It also makes those diseases more severe. Smokers are 12 to 13 times. more likely to die from COPD than nonsmokers.
Every time you smoke a cigarette, you inhale thousands of chemicals into your lungs, including nicotine, carbon monoxide, and tar. These toxins damage your lungs. They increase mucus, make it more difficult for your lungs to clean themselves, and irritate and inflame tissues. Gradually, your airways narrow, making it more difficult to breathe.
Smoking also causes lungs to age more rapidly. Eventually, the chemicals can change lung cells from normal to cancerous.
Tips to Keep Your Lungs Healthy and Strong
Exercise to breathe harder
Besides avoiding cigarettes, getting regular exercise is probably the most important thing you can do for the health of your lungs. Just as exercise keeps your body in shape, it keeps your lungs in shape too.
When you exercise, your heart beats faster and your lungs work harder. Your body needs more oxygen to fuel your muscles. Your lungs step up their activity to deliver that oxygen while expelling additional carbon dioxide.
According to a recent article , during exercise, your breathing increases from about 15 times a minute to about 40 to 60 times a minute. That’s why it’s important to regularly do aerobic exercise that gets you breathing hard.
This type of exercise provides the best workout for your lungs. The muscles between your ribs expand and contract, and the air sacs inside your lungs work quickly to exchange oxygen for carbon dioxide. The more you exercise, the more efficient your lungs become.
Creating strong, healthy lungs through exercise helps you to better resist aging and disease. Even if you do develop lung disease down the road, exercise helps to slow the progression and keeps you active longer.
Prevent infections
Infections can be particularly dangerous for your lungs, especially as you age. Those who already have lung diseases like COPD are particularly at risk for infections. Even healthy seniors, though, can easily develop pneumonia if they’re not careful.
The best way to avoid lung infections is to keep your hands clean. Wash regularly with warm water and soap, and avoid touching your face as much as possible.
Drink plenty of water and eat lots of fruits and vegetables — they contain nutrients that help boost your immune system.
Stay up-to-date with your vaccinations. Get a flu shot each year, and if you’re 65 or older, get a pneumonia vaccination as well.
Breathe deeply
If you’re like many people, you take shallow breaths from your chest area, using only a small portion of your lungs. Deep breathing helps clear the lungs and creates a full oxygen exchange.
In a small study published in the Indian Journal of Physiology and Pharmacology , researchers had a group of 12 volunteers perform deep breathing exercises for 2, 5, and 10 minutes. They tested the volunteers’ lung function both before and after the exercises.
They found that there was a significant increase in vital capacity after 2 and 5 minutes of deep breathing exercise. Vital capacity is the maximum amount of air the volunteers could exhale from their lungs. The researchers concluded that deep breathing, even for just a few minutes, was beneficial for lung function.
Shallow breaths come from the chest, and deeper breaths come from the belly, where your diaphragm sits. Be aware of your belly rising and falling as you practice. When you do these exercises, you may also find you feel less stressed and more relaxed.
Here are 10 everyday tips to keep your lung health it tiptop shape and help prevent lung disease:
1. Avoid smoking and secondhand smoke, too.
2. Be mindful of your environment’s air quality. Test for pollutants or contaminants if you are concerned and discuss it with your doctor.
3. Prevent common colds and respiratory illnesses by washing your hands frequently with soap and water (or using an alcohol-based hand cleaner if not available).
4. Avoid large crowds during the flu season, or when you get wind that some other respiratory illness is going around.
5. Stay home if you are sick to avoid spreading colds and respiratory illnesses to others.
6. Get your annual flu shot and encourage others in your household to do the same.
7. Get regular cardiovascular exercise to boost lung fitness and overall health.
8. Practice deep breathing, or diaphragmatic breathing, exercises.
9. Stay on top of your dental health and oral hygiene to prevent harmful bacteria from traveling from your mouth to your upper airway.
10. Get regular check-ups from your primary care physician and discuss any concerns about your lung health, including any symptoms of lung cancer, and family history of lung disease.
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