By Mr. Luke Coutinho
Adviser of Integrative Lifestyle and Nutrition at Purenutrition.me
Most of us want to stay healthy and fit but rarely do we focus on the health of our lungs, which is one of the most important organs in our body. If we do not take care of our lungs we may have issues in breathing, severe respiratory problems and viral infections. With the ongoing pandemic in the world, lung health is becoming of pivotal importance.
Recommendations to keep your Lungs Healthy and Strong.
Quit Smoking
First and the foremost thing that you need to do is quit smoking, if you are a smoker. Every single time one smokes, individuals inhale a thousands of chemicals into the lungs counting carbon monoxide, nicotine and tar. Also, smoking depletes the very nutrients you need to maintain immunity. eg : it rapidly depletes Vitamin C. These damages your lungs making it difficult for them to clean and filter air, leading to breathing problems, lung cancer, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), and tuberculosis (TB).
Breathing Exercises
Deep breathing helps you open the lungs and produces a full oxygen exchange, which helps clean them. Whereas in normal breathing you tend to take shallow breaths from your chest, using only a tiny portion of your lungs. Its also focuses on inhale and a longer exhale, thereby enabling proper release of toxins from the body. Breathing exercises like Kapal Bhati, Anulom Vilom, Bhastrika etc, helps train the lungs and also aid in detoxification
Laughter Therapy
Laughing is a great exercise to increase your lung capacity. It supports to clear out your lungs by forcing enough stale air out, and allows fresh air to enter into more areas of the lung.
Meditation
While meditating a person breathes through the diaphragm, as advised. Your diaphragm will cave in when you inhale to allow air pass through your lungs and when you exhale, the diaphragm expands pushing the air out. This is the healthy way of breathing that helps your lungs.
Anti-inflammatory Foods
Inflammation can be caused due to infection and respiratory diseases leading to breathing difficulties, which makes the chest feel heavy and blocked. In this case, you can have foods like turmeric, leafy greens, walnut, beans, and lentils that are natural antioxidants and filled with vitamin E, which are the key in protecting the body against inflammatory molecules.
Watch Your Posture
Lungs have soft structures, hence they only take up the room that you give them. A proper way to give room to your lungs is sitting in a proper posture. This would ideally be leaning back slightly on a chair, lifting the chest and opening the front of your body as you breathe deeply.
Stay Hydrated
Your lungs tend to have a thin lining of mucus that needs to be maintained for a healthy lung function. When you drink enough water every day the mucosal linings in the lungs stays thin, which helps your lungs to work efficiently.
Avoid Indoor Pollutants
Normal household things like carpet, paint, particleboard, detergents, printers, etc., release volatile organic compounds (VOC), which include chemicals like acetone and automotive gasoline. These adversely affect your lungs in the long run. It is essential to increase ventilation indoors by the usage of house plants that will help control VOC effects.
Physical Exercise
Exercising makes your muscles work harder which leads to increased breathing rate, resulting in a greater supply of oxygen to the muscles. It also enhances circulation, making the body remove the excess carbon dioxide.
Clean Your Humidifier/Air Conditioners
If you don’t clean these devices properly they could develop an airborne fungus that can infect and inflame your lungs leading to breathing issues. This is why it’s significant to change filters and do regular maintenance on your humidifier and air conditioners. It will help improve indoor air quality and also give a longer life to your machine.
Drink Fenugreek Tea
Make a hot tea by boiling the fenugreek seed ( methi seed) in the water and consume it once or twice a day as it contains natural expectorant. It acts as a healing drink that helps to relieve congestion, reduces inflammation, breaks mucus and fights infection in your lungs.