Our lungs are an important part of our body as it helps to keep us strong and healthy throughout our life. Well, in our day to day lives we do not take much care of our lungs until we experience breathing problems. Having healthy lungs is equally important as anything else because the ongoing pandemic has taught us the repercussions of negligence that we do with our body. The more negligent we will be, the most worsen our health will be. Having healthy lungs is very important in life and this can only be possible with proper exercises and adopting an active lifestyle while keeping every unfair means such as smoking, pollutants and other risk factors away.
Ways to Keep Your Lungs Healthy
Every cell which is present in our body needs oxygen to stay healthy and alive. Whereas the carbon dioxide that we exhale is a wastage made by the cells during their normal functioning. This wastage in the form of carbon dioxide has no use in our body and should be kept out. This process of taking fresh oxygen from outside and moving out the waste product is primarily done by our lungs. Our lungs are designed in such a manner, that it helps our body to make this particular process efficiently, every time we breathe in and out. This is the job of healthy lungs that should be done normally, any discrepancies towards this functioning will lead to various problems.
- Quit Smoking – Smoking is dangerous for our lungs, as it includes many harmful chemicals i.e., nicotine, carbon monoxide, and tar. These are toxins and damages our lungs in the utmost way. Smoking increases mucus in our lungs, thus making it difficult for our lungs to clean themselves. Besides all, our breathing airways in our body narrows gradually, making it difficult for us to breathe. To have healthy lungs smoking should be quit at the earliest.
- Keep out from Pollutants – As global warming is depleting the need for clean and fresh air from the earth, we should be extra cautious to protect our lungs, whenever we move out. As the environment is exposed to pollutants in the air, chances seem high of damaging our lungs. Well, it might not be affecting some, but as we get older, our resistance power tends to lose, making us more vulnerable to infections and diseases. As our environment is filled with life-threatening pollutants, in such a condition it is our responsibility to take utmost care of ourselves to have healthy lungs.
- Preventing Infections – Infections or the recent pandemic has taught us to be extra cautious to save our lungs. No matter whatever the infection is, but it will be dangerous for us especially when we age. A prolonged lung disease will certainly lead us to the path of risk for infections. Well, right from the beginning we can do some homework, to evade any vulnerable infections to enter into our lungs. The best way is the same that has been known by us right from the time when the global pandemic has begun. Washing hands regularly with soap and warm water, and avoid touching your face before washing. Maintaining social distance at a place that is crowded and always wearing a mask to keep ourselves safe from any external hazards. These are some of the practices that you should follow to maintain healthy lungs throughout your life.
Top 5 Exercises and Diet to Have Healthy Lungs
1.) Aerobics
Aerobic exercise is the best exercise to enhance your lungs capacity, thus making your large muscle groups move at a rhythmic speed. Performing aerobics will strengthen your heart and lungs, and also plays a pivotal role in improving the overall endurance of your body. Besides all, aerobics enhances your breathing capacity because your body will be able to use oxygen more efficiently during every inhale and exhale that you do. Some of the examples of aerobic exercises for healthy lungs are spinning, swimming, running, walking, hiking, dance classes, skiing, kickboxing etc.
2.) Jumping jacks
Being one of the best workouts to have healthy lungs, jumping jacks is the one that you should consider for yourself. Jumping jack consists of rigorous moves which provide you with good cardio, allowing a better workout for your heart and lungs. Performing this will allow you to lose weight, balances your heart rate and blood pressure levels. Considering this exercise for healthy lungs will offer you an array of benefits in the future. Performing jumping jacks will train your lungs to expand their full capacity, thus taking in more oxygen and increasing your threshold for physical activity.
3.) Belly Breathing
Belly breathing or abdominal breathing is an exercise that is treated the best for the lungs. Practising this exercise allows strengthening your abdominal muscle and offers to train your brain to breathe from your diaphragm, not from your chest. A diaphragm or belly breathing is a breathing process from our diaphragm. The diaphragm is a muscle that sits between the chest and the abdomen and helps our lungs to fill with air by moving down and then push air out of the lungs as it moves backwards. While performing this exercise helps to strengthen our diaphragm muscle and our lungs.
4.) Yoga
A meticulous exercise like yoga will certainly be a stress buster and a boon to have healthy lungs. It has been observed that practising yoga will ease your health, anxiety and physical tension. The controlled breathing pattern in yoga will keep you mentally and physically strong, thus allowing your lungs to intake more air, compare to normal circumstances. By just performing yoga all the health concern, whether it’s related to staying fit or any sought of respiratory problems will certainly at bay. However, practised from traditions, yoga improves your strength, balance and flexibility, and also has many health benefits to evade cardiovascular and lung diseases.
5.) Antioxidants Rich Foods
Apart from exercises, diet is equally responsible to maintain healthy lungs. As far as diet is concerned, dietary intake of antioxidants helps to contribute to the neutralization of free radicals that are responsible for destroying our lung cells. This destruction to our lung cells by free radicals can lead to cancer and poor lung health. To make our lungs healthy, exercise and diet are parallelly required. A diet containing antioxidants can combat oxidation in our body. This oxidation often builds up due to stress, alcohol and smoking. Containing such habits will enhance the development of free radicals which are highly dangerous and potent to cause cancer. Free radicals are oxygen-containing molecules and can multiply in excess if the body is lacking enough antioxidants. In such a case free radicals break down into cells and cause oxidative stress to the body. Oxidative stress causes damage to the cell’s structure, proteins, and lipids. An antioxidant-rich diet remarkably helps to neutralize free radicals that damage lung cells. Thus, it is pivotal to consume foods packed with antioxidants to promote overall lung health.
Disclaimer:
The information contained in this article is for educational and informational purposes only and is not intended as a health advice. We would ask you to consult a qualified professional or medical expert to gain additional knowledge before you choose to consume any product or perform any exercise.
