Improve Your Lung Health

We often take our lungs for granted, rarely considering the vital role they play in maintaining our strength and health. It’s only when we face breathing difficulties that we truly begin to appreciate the incredible effort our lungs put in to keep us thriving.

Follow these top tips to enhance your lung health and ensure these vital organs remain strong and functioning well throughout your life:

Quit smoking - one of the biggest changes you can make to your lung health is to quit smoking. It is the major cause of lung cancer and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), and where cigarette smoke narrows the air passage, it makes breathing more difficult. Over time cigarette smoke destroys the lung tissue and can trigger changes that may result in cancer.

Keep active - when physically active, your lungs work harder to get oxygen to your muscles. Regular exercise makes your lungs stronger and your body becomes more efficient at transporting oxygen around the body, meaning over time you will become less likely to get short of breath during exercise. Strength-training exercises like squats, a brisk walk, lunges, or wall push-ups are worth trying to improve lung health.

Maintain a healthy diet and stay hydrated - your body uses food as fuel and the process of changing food into energy with the help of oxygen is only accomplished with the help of your lungs. Ensuring you stay hydrated prevents the lining of your lungs becoming too thick, which in turn can affect your breathing.

Practice deep breathing - there are many ways to breathe deeply that can improve the the lungs’ strength and endurance. This can help with hyperventilation symptoms, lung function, and improve general quality of life.