5 Important healthy habits for lungs

Do you want to know 5 healthy habits for lungs, and how to keep your lungs healthy? You cannot breathe without your lungs, simply they bring oxygen in and dioxide out from human bodies. This exchange between these two air particles is called respiration.

Sure your body needs oxygen to survive, but as a human what are you doing to keep your lungs safe? The truth is that your lungs are same as your heart and legs, they age with time. Your lungs can become less flexible, lose strength which can make it more difficult to breathe. Nonetheless, by adopting certain healthy habits you will be able to maintain the health of your lungs and keep them functioning optimally even into your older years.

Our lungs keep us alive, we don’t need to think about them; however, our body has natural defense system created to protect your lungs, but as human it is important to use some ways to keep your lungs healthy.

Healthy habits for lungs, habit no 1: Giving up smoking

Everybody knows that smoking increases your risk of lung cancer. However, you can notice that it is not the only disease it can cause. All scientific facts have shown that most lung diseases are linked to smoking such as asthma, lungs inflammation, COPD (Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease) etc.…

Remember every time you smoke, your body will take thousands of chemicals inside your lungs such as nicotine, carbon monoxide also tar. Therefore, human lungs cannot clean up themselves due to the increase of mucus coming from already mentioned toxins, moreover, your airways dimensions decrease making it harder to breathe.

There are many examples that clarify the importance of stopping smoking; statists have shown that more women die from lung cancer than breast cancer yearly and 90 percent of men dies from lung cancer.

Smoking causes lungs to age and transform cells inside our lungs from normal to cancerous.

Kindly, if you are young, adult or old and you have been smoking for long or short period quitting can help. Simply, studies mentioned that just 12 hours of quitting, the level of monoxide in your blood will drop to normal, therefore, within a year your risk of having heart disease is half of a smoker. Quitting smoking is not easy but it is major for your life.

Healthy habits for lungs, habit no 2: Reduce exposure to pollutants

When you are young your lungs resist any toxins you have inhaled. As we get older, our lungs lose some of their resistance and become more fragile and prepared to receive infections and diseases. Therefore, as human, you have to:

reduce your exposure to toxins as much as you can,
try to avoid any second-hand smoke,
try not to go out during high pollution times,
do not execute any exercises near heavy traffic in order not to inhale toxins,
if you work in a location were you are exposed to pollutants, you have to take all required safety measurements in order to stay safe.

In addition to outdoor pollutants, nowadays, indoor pollution is typically worse than outdoor because most of people spend their time inside rooms, houses, offices etc… therefore, certain tips can help you to decrease indoor pollutants. First, your house has to be a smoke-free place, ventilation system should be installed inside your house in order to remove toxins, keep your house clean (remove dust, pet dander etc..), open your windows frequently, avoid using synthetic air freshener and candles which could include certain chemicals.

Therefore, reducing the exposure to pollutants is major because it helps to keep your lungs as healthy as possible.

Healthy habits for lungs, habit no3: Prevent infections

These days, due to the presence of corona virus spreading worldwide, humans have to take measures to keep their lungs in safe conditions and avoid other respiratory infection which might become very serious. However, several habits can help you to protect your self such as;

Wash your hands frequently with natural soap and water.
During cold seasons try to avoid crowded places in order to keep yourself away from diseases.
Brush your teeth at least twice a day, and try to keep oral hygiene because it protects you from mouth infections coming from germs.
In case you get sick you have to keep yourself away from people around you.
Get vaccinated every year against influenza and also get vaccinated for Covid-19 if it is available for you.

Healthy habits for lungs, habit no 4: Exercise Regularly

People are losing their lives due to excess working time; persons are not able to find time for exercising. However, exercising strengthen not only your muscles but also your lungs.

If you exercise, you will increase your muscles and you become more fit, same for your lungs because during exercises your lungs and heart work hard to supply oxygen to your body, therefore, you won’t examine any short breath during exercises over time.

Also certain types of exercises can enhance your neck and chest muscles between ribs that work together in order to improve inhaling and exhaling such as core, abs, chest, shoulders and upper / middle back exercises.

Healthy habits for lungs, habit no5: Regular check-ups

Within these days due to the upcoming illnesses and viruses everyone needs good quality healthcare, every human has to achieve certain number of tests on a daily basis especially for lungs. Even though people with any tension of lungs diseases such as asthma, chronic diseases need regular check-up.

This is especially true for lung disease, which you can’t not detect it until it becomes serious. Therefore, your doctor will be able to listen to your breathing, listen to your concerns and detect any irregular function.

Finally, you can understand more the importance of keeping your lungs in a healthy situation at least due to the presence of Covid-19 pandemic which attacks directly our respiratory system. Remember, a large number of people passed in hard times and learned the importance of having healthy lungs.

Julian M.

Dr. Julian Miles is a board-certified general medicine physician with over a decade of experience in delivering comprehensive care to individuals of all ages. With a focus on preventive medicine, holistic wellness, and chronic disease management.