Lung health has been an important topic lately. I mean, the world essentially shut down due to a respiratory illness. Even after the pandemic ends, it’ll still be important to maintain and improve our lung health. But how can you make sure your lungs are strong and healthy?
Well, you could eat lots of lung-friendly foods, but you can take this a step further. Diet can only do so much if other aspects of your life are actively harming your lungs. To help with that, you can make changes to your lifestyle to help promote good lung health, either by slowing the damage done to them or by making them stronger.
Stop Smoking
We’ve covered this topic multiple times, but one of the most publicized ways you can harm your lungs and respiratory system is by smoking. Its connections to lung cancer are well-established, but smoking hurts your lungs even if you ignore the increased chance for cancer. Smoking damages your lungs so much that smokers were among the first people authorized to receive the COVID-19 vaccination.
If you’re enrolled in Medicare, smoking cessation counseling is covered entirely by your plan under the correct circumstances.
It goes without saying that if you’re concerned about the health of your lungs, quitting smoking is the best place to start. Luckily, you have a lot of ways to help you quit. For example, if you’re enrolled in Medicare, smoking cessation counseling is covered entirely by your plan under the correct circumstances.
Spend More Time Outdoors
Getting outside in the fresh air can be good for your lungs. There are plenty of pollutants inside that can harm our lungs. From bacteria to dust mites to radon, these can harm healthy lungs over time. By spending time outside in the fresh air, you’re ensuring that you spend more time away from these pollutants.
It helps to determine what the air quality is where you plan to spend time and choose places that will have healthier air.
The key phrase here is fresh air, though. Outdoor air pollution is certainly a thing, and if you’re spending too much time in an area with low air quality, you won’t experience many benefits. It helps to determine what the air quality is where you plan to spend time and choose places that will have good to moderate ratings on the Air Quality Index.
Exercise More
In another sense, being outdoors extends into this category, since many outdoor activities (like hiking or even gardening) are forms of exercise. So how can exercise help your lungs exactly?
You can even do special breathing exercises designed to improve your lungs’ efficiency.
By exercising, you’re strengthening your lungs and hearts, which helps them to become more efficient at what they do (getting oxygen into your system). Exercise can also strengthen other muscles that play a part in your breathing, primarily in the neck and around the lung. You can even do special breathing exercises designed to improve your lungs’ efficiency. It’s estimated that as little as 30 minutes of exercise, five days a week should be enough to keep healthy.
Prevent Infection
This may seem a bit obvious, but if you catch an infection that targets your lungs, it’ll harm the health of your lungs. Two good examples of this are COVID-19 and the flu. The coronavirus can cause complications like pneumonia, acute respiratory distress syndrome, and sepsis, all of which can cause short and lasting damage to your lungs and their capacity to breath. The flu, along with pretty much any respiratory illness, can also damage your lung tissue. The good news is that, for the most part, you can lower your risk of catching these illnesses. How?
You can practice good hygiene to further lower your chances of getting sick.
Well, in the case of COVID-19 and the flu, you can get vaccinated. Both illnesses have vaccines that are safe and effective, both at protecting you from infection and weakening symptoms if you do have a rare breakthrough infection. Otherwise, you can practice good hygiene to further lower your chances of getting sick.
Clean Your House Often
Playing off the “being outdoors more” section, there will be times where you’re going to have to be inside. You can’t fully avoid the indoor air pollutants. But you can mitigate for them. It may not be the most fun chore but cleaning your house regularly can remove many of these pollutants before they become a problem.
Take some time each week or month to give your home a good vacuuming and dusting.
Cleaning shouldn’t just be an event reserved for the spring. Take some time each week or month to give your home a good vacuuming and dusting, since these are carpets and other dusty areas are the primary places you’ll find many of the pollutants, like dust and pet dander.
Get Regular Check Ups
Finally, it’s a good idea to at least get an annual checkup with your doctor. During this checkup, you can have your doctor look at your lung health and give you personalized suggestions to promote it further. This tip is especially true if you’re enrolled in Medicare, since you can have an annual Wellness Visit generally free of charge. Staying on top of any health changes you may have, including those in your lungs and respiratory system, are key to staying healthy.
● ● ●
Maintaining the health of your lungs is one of those things you don’t really think about until it’s a problem. But, when you begin to feel winded from a weakened breathing capacity or coughing fits from a damage respiratory system, you’ll certainly be aware of it then. With the right tweaks to your lifestyle, though, you can lower your chances of it becoming a problem.
