How To Improve Lung Health

It is important to look after your lungs, as common illnesses associated with them include Asthma, Bronchitis, Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) and Lung Cancer. Poor lung health can also make day-to-day tasks more difficult, as oxygen is responsible for transporting energy and nutrients throughout your body.

The role of the lungs is to transport oxygen into your blood from the air and to release carbon dioxide. When you breathe in through your nose or mouth, the air travels down your throat tube (trachea), through the bronchi and dividing down into the bronchioles, finally passing through millions of minute air sacs called alveoli. The alveoli then exchange oxygen for carbon dioxide from the blood, nourishing the rest of your body.

Thankfully there are some simple things you can do right now to improve your lung health.

I'm going to let you in on something that not many people know about. Drinking water can help cure Asthma!

The average asthmatic has ten times the amount of mucus in their lungs compared to someone with healthy lungs. This is because your lungs use a lubricant called surfactant, to stop friction damage from all the expanding and contracting of the alveoli. Now if your body can't make surfactant due to dehydration, it will make mucus instead, which then lines the bronchioles limiting the amount of oxygen absorbed.

If you are dehydrated your body will respond by creating histamines as a protective response. Histamines and mucus are your body's way of restricting more water loss, then your bronchioles constrict through lack of water and so an asthma attack is born.

Your posture has a big effect on your lungs and overall health. Try it now. Deliberately round your shoulders and take a deep breath. Difficult isn't it? Now sit straight, as though someone is holding you up by a string attached to the top of your head. Notice how much deeper and easier it is to breathe. This enables your lungs to take in more oxygen to feed your body and to expel more poisonous Carbon Dioxide, cleansing your whole system.

With a growing number of people working at desks and social interactions becoming more digital, the average posture has become hunched and spine alignment has gotten worse. Our spines protect our central nervous system and each vertebrae is linked to a different part of the body. The sections called C3, C4 and C5 in your neck are linked to the diaphragm, which is the muscle responsible for controlling the flow of air into the lungs. So if you are walking around with misaligned spines and looking like Quasimodo on a bad hunch day, you have reduced your lung capacity and the amount of room your lungs have to expand into. On top of that you will have to take more breaths which increases blood pressure.

Many people find going to a chiropractor increases lung health, some even claim it has cured their asthma.

Another thing you can do to help heal and maintain lung health is to be aware of what food you eat and what toxins you are exposed to.

Smoking, pollution, nitrates (particularly found in packaged meat), steroids, antihistamines and other drugs and toxins are incredibly damaging to your lungs. They not only damage the tissue, they dehydrate you and cause other complications that would take a whole book to explain. Sticking to a natural, unprocessed and organic lifestyle will reap the most rewards for your overall health.

Our bodies are wonderfully designed and your lungs will heal themselves if exposed to the right conditions. Beta Carotene found in orange and yellow fruit and vegetables such as Sweet Potato, Mango, Carrots, Apricots and Papaya, converts into vitamin A which helps heal your lungs.

Deep breathing exercises help strengthen your lung tissue and help absorb more nutrients and oxygen. This also reduces stress, boosts energy and when combined with meditation such as yoga will improve posture and bone alignment.