11 Promising Tips To Improve Your Lungs Condition in Just 5 Weeks

Introduction

These days we only stress eating healthy, maintaining proper hygiene, and strenuous exercises. But while we are focused on heart diseases and weight management, we tend to neglect our body’s vital organ – the lungs!

But believe it or not our lungs play a very important role in keeping us healthy. The significance of the lungs is usually not considered, at least not till any severe problem is experienced in breathing. Let’s take a trip down memory lane, and try to remember what we learnt about lungs.

Lungs are the primary organs of the respiratory system in humans. Their main function is to extract oxygen from the atmosphere and put it into the bloodstream and then release carbon dioxide from the bloodstream into the atmosphere. 

Did you know that lungs at rest and during most daily activities are only at 50 per cent of their full capacity? Since day-to-day activity doesn’t require you to use your lungs to full capacity, you need to challenge the lungs with more intense activities. 5 weeks is an awfully long time to cleanse your lungs from the toxin build-ups caused by environmental pollutants, allergens, dust and cigarette smoke.

Now without further ado let’s read about some important tips that can help us improve our lung condition in 5 weeks!

1. Quit Smoking

We are all aware of the ill effects of smoking. Any kind of smoke, be it a cigarette or artificial smoke we inhale is extremely dangerous. Our lungs, like a sponge, absorb harmful chemicals when we inhale smoky air. It can cause damage to our bodies and lead to many deadly diseases like COPD, and lung cancer.

So, if you haven’t already, then don’t waste any more minutes quitting smoking. Non-smokers should highly avoid any kind of secondhand smoke. This can significantly cause damage to your lungs making them weak. And, in turn, expose you to diseases.

2. Deep Breathing Exercises

These deep breathing exercises can ensure maintaining and increasing lung capacity. This in turn can make it easier to keep your lungs healthy and get your body the desired amount of oxygen it needs. Here are some that you can practise getting faster results in 5 weeks.

a) 5×5 Breathing 

For this 5×5 Breathing start by counting to 5 as you inhale through your nose, then hold your breath again by counting to 5. This breathing exercise can help to create a balance between your inhalation and exhalation. This can improve your lung capacity. 

b) Diaphragmatic Breathing

Diaphragmatic breathing aka “belly breathing,” engages the diaphragm, and is helpful in patients with COPD. This diaphragm is supposed to do most of the heavy breathing. For performing this, place 1 hand over your stomach and 1 hand over your chest. Then, take a deep breath through your nose, drawing the air into your stomach. Make sure your stomach rises under your hand but your chest remains in the same position. Then, exhale through your mouth, and repeat for 1-2 minutes.

3. Maintain A Proper Posture

Lungs can take up only the space that you provide them. If you give more room to your lungs then they can breathe in more air, increasing their capacity. To do this sit straight leaning back slightly in a chair. With this just lift your chest and breathe deeply.

4. Quality of Indoor Air

While we can’t really have control over the pollution outdoors, we can be wise enough to purify the air indoors that we breathe. The air indoors is as toxic as the air outdoors. Wondering how is that possible. The answer is Air Purifiers. Air purifiers can be used to remove bacteria and disinfectants from the air inside our houses. They also remove harmful toxins and pollution from the air making them of good quality. 

5. Exercise Regularly

Another tip to improve your lung condition, in the long run, is exercise. No matter what form of exercise we are comfortable with, be it running, jogging, yoga, swimming or even cardio, we vigorously use our muscles if we do it correctly. What this does is makes our lungs work hard to provide oxygen for pumping our muscles. Make sure you do any exercise that is at least for 30 minutes, 5 times a week. Enjoy having a healthy heart, a healthy body, and a mind.

6. Right Diet

When you have a proper and nutritious diet, you are already ahead of keeping your lungs healthy. Foods that are rich in antioxidants should occupy a major portion of your daily diet. 

What to Include:

These foods and herbs include – garlic, onion, ginger, cayenne pepper, oregano, turmeric, pomegranates, apples, grapefruit, green tea etc. If you want stronger respiratory muscles, then good sources of protein like milk, cheese, fish, nuts and poultry are big yes! Top it off with complex carbohydrates, such as whole-grain bread and pasta, fresh fruit and vegetables.

What to Avoid:

• Limit foods that contain trans-fat and saturated fat
• Avoid the consumption of packaged drinks, candies, cakes, savoury items

7. Stay Hydrated

You all must have heard your doctors saying, drink water and keep the toxins at bay! Staying hydrated can be the key to your lungs working properly and thinning out the mucus so it doesn’t build up in your lungs, and obstruct your airways. Incorporate a minimum of 3-4 litres of water into your body. It can be plain and simple water, or fruits, and veggies that contain water.

8. Supplements 

A balanced diet should include vitamins for lung health, particularly during the cold winter seasons. If you cannot really get the desired nutrients from the food that you consume, then supplements like vitamin C, vitamin D, and vitamin E can boost your lung function, fish oil etc. You can also have turmeric supplements, because of their anti-inflammatory properties.

9. Regular Health Check-Ups

If you want to ensure that you have healthy lungs and they are functioning normally, then a regular visit to your doctor. If you have persistent symptoms like the below:

• Shortness of breath during simple activities
• Pain when breathing
• Dizziness with a change in activity
• A persistent cough
• Wheezing with exercise
• Cough associated with exercising
• Pain in the airway

10. Avoid Infections like Influenza & Colds

Both flu and cold are spread via respiratory droplets. Any pandemic or epidemic usually spreads via an infected person’s droplets. When there is flu season comes you must practice good hygiene habits like:

• Washing your hands frequently with soap and water
• Not touching the things of someone who you know is sick
• Avoid being in schools, or around a lot of children, because there 
• If you know you are sick, do not go out

11. Laughing

Last but not least, laughing is another effective and natural remedy for the betterment of your lungs. We must have all heard the saying that laughter is the best medicine! So laugh aloud every day to bring positivity, and clear out your lungs by forcing out the stale air to breathe fresh air into your lungs.

Bottom Line

The time required for your lungs to get better depends on your lungs to heal depends on your medical history, the condition of your lungs, and how well you stick to your treatment. We hope that these 11 tips that we shared through this article is enough to improve your lung conditions in a span of 5 weeks. If you found this article helpful, then do share it across with your loved ones!