Many people adopt habit changes to lead a healthier lifestyle, but rarely do they think about protecting their lungs. Being a non-smoker doesn’t necessarily exempt you from respiratory diseases. While it minimizes your chances of developing problems, finding ways to strengthen your lungs can make a world of difference in your overall health.
After all, your lungs are responsible for feeding oxygen to every cell in the body, which keeps everyone alive. Losing oxygen can open people up to various illnesses – from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease even to heart problems.
Your lungs don’t function to its full capacity when doing regular activities, which is why you need to adapt exercises or counteractive measures that can strengthen and cleanse your lungs from the build-up of environmental pollutants.
Tip #1: Practice Diaphragmatic Breathing
Practicing breathing techniques is a fool-proof way of improving your lung capacity. It also helps ease respiratory problems like asthma, emphysema, and chronic bronchitis. With that in mind, diaphragm breathing is all about using the diaphragm muscle, which is the lining that separates the organs from the lungs in your abdomen.
Using the lower diaphragm allows you to breathe deeper, which even professional singers use to keep the lungs in shape.
Tip #2: Breathe Harder by Exercising
Physical activities like exercise can do wonders for your lungs, forcing it to work harder to provide more oxygen to your muscles. This provides a good workout for your lungs as it contracts the muscles between your ribs, while the air sacs expand quickly to swap oxygen for carbon dioxide.
This helps build the efficiency of your breathing, allowing you to boost your health and resist diseases down the line.
Tip #3: Practice Proper Posture
Keep in mind that your lungs are soft structures, so it will adapt to whatever shape or space you create. Slouching can minimize the room you have to take deep breaths, so be mindful of your posture if you want to practice proper breathing techniques.
Sitting with your back straight can lift your lungs and open your chest, providing more overhead for you to take in more oxygen.
Tip #4: Start Counting Your Breaths
Another way to boost your lung capacity is to count your breaths. Your inhalations and exhalations should be of equal length, so adjust your natural breathing by counting your breaths and changing the time it takes to fill or empty your lungs.
It should be a gradual process and help regularize your breathing, especially for those with mild respiratory problems.
The Bottom Line
Staying fit as a fiddle goes beyond having a healthy physique. Your lungs also need exercise to stay healthy, so the tips above should help you improve your lung capacity and techniques to manage your health better.
If you are looking for helpful tips on keeping your lungs healthy, get in touch with us so we can connect you with the best primary care doctors in New Jersey!