Tag: Breathing

Can’t Breathe? Do These Breathing Exercises to Increase Your Lung Capacity!

It is possible to increase your lung capacity by doing a few quick breathing exercises every day.

It is common for everyone to feel anxious during this time when pneumonia and asthma are so rife. Especially for younger or older people with delicate lungs, it is important to know that are lungs bring oxygen to our blood. We need oxygen to survive because we need energy. To burn the food we eat to turn it into energy, oxygen must be supplied to our cells, and carbon dioxide must be removed. Oxidation occurs when carbohydrates and fats in our body combine with the oxygen we breathe in. The first major factor in getting enough oxygen is eating properly and exercising everyday.

Our lungs and our skin remove heat from our body, and our circulatory system moves substances to and from our cells. Our cells’ demands are constantly changing. The process of respiration is how air moves through our mouth and nose through our trachea (windpipe) straight down into our lungs. Our lungs absorb the oxygen and remove the carbon dioxide after which it is transported through the diaphragm (at the floor of our rib cage) to the rest of our body.

In our lungs we have bronchi, which are large tubes that the air flows through into smaller tubes called bronchioles. Then it moves into tiny air sacs called alveoli where the oxygen separates from other compounds in the air. The best part of the air is then moved into blood vessels called capillaries where the oxygen is carried through to the rest of your body in hemoglobin.

Factors that affect how much oxygen our bodies need include: age, sex, weight, physical fitness and level of physical activity being done. If we don’t get enough oxygen it can be dangerous because we can be affected by poor concentration, fainting, confusion, fatigue or hyperventilation.

Now we will tell you a few short breathing exercises that you can do whenever you have time. While you’re working, relaxing, walking, reading, or during any activity really. You can do it for however long you are comfortable, but we’ve observed best results when done for about 10 minutes twice a day.

  1. Breathe in deep through your nose… let your belly fill with air
  2. Breathe out through your nose
  3. Place one hand on your belly and the other on your chest
  4. Feel the air expanding your belly and practice full, deep breaths in and shorter breaths out

Another great exercise is to combine breathing with the tensing of muscles. For example, try this:

  1. Breathe in deep (for around 3 seconds) while tensing your biceps
  2. Then breathe out while releasing the tension in those muscles.
  3. Continue for all the muscles you can tense, one by one starting with your feet and ending with your ears.

One more great exercise you can do is a great way to release stress or anxiety.

  1. Breathe in deep through your nose, fill your belly and chest
  2. When you can’t breathe in anymore, open your mouth as wide as you can and breathe out with a “hah” sound
  3. Repeat as many times as you like.

We hope that these exercises will help you a little bit during your stressful days. After about a week of practicing for only 20 minutes a day, your lung capacity should have grown a little bit. You’ll feel less out of breath on your morning run or while climbing those stairs. You’ll also be able to hold your breath for a longer time under water. A tip for the next time you do a ‘hold your breath’ competition is to breathe in as deeply as you can (until you can’t breathe any longer). You can learn to find that perfect spot of lung fullness so that you’re not too full with air, but that you can continue to feed your air sacs for as long as possible. If you feel like you’re having difficulty breathing, that your chest is tight, or that you cannot take deep breaths without pain, do read these other exercises to improve your breathing.

The Wim Hof Method

While sitting in a comfortable place, take 30 quick, deep breaths, inhaling through your nose and exhaling through your mouth. Then, take a deep breath and exhale; hold until you need to breathe in. Inhale again, as deep as you can, and hold it for 10 seconds. Repeat as many times as you like.

 

Do YOU Have These Symptoms of Lung Exhaustion?

If you have recently been exercising and doing other vigorous activities, then you might have had a hard time catching your breath. This is actually not unusual, especially if you are not fit. This is because when we exert ourselves, our muscles require more oxygen than when we are resting. Thus, our breathing rate momentarily quickens, and our heart beats faster to meet that need.

But, if a few breathing exercises are not enough to overcome shallow breathing, it might be due to other serious causes. Your breathlessness might be what doctors would call dyspnea.

 What are the symptoms of difficulty in breathing?

According to Roger Maxfield, a professor of medicine at Columbia University Medical, “Even if you feel like you can’t get enough air for a little bit after an activity, that’s okay. But, if you’re short of breath at rest or you’re breathing as hard and deep as you can, and you just don’t get enough air, that’s something that requires professional medical attention.”

Other than the feeling of not taking in enough air, symptoms of dyspnea will include rapid breathing, gasping, anxiety or panic attacks, and increased heart rate.

Underlying Medical Conditions of Breathlessness

  1. Asthma – Difficulty in breathing happens because airways start to spasm and narrow, which makes it harder to breathe.
  2. COPD – Because of chronic bronchitis and emphysema, pushing air out of the lungs is challenging.
  3. Unfit – Inactivity will cause your muscles and heart to be weakened and thus cause breathlessness when exerting energy again.
  4. Heart Disease – When the heart cannot pump enough blood through the body, little oxygen will reach your tissues and therefore affect your breathing.

Other Non-Medical Conditions Causing Breathlessness

  1. Low Indoor or Outdoor Air Quality – Air pollutants can irritate the airways and cause other symptoms, which include shortness of breath and even asthma.
  2. High Altitude – There is less oxygen in the air at altitudes above 4,000 feet, and people who live closer to sea level might feel breathless and light-headed until they become acclimated.
  3. Extreme Weather – When you are exposed to unusual temperatures like excessive heat, for example, it will force your body to maintain its normal temperature by using extra energy. It will also force your lungs to work harder to breathe.

If you think that you might have some of these symptoms, this might be the time for you to do things like improving your breathing by spending more than 12 hours a day in a filtered area or learning a few breathing exercises. There are a lot of things you can do to make your lungs healthy. So, before it becomes more serious, make sure to stay fit and practice good habits for better lungs.

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The Crimes We Commit Against Our Lungs

If we want to be able to avoid having unhealthy lungs, then we should do our best to prevent ourselves from doing things that can cause harm to our bodies. Most people are not aware of the implications of what our lungs do. They do not understand the risks and effects that are associated with smoking, not wearing masks, non-ventilated rooms, viruses, and bacteria.

In order to understand what affects our lungs better, take a look at the following list below and see if you are guilty of doing some of these things. You will understand why you should stop doing hurting your lungs now.

Smoking

Smoking is one of the common ways that you can destroy your lungs and lung tissue. The damage happens because it decreases the number of air spaces and blood vessels in your lungs. It will then result in less oxygen in crucial parts of the body. It can cause deadly diseases such as emphysema, pneumonia, and lung cancer. According to statistics, smoking is the reason for 84% of deaths from lung cancer and 83% of deaths from COPD or chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.

Secondhand Smoke

Secondhand smoke happens because of the mixture of smoke from the burning end of the cigarette, and the smoke breathed out by smokers. It contains more than 7,000 chemicals, and hundreds of which are toxic and at least 70 that are cancer-causing agents. on-smokers exposed to secondhand smoke have an increased risk of developing lung cancer by 20% to 30%.

Not Wearing Masks

Based on research, when it comes to exposure to air pollution, even if it’s for a short or long period of time, it can have negative effects on both the lungs and heart. It is estimated that in excess of 3 million deaths happening worldwide each year are caused by outdoor air pollution. So, you might not know it, but indeed, even traffic pollution can harm you if you’re not wearing a face mask. This is because air pollution is made up of particles and gases that include ozone, volatile organic compounds or VOCs, and carbon monoxide, among others. Even dust can be detrimental to your health because it can trigger various allergens.

Breathing in Unfiltered and Unventilated Spaces

Outdoor and Indoor air pollutants are everywhere. That is why you need to have filters and ventilation in place to prevent particles and gasses from affecting your lungs. These pollutants can cause health effects that range from sneezing and coughing to aggravating chronic respiratory disorders and can even lead to fatal illnesses such as lung cancer. Without a filtered or ventilated space, dust mites, smoke particles, formaldehyde, and VOCs can remain in the air and damage your lungs. Poor ventilation can also lead to lingering odors that can have long-term health issues and lower oxygen levels due to the build-up of carbon dioxide.

 

As we learn more about the air we breathe, and we start to realize how much pollution is really out there, we should consider the effects on our bodies. Especially young people or elderly adults with growing or older lungs have to be careful. In many countries around the world it is difficult to find schools, hospitals, restaurants, bars, supermarkets, and other places we find ourselves in daily, that actually filter the air they provide. Especially in bars and restaurants in developing nations, very high levels of PM2.5 are discovered indoors due to the allowance of smoking. Education and knowledge is a great start, so that’s why we are trying to let everyone know the dangers of pollution. What do you think about the air you breathe for the majority of a day? Is it clean?

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