Tag: Lungs

3 REASONS WHY it would have paid for you to get a mask a 6 months ago

Wearing masks might be the new normal today, but did you know that you should have had one months ago? Believe it or not, masks are a must-have for most people, especially since we deal with pollution and other harmful substances that can affect our lungs every day. It might not seem like it, but prolonged exposure to these things and unhealthy habits can have severe effects later on in our lives.

For you to understand the importance of masks, here are three reasons why you need one:

  1. Cleaner Lungs

The common answer for using masks is so that you can protect your lungs and breathe in clean and filtered air. You can avoid a stuffy nose caused by allergens such as pollen or dust. You can also prevent dry coughs by minimizing the risks of getting a cold during the changing of seasons. Another important factor is that filtered air can also shield you from various substances and conditions that will cause lung damage. These can include the following:

  • Smoking – Cigarette smoke produces toxic substances that can cause lung damage because it triggers inflammation and destroys air passages and air sacs, as stated by the Lung Health Institute.
  • Household Substances – From VOCs, radon to asbestos and mold, there are several materials that can be found in homes that can lead to lung damage.
  • Pollution – It can be indoor or outdoor pollution and consistently breathing in these air pollutants can cause lung inflammation, and in worst cases, lung damage.

  1. Comfortability

Who doesn’t want to be comfortable anywhere and at any place? By wearing masks with a high quality filter, you’ll have safety assurance since you would be able to protect your lungs from any toxic and harmful substances or viruses. These days, various masks are used to safeguard people from the spread of the coronavirus and other airborne diseases. Not to mention also that during traffic pollution, you can minimize the risks by wearing masks. For those who drive motorbikes, you are more prone to air pollutants caused by traffic congestion. Thus, it is always better to regularly wear your mask as you travel.

  1. Long-Term Illness Prevention

Air pollution is something that can be hard to escape. Regardless of where you live, it is all around us. According to WHO , “microscopic pollutants in the air can slip past our body’s defenses, penetrating deep into our respiratory and circulatory system, damaging our lungs, heart and brain.” This is why at least 2.5 million people worldwide die each year from the long-term health effects caused by exposure to air pollution, as stated by National Geographic. Because of deadly lung diseases, heart disease, cancer, and other respiratory diseases, air pollution shouldn’t be taken lightly. For these reasons, you can see how crucial it is to wear a mask. This will help reduce exposure to all these pollutants and prevent any prolonged effects.

If you consider all these three reasons, masks are definitely something you need for a lifetime. As much as possible, avoid inhaling substances that can cause damage to your health. As they say, it is better to be safe than sorry. 

The Man with the Healthiest Lungs!

Our lungs play a huge role in keeping us healthy and well, but we do not see the relevance until we experience problems with breathing. That is why, just like the rest of our body, the lungs need daily care and attention.

When we breathe, we feed oxygen to every cell in the body. Because of this, you aren’t prone to health problems such as respiratory illnesses, heart diseases, and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, among others. For this reason, if you want to have healthy lungs, you need to be more attentive to its overall condition.

Who has healthy lungs?

The man with the healthiest lungs is probably Constantine Karnazes.

People who have never had any issues with their breathing, or those who have never inhaled air in polluted places have healthier lungs than those that grow up in polluted areas. The man with the healthiest lungs is probably an ultramarathon runner who spends hours and hours training his lungs while running. By working the muscles that contract and expand the lungs, you can train your lungs to be strong. It isn’t too late for anyone to build healthier lungs. You just need to know the things that you should and shouldn’t do. Here are some of the do’s and don’ts that you can follow:

Do’s:

Diaphragmatic Breathing

If you’re thinking of how to keep lungs healthy naturally, then the breathing technique that you can use is diaphragmatic breathing. This is often used by people who experience lung problems such as asthma and chronic bronchitis.

Diaphragmatic breathing makes use of the diaphragm muscle by concentrating on it as you breathe in. It will result in a much deeper inhale.

You can see this technique also being used by professional singers to increase their lung capacity.

Exercise As Much As You Can

Regular exercise will take you closer to the path of someone having healthier lungs. When you exercise, the heart beats faster, and the lungs work harder—according to research, breathing increases from at least 15 times a minute to 40 to 60 times a minute. This will mean that your lungs will definitely be having a workout and would quickly exchange oxygen for carbon dioxide.

Counting Your Breaths

Another simple way to improve your lung capacity is by increasing the length of your inhalations and exhalations. It can be done by counting how long your natural breath takes. After knowing the count for the average breath, you’ll add one more count to each inhale and exhale. This will conveniently extend the length of time that it’ll take to fill and empty the lungs, resulting in stronger lungs.

Don’ts:

Smoking

It is widely known that smoking is the major cause of lung cancer and COPD. It narrows the air passages and causes swelling in the lungs. As you smoke continuously, the lung tissue would be destroyed over time and may trigger effects that can result in cancer.

So, if you smoke, this is the time to stop now and let your lungs breathe in clean air.

Exposure to Indoor Air Pollutants

Many indoor air pollutants can result in lung

problems. From dust, VOCs, mold, secondhand smoke, and radon, all of these will prevent you from achieving your goals of having healthy lungs. That’s why make sure to have filtered and ventilated rooms for easier breathing.

Exposure to Outdoor Air Pollution

Air pollution is something that we often experience every day. The air quality outside is usually unhealthy to breathe, be it due to traffic congestion or factory buildings spewing up smoke. These things are bad for our lungs. That is why one of the ways to avoid them is by wearing face masks, which can minimize the risks that they bring.

Thus, remember all of these do’s and don’ts, and you will be on the right track to successfully being a man or woman who has the healthiest lungs!

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How to Give Your Children Extra Olive oil, Avocado, Broccoli or White Wine – these 3 Delicious Ways

Changing the way food looks might be your only solution when your children don’t want to eat their vegetables. Offering them fresh vegetables is a great way to get them to try the healthy food you want them to eat, but only if it tastes good to them. Having raw broccoli for example, paired with a delicious pesto or scrumptious humous might be a good way to convince them that they are eating delicious food.

We all know how difficult it is to make children eat healthy food. Most of them don’t like the taste of vegetables. However, we do know the various health benefits that healthy food gives them as they grow older. So, what is the easiest way to make them eat these kinds of foods? Well, to make them delicious, of course.

The healthiest meals contain vegetables rich in nutrients. You can prepare food that tastes bland or boring in many different ways with tasty flavors. You can prepare each dish with ingredients such as olive oil, avocado, broccoli, or white wine to enhance the amount of nutrients and vitamins per meal. These are specifically essential if you want your children to have healthy lungs.

Eating healthy food is a great alternative to protecting the lungs. These 5 vegetables contain vitamins, carbs, protein, and fibers that can help boost lung ability and capacity. For example, broccoli contains fiber and important vitamins like A, B, C, and K. Avocado, on the other hand, has vitamin E, potassium, natural antioxidants, and healthy fats. Thus, below are a few dishes that have everything your children will need.

If your child’s favorite food is pasta or potatoes, there are easy ways to add broccoli with basil as a pesto form, or drizzle olive or avocado oil on the dish after it’s cooked. What this does is keep the oil uncooked, which is far healthier than when it has been heated.

3 Healthy Broccoli Avocado Salad Recipes

Here are 3 recipes we have collected to help you out with your meals:

From  Simple Nourished Living, this is an easy-to-do salad of lightly cooked broccoli and avocado that is tossed with vinaigrette.

Ingredients:

  • 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
  • 2 teaspoons Dijon mustard
  • 2 tablespoons olive oil
  • 2 teaspoons Herbs de Provence
  • 1 tablespoon chopped Italian parsley
  • 1 large avocado, cubed
  • 4 cups broccoli, lightly cooked
  • Salt and freshly ground black pepper
How to make it?
  1. Whisk lemon juice, olive oil, mustard, and Herbs de Provence in a large bowl.
  2. Steam or boil the avocado for under 5 minutes.
  3. Mix the avocado and broccoli into the whisked mixture. Stir gently and then season with salt and pepper.
  4. Serve the salad immediately or store it in the refrigerator for up to 24 hours.

Another broccoli and avocado recipe is from Kidspot Kitchen. This is a mix of crunchy broccoli and smooth avocado with a touch of lemon dressing and toasted almond slivers.

Ingredients:
  • 500g broccoli florets, cut into small pieces
  • 2 avocados
  • 3 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
  • 3 tbsp lemon juice
  • sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
  • 1/3 cup slivered almonds
How to make it?
  1. In a heatproof bowl, place the broccoli in boiling water and then set aside to blanch.
  2. Dice the avocado and place it in a serving bowl. Drizzle with olive oil and lemon juice. Add a sprinkle of salt and pepper and then toss gently.
  3. For the almond slivers, toast them in a non-stick frying pan over medium heat. Toss gently.
  4. Drain the broccoli and add it to the serving bowl. Toss them all with the dressing. Sprinkle the almond slivers and serve.

The last recipe for this list would be the broccoli salad with creamy avocado from Delice Recipes. It is a light and nutritious salad that complements any kind of meal.

Ingredients:

1 broccoli

2 avocado

1/2 red onion

10 cherry tomatoes

1 pinch salt

1 pinch pepper

3 tbsp soy sauce

3 tbsp toasted sesame oil

3 tsp olive oil

How to make it?

  1. Use a skillet and simmer the broccoli with 3-4 tbsp of soy sauce for at least 4-5 minutes.
  2. Cut the red onion, ripe avocados, and tomatoes.
  3. Toss all of the ingredients together and season with a pinch of salt, pepper, olive oil, and toasted sesame oil. Serve immediately.
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How do we protect our lungs?

‘So how do we protect your lungs?’

Our filters are produced from the highest quality, highly efficient absorption material with micropore structure, fast resorption, and excellent purification efficiency. The filters are heat resistant, acid resistant, and alkali resistant with no smell.

The adsorption of organic particles is up to ten times higher than general activated carbon. Organic particles in gas, aldehyde, hydroxybenzene, and alkene are filtered because of the structure of the micropores. They also feature excellent adsorption of up to 95% of inorganic gases such as No, No2, So2, H2S, HF, HCL, CO and CO2.

Studies have proven that active carbon filters can remove all forms of pollutants. Multiple materials are required to attract the different molecules within pollutants. That is why active carbon filters have numerous properties. Activated charcoal has millions of pores that create immense surface area to which chemicals can adhere. The negatively charged ions within active carbon work similar to a magnet that attracts the positive ions like PM2.5 particles, heavy metals and other toxins.

To test the filtration efficiency of the filters, our manufacturer used the Automated Filter Tester 8130. This is the same instrument that is used at NIOSH to test the efficiency and penetration of aerosols. The results showed that the active carbon filter filtered 100% of PM10 particles, more than 99% of all PM2.5 particles, and 95% of PM0.3 particles.

Using the Met One Instrument AeroCet 531S, the filters were also tested independently.

The study was conducted from 8AM till 4PM for one day in the city center of Hanoi, VietNam. The laboratory had open windows, and was located on the 4th floor. The different sizes of pollutants in the room were collected simultaneously: PM1, PM2.5, PM7, PM10 and TSP, and were measured before and after the mask was tested. Sample masks and filters were measured for a total of 20 minutes each, and the instrument provided data every 2 minutes.

Results showed that the activate carbon filter has a filter efficiency of up to 99.8%. On average while the mask was fit tested on a subject, the filtration rate of PM2.5 particles was 95%. The gas mask filters filtered out 100% of PM2.5 particles through the microfiber filter and chemical cartridge, while 99.7% of particles were filtered while fitted on a subject.

The temperature was 25°C, and humidity was 89%.

The AEROCET 531S is a full–featured, battery operated, handheld mass monitor or particle counter. It simultaneously measures 6 mass concentration ranges (PM1, PM2.5, PM4, PM7, PM10 and TSP) or five particle count sizes (0.3µm, 0.5µm, 1.0µm, 5.0µm and 10µm).

Do our lungs clean themselves?

Yes! Our lungs are self-cleaning. You can also help your lungs breathe easy.

If you’re a smoker, have exposure to air pollution, or have a chronic condition like asthma, COPD or cystic fibrosis, you’re probably happy to know that your lungs are cleaning as you read this.

Our lungs rebuild by growing new cilia. Cilia are what helps us keep our airways clear of mucus and dirt.

There are so many bad particles in the air we breathe that we often worry when we feel a sharp pain in our lungs.  According to the World Health Organization (WHO), exposure to air pollution results in 4.2 million deaths worldwide each year Source. Lungs are self-cleaning because they repair themselves. Chronic conditions, such as COPD, asthma, and cystic fibrosis, cause excess mucus production or unusually thick mucus that can clog the lungs. There are some easy ways to help your lungs clean themselves, but for the most part they do the work on their own.

Here are 24 Facts about Lung Health

  • 384 million people suffer from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and 3 million die from it each year, making it the third leading cause of death worldwide [1].
  • 10 million people develop tuberculosis and 1.6 million die from it each year, making it the most common lethal infectious disease [2].
  • 1.76 million people die from lung cancer each year, making it the deadliest cancer [3].
  • 334 million people suffer from asthma [1].
  • Asthma is the most common chronic disease of childhood, affecting 14 percent of children globally − and rising [1].
  • 4 million people die from lower respiratory tract infections and pneumonia each year [1].
  • Every minute, 2 children under 5 years old die from pneumonia [4].
  • 80 percent of pneumonia deaths are in children under 2 years [4].
  • Most (99 percent) deaths occur in low or middle-income countries [4]
  • Pneumonia is the leading cause of death in the very young and very old.
  • Passive smoke exposure also leads to respiratory disease. Since 1964, about 2.5 million nonsmokers died from health problems caused by exposure to second-hand smoke [1].
  • 4.2 million people die every year as a result of exposure to ambient (outdoor) air pollution [5].
  • 3.8 million people die every year as a result of household exposure to smoke from dirty cookstoves and fuels [5].
  • 91 percent of the world’s population live in places where air quality exceeds WHO guideline limits [5].

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Here are 7 ways you can clear your airways:

1. Steam Therapy

Inhaling steam can momentarily help open your airways to help drain mucus. In cold or dry air you may feel it’s more difficult to breathe. Steam adds warmth and moisture, helping to loosen the mucus inside your airways and lungs. This is however only a temporary solution.

2. Controlled coughing

Coughing is a way for you to clear your airways. Doctors suggest that patients with COPD perform steps to control your cough.

  1. Sit on a chair with shoulders relaxed, keep both feet flat on the floor
  2. Fold your arms over your stomach
  3. Slowly inhale through your nose
  4. Slowly exhale while pushing the arms against the stomach
  5. Cough 2 or 3 times while exhaling with your mouth slightly open
  6. Slowly inhale through the nose
  7. Rest and repeat if you feel it helps

3. Drain mucus from the lungs

These processes also help remove mucus from your lungs. Basically, slowly inhale through your nose and exhale through your mouth. Each exhale should be twice as long as your inhale. It’s called 1:2 breathing.

  1. Lay on your back on the floor or a bed, place pillows under your hips, and breathe 1:2 for a few minutes.
  2. On your side, rest your head on your arm or pillow. Place pillows under your hips and breathe 1:2. Repeat on the other side to clear your other lung.
  3. On your stomach place a stack of pillows under your stomach. Lie on them but keep your hips above your chest. Fold your arms under your head for support and practice the same 1:2 breathing pattern.

4. Exercise can improve your physical and mental health. It can reduce the chance of getting many health conditions, including heart and lung disease or strokes. When the muscles work harder, your breathing rate increases which supplies more oxygen to your muscles. It also improves circulation which in turn makes your body more efficient hen removing carbon dioxide.

5. Green tea has many good antioxidants that can reduce inflammation in your lungs. In a recent study in Korea looking at 1000 people, those who drank 2 cups of green tea a day had better lung function.

6. Anti-inflammatory foods. Here are 8 foods that fight inflammation:

    1. Turmeric
    2. Leafy greens
    3. Cherries
    4. Blueberries
    5. Olives
    6. Walnuts
    7. Beans
    8. Lentils

7. Cupping your hand and hitting your chest is another great way to remove excess mucus from your lungs. Rhythmically tap your chest wall to open up your airways and loosen some of the mucus in your lungs. Then use postural drainage to help clear your airways.

Outlook

We know that the fear of not being able to breathe is really scary. Our lungs are what keeps us breathing, so it’s important that you know that our lungs rebuild. An ex-smoker’s lungs can actually reduce their odds of dying from smoking by half after 10 years of quitting. Inflammation decreases and the chemicals that pass through the airways do not irritate the lining within.

Although our lungs have ways to protect themselves from damage, and do rebuild, long term exposure to chemicals and air pollution is not reversible. Damaged airways lose their shape and elasticity, as the alveoli in our lungs cannot exchange oxygen and carbon dioxide as efficiently.

It will really help to prevent your airways from getting clogged in the first place. Good ideas are to reduce second hand smoke, get a high quality mask for outdoors, get an air purifier in your home, and to keep your apartment clean.