HOW TO STRENGTHEN YOUR LUNGS NATURALLY—TIPS FROM A LUNG PATIENT

 

How to Improve Your Lung Function Naturally? Follow These 10 Tips

Deep Breathing Exercises for Healthy Lungs

Deep breathing, also referred to as diaphragmatic breathing or belly breathing, may be a breathing technique where you progress your belly in and out with each breath. once you inhale your belly expands and once you exhale it contracts. Pretty simple, right?

You’d be surprised how few folks actually inhale this manner . Most folks are guilty of “chest breathing” where we take shallow breaths using the upper chest and neck. Not good.

Why is deep breathing important to lung health? With this sort of breathing, you engage your diaphragm muscles fully, allowing you to require in additional air and over time, this helps improve your lung capacity—a key measure of excellent lung health.

I didn’t skills much fuller my breath might be until I read the book “Breathe” by Dr. Beliza Vranich.

Dr. Vranich’s techniques are all about the way to train yourself to become intuitive at taking deeper breaths that enter the core of your body. This phenomenal book taught me the way to breathe using my belly, diaphragm, and even the muscles in my back. It’s one among the books i might recommend to people of all ages and fitness levels because everyone can enjoy taking better breaths, whether you’re running marathons or sitting at a desk.

And now here are 4 deep breathing exercises to strengthen your lungs:

1. The “Japanese long-breath exercise”

The Japanese long-breath Exercise is most well-known for its reported weight-loss benefits. Besides its ab-tightening effects, this exercise provides a superb workout for the lungs during a short amount of your time .

Here’s how you are doing the japanese Long Breath exercise:

• Stand with one foot ahead of the opposite .
• Lift your arms above your head while inhaling deeply for 3 seconds, letting your belly expand.
• Lower your arms and exhale together with your full force for 7 seconds, contracting your belly towards your spine.
• Repeat 10 times.

2. Pushing out

If you would like to breathe more efficiently, you've got to first remove any stale air trapped in your lungs. And “pushing out” is an efficient exercise to assist you are doing that.

Here’s the way to do the pushing out exercise:

• Stand straight together with your feet slightly apart.
• Keep your knees loose, and bend over at the waist until you'll wrap your hands around your ankle (or as low as you'll comfortably go). Exhale fully while you bend over.
• Slowly return to the upright position and inhale slowly and deeply as you lift your upper body.
• Reach your arms above your head and hold your breath for 15 seconds.
• Exhale and convey your arms right down to your sides.
• Repeat the above steps 5 times.

3. The rib stretch

This exercise helps strengthen your breathing muscles and improve their flexibility, allowing you to require fuller and deeper breaths.

Here’s the way to do the rib stretch:

• Stand tall and straight together with your feet shoulder-width apart.
• Slowly inhale through your nose until your lungs and belly are crammed with air. While you are doing this, slowly extend your arms to each side until you are feeling a stretch in your arms and chest.
• Hold the breath for 20 seconds (or however long you’re comfortable with).
• Without letting out that breath of air, inhale more air through your nose until you can’t inhale further.
• Hold this breath for 10 more seconds before expelling all the air out of your lungs and belly, while relaxing your arms.
• Repeat 5 times.

4. Resistance Training for the Lungs

Have you ever tried resistance fitness training? What if I told you'll strengthen your lungs, a bit like the other parts of your body, with resistance training? Yep, it’s a well known secret employed by many professional athletes and singers to enhance lung performance.

It takes the principle of deep breathing and combines it with resistance to make a strong effect on the lungs. I’ve been using resistance training for my lungs for the past few years and that i believe it's helped me breathe more efficiently.

One easy thanks to do that is by blowing balloons. Blow into a balloon while lying down on your back together with your legs and hips flexed at 90 degrees, and your feet touching the wall. Repeat this process for 10-15 minutes each day and you'll notice a difference, especially once you exercise. the sole downside is that you simply do got to lie for 10-15 minutes each day to perform this exercise. If you’re on the go all the time, it might be a challenge.

For this reason, i select to use a resistance training device for the lungs. It’s compact, easy-to-use, and has built-in settings that you simply can adjust consistent with your fitness level. With alittle device like this, I can do resistance training for my lungs any time and anywhere. It takes but 2 minutes to try to to each day and that’s perfect on behalf of me .

Food for Healthy Lungs

A healthy diet goes an extended way when it involves keeping your lungs healthy. Besides drinking many water to stay your lungs from getting dry and irritated, there are other improvements you'll make to your diet to enhance your lung health.

5. Repair lung damage with tomatoes and apples

I eat fresh tomatoes all the time and a minimum of an apple each day . Not only are they delicious, they’re also beneficial for the lungs.

A study conducted by a prominent health institution showed that including more tomatoes and apples in your diet can repair lung damage and hamper the decline in lung function. The effect is even more noticeable in ex-smokers!

But so as to realize these benefits, you want to eat fresh tomatoes and apples—the processed stuff like canned apples or store-bought pasta sauce won’t work. If you’re trying to find ideas on the way to incorporate these two ingredients into your cooking, inspect this mouth-watering tomato apple salsa recipe.

6. Monk fruit: a strong lung-cleansing tea

Monk fruit (known as “luo han guo” in Chinese) may be a naturally sweet-tasting edible fruit utilized in Traditional Chinese Medicine to alleviate throat and lung-related ailments. it's powerful anti-inflammatory properties which will help reduce irritation and soothe the lungs.

Its sweet taste also works wonders at curbing sugar cravings. For these reasons, monk fruit tea is my favourite drink, next to good old water!

Here’s the way to make monk fruit tea:

• Break off small pieces of monk fruit (a small chunk of the skin plus 2 or 3 seeds are quite enough for a typical cup).
• Immerse the monk fruit pieces in predicament for 2-3 minutes.
• And drink!

Or you can boil an entire monk fruit during a large pot of water for half-hour for a more intense, sweeter flavour:

Here are a few of quick tips to assist you decide on the simplest dried monk fruit:

• If you gently drop the monk fruit on a table it should recover quickly, sort of a ball .
• You can also lightly shake the monk fruit, you shouldn’t hear any rattle inside the fruit.

If you can’t find any monk fruit in your local Asian market to form a tea yourself, try a premade monk fruit (luo han guo) tea that you simply can just drop by predicament and drink.

7. Hydrate your lungs with white-coloured vegetables and fruits

According to the “five colours theory” of Chinese dietary therapy—a practice with deep roots in Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM)—foods that have a natural white colour are good for the lungs.

I confirm I include tons of white-coloured natural foods in my diet. My favourites are white-coloured fruits and vegetables like radishes, lotus seeds, and Asian pears.

Why?

These fruits and vegetables often contain tons of water, and are considered to possess a “cooling” effect on the body. From a TCM point of view, our lungs like better to be cool and moist instead of dry and hot. And these white-coloured fruits and vegetables give our lungs exactly what they have . Their high water content and cooling properties will help keep your lungs moist and supple.

Natural Ways to Cleanse Your Lungs

There are many environmental pollutants within the air which will build up in your lungs and cause irritation over time. They get trapped in mucus and may cause chest congestion and impaired lung function.

Luckily, there are natural ways to enhance your lung health by enhancing your lungs’ natural self-cleaning process.

8. Controlled coughing

Controlled coughing is an efficient technique for clearing excess mucus and expelling stale air from your lungs.

Here’s the way to do that technique:

• Stand together with your feet shoulder-width apart.
• Open your chest and put your hands on your waist.
• Look forward and lift your chin slightly up.
• Inhale deeply and force out the air quickly with a loud cough.
• Repeat these steps 3-5 times.

The best time to try to to this system is within the morning right after you awaken . it'll loosen any phlegm that has built up in your airways overnight and help your lungs get a clean slate for the day.

9. Cardio exercise

You probably heard cardio exercise is great for your heart, but did you recognize it’s also essential to the health of your lungs?

Cardio exercise makes your lungs work harder and this over time, will train your lungs to figure more efficiently. It also increases the blood flow to your lungs, ensuring they get the vital nutrients they have to remain healthy.

So make exercise a neighborhood of your life.

And try to bring your exercises to the good outdoors, where trees are abundant. Trees are nature’s oxygen powerhouse and your lungs will get an enormous oxygen boost from being around them.

One of my favourite cardio exercises is hiking within the mountains of Pacific Northwest Canada. Even just a brief walk amongst the enormous Douglas Fir trees always makes my chest feel lighter.

So if you’re lucky enough to measure during a place where nature is abundant, get outside and exercise in nature any chance you get. But if you don’t live on the brink of nature, try exercising in parks and gardens where there are more trees. Having some air-purifying indoor plants where you exercise is additionally an excellent option if you can’t find an honest place to exercise outdoors.

10. Acupressure

Acupressure may be a healing practice originating from Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM). It works by stimulating specific points in our body along what are called “meridians”—or channels within our body. If any point along these channels gets blocked, it leads to discomfort, pain, or maybe illness. Acupressure helps remove that blockage and promote healing.

Acupressure is additionally one among the simplest natural ways to enhance lung health. It’s safe, easy to use, and works quickly. you'll even apply acupressure on yourself together with your own hands.

Intrigued? Let me show you ways you'll use acupressure to enhance your lung health right now!

a) “Ying Xiang” or “Welcome Fragrance” point (LI 20):

The yin xiang acupressure point helps clear nasal blockages and ease breathing. It’s located on each side of your nose, nestled within the groove where your laugh lines hook up with your nose. Firmly press now together with your pinkie and massage during a circular motion for five minutes each day for enhanced abilities to smell and breathe.

b) “Yu ji” or “Fish Border” point (LU 10):

The yu ji acupressure point provides relief for pharyngitis and coughs. It’s also one among the foremost details within the body for nourishing the lungs. now is found on the outer side of your thumb, halfway between the bottom of your thumb and your wrist. It’s within the groove where the fleshy a part of your palm meets the bone that runs from your thumb to your wrist. Press now with the highest of your thumb, applying even pressure for 30 seconds and release. Repeat this for five minutes each day .