Without our precious lungs, we wouldn’t be able to do simple things such as breathing. You can spend weeks without eating, days without water, but only a few minutes without breath. But for some reason, many people take their respiratory system for granted and only start paying attention to them when problems arise. In this article, we’re going to provide our readers with a few tips on how to improve our lung health, starting today.
Practice Deep Breathing
If you obtained an online respiratory therapy degree, you probably know that the practice of deep breathing is one of the easiest and most beneficial ways to improve your lung health and capacity. All you have to do is slowly inhale while expanding your belly to its full capacity with every breath. Now, expand your ribs and your chest simultaneously. Once you’ve inhaled as much as you can, exhale all the air in your lungs slowly while allowing your ribs to contract and your chest to fall. Finally, tighten up your stomach muscles and bring them in and up to expel the rest of the air in your lungs using your diaphragm. Do 10 repetitions each time and do this exercise at least once or twice per day.
Work on your Posture
Posture is another aspect we tend to overlook when we think of lung health. Any person with an online bachelor of science in respiratory therapy degree will tell you that a great posture facilitates breathing and performance. And in addition to constricted lungs, poor posture can lead to a host of other disorders, many of which are completely unrelated to breathing, such as depression for instance.
This is mainly because our lungs are soft and adapt to the amount of space that is available to them. If you sit or stand tall with shoulders back, you create more space for your lungs, which makes it easier for you to breathe. If, on the contrary, you’re sitting with a hunched back and shoulders leaning forward, you’ll quickly notice how difficult it is to breathe in this position. Practice the habit of standing and sitting correctly if you want to improve your lungs’ function.
Load Up on Vitamin D
Vitamin D is one of the most important vitamins for our well-being. Ironically, many people in America are suffering from vitamin D deficiencies. That is because, contrary to other vitamins, vitamin D is a hormone that is secreted mainly when you gather sunlight. The skin synthesizes sunlight into this substance, and since many people in the Western world don’t get to enjoy significant amounts of sunlight, many end up suffering from a more or less severe deficiency.
Furthermore, vitamin D is very hard to get from dietary sources. Even sources that are considered high in levels, such as almonds, for instance, won’t give you enough unless you eat ridiculously copious amounts of it. If you want to get your daily fix of this substance, you’ll usually have to resort to supplementation or other sources such as fortified milk.
Conclusion
These three tips alone should do wonders for your lung health and function. Remember to get the best breathwork app and practice deep breathing daily, supplement with vitamin D or get your daily dose of sunlight and work on your posture if you want to enjoy optimal performance from your lungs.