In the same way that we can exercise our muscles, aerobic capacity and hearts, we can exercise our lungs. This is especially important:
- leading up to winter flu time, and
- if you smoke, vape, have asthma or lung disease, or are prone to chest infections
Practice good (not deep) breathing daily. Relax your shoulders. Put your hand on your abdomen to make sure you’re breathing into your diaphragm, not your chest. Your abdomen should go out when you breathe in, to expand the lungs, and go in when you breathe out. Breathe in and out ONLY through your nose. See our article on good breathing habits for more.
There are a lot of online resources to help strengthen your lungs and reduce the chance of getting sick, and others on what to do if you get sick.
Strengthening your lungs
From the YouTube channel “lungexercise”:
From Qi Gong master Lee Holden:
- 3 Minute Breathing Exercise for Less Stress and More Energy
- 6 Minute White Crane Workout for Strong Lung Qi and to Enliven Your Spine
- Easy 25 Min Qi Gong for Better Breathing
Clearing the lungs
If you get sick with a respiratory illness and can’t get the gunk off your lungs, there is an exercise that physios teach to help bring it up and out. It’s called The Active Cycle of Breathing technique. The following three videos are all based on the same technique but each is slightly different. You may want to watch them all to see which works best for you.
- University College London Hospitals
- MrPhysio
- The Physio Channel – just watch the first half
More from Lee Holden:
brooklynwellness.nz 