Breathing is easy. Breathing is natural. We don’t even realise it when we do it. The lung capacity of every individual varies.
Every breath we take brings in one of the most important things our body needs apart from food and water, oxygen. Without oxygen, the food we eat cannot be used to run our bodies.
Our lungs are the organs that separate the oxygen necessary for our body from the air that we breathe in. Hence, they are crucial organs we cannot survive without. Breathing regulates the body’s reaction to stress and fatigue. It even reduces depression and lowers blood pressure.
Keeping our lungs in perfect condition is difficult especially because the air that we breathe in is heavily polluted. Habits like smoking make it even worse.
However, not all is lost. There are some exercises that you can do which recharge and energize your lungs.
Let’s take a look at some of them.
Deep Breathing
This is the most basic yet, very effective exercise to improve your lung capacity.
You can do this anywhere- On the bed as soon as you wake up, in your car on the way to the office or even during a meeting.
All you need to do is:
Close your eyes. Through your nose, breathe in as deeply as you can.
Now, slowly exhale through your mouth.
Try to keep your exhalation time double of the amount of time you took to inhale.
And that’s it.
This exercise not only increases your lung capacity but also relieves stress and makes you calmer.
Alternate Nostril Breathing
This simple exercise is used to activate your lungs. Like the deep breathing exercise, you can do it comfortably wherever and whenever you feel like doing it.
This is how you do it.
Sit straight and cross your legs.
Now, close one nostril with a finger and breathe in.
Release the nostril and close the other nostril and breathe out.
Continue this for at least 5 minutes for best results.
Go running
This is a no-brainer. When you go running or for a brisk walk, you inhale more oxygen. This is because your body needs that extra oxygen to fuel the additional activity.
When you start out, you might feel that you are out of breath. But, slowly and steadily as you run regularly, your lung capacity increases. As your lung capacity increases, you will be able to run further.
Going for a run early in the morning gives you better results because the air is fresher in the morning.
Play a wind based musical instrument
Though not technically not an exercise, playing instruments like flute, mouth organ, clarinet etc builds lung capacity.
While playing musical instruments, we take deep breaths and fill in the lungs with the maximum amount of air they can hold. In most instruments, when you want to produce music, you need to have a long exhale. This further increases lung functioning.
Practice these exercises regularly to keep your lungs in a healthy condition.
If you feel your lungs are not working up to capacity or you have trouble breathing, you should reach out to a pulmonologist.
Here’s a quick video fromAyu Health talking about how a pulmonologist can help you.
Ayu Health have the best pulmonologists to treat your lungs with utmost care. Here’s a video of how pulmonologists can help you.
For more information onAyu Health, call 080 69489584 and get to know the best doctors in Bangalore.
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