5 Ways You're Putting Your Respiratory Health At Risk

It’s important to take care of your respiratory health. After all, it has something to do with your ability to breathe, which is obviously essential to your being alive.

Unfortunately, there exist many respiratory issues that may befall you if you don’t take care of yourself. Definitely, many of them are preventable.

On the other hand, your respiratory health may also be influenced by factors beyond your control, such as genetics and family history. In this case, you should work doubly hard to keep your lungs healthy.

What’s Involved in Your Respiratory Health?

Your respiratory system consists of the organs along your airway, starting with the nose, going down the throat and windpipe, and then reaching your lungs. The lungs are responsible for getting the oxygen to the bloodstream, which delivers it to all the body cells as fuel to sustain life.

In this way, your lungs are different from other internal organs, having their tissues directly connected to your body’s external environment. Whatever you breathe in has a direct effect on your lungs. If you inhale the bad stuff, your lungs will certainly suffer, and this could lead to respiratory ailments, some of which are very serious.

How Do You Put Your Lungs at Risk?

Considering that your lungs are extremely vital to your health and existence, you should be proactive in keeping them away from threats to their well-being. What are the things and habits you should avoid?

1.      Smoking and hanging out with smokers

Studies have shown that breathing in secondhand smoke can be every bit as dangerous as smoking itself. Tobacco smoke has associations with heart disease, lung cancer and other lung infections, asthma, and COPD.

Children who have been exposed to secondhand smoke have greater risk of developing respiratory disease as children or later on in life. They also tend to be prone to ear and sinus infections as well as oral disease, not to mention dire complications such as cancer and heart disease.

2.      Exposing yourself to people sick with viral infections

You need to be defensive about your health. There are people who consciously or unwittingly spread their germs around. Understandably, if you have kids, you’ll be more exposed to viruses, which is why it’s imperative that you keep your immune system up.

 Other safeguards are washing your hands after being outside and wearing a surgical mask when you go to crowded areas.

3.      Leading a sedentary lifestyle.

Your lungs need to be exercised. When you physically exert yourself, your lungs raise the oxygen supply to the body to supply energy and expel carbon dioxide. This will make your heart circulate more oxygen, hence the feeling of breathlessness after strenuous activity.

 If you’re used to exercise, however, you wouldn’t feel so out of breath after working out. Your lungs will function better. Experts say that even those with lung problems can have better lung functioning if they’re well-conditioned.

Another thing that being sedentary usually leads to is excess weight. Health professionals advise that you maintain a proper weight to help keep your lungs healthy.

4.      Eating an imbalanced diet.

Nutrition is always essential to health. If you eat a lot of junk food and deprive yourself of the nutrients your body needs to keep in good form, your entire body will suffer. That includes your lungs.

What are some of the foods that are good for your lungs? Nutrition experts recommend apples, apricots, broccoli, beans, fatty fish, poultry, and walnuts. Drinking water, of course, is also very beneficial to your lungs.

5.      Living in unsanitary conditions.

If you don’t keep your home clean, pollutants will soon collect, and you’ll find yourself living in a hot bed of respiratory issues and relying on cold and cough tablets as a way of life.

Dust and other irritants could directly affect your lungs. Bacteria and other germs could, too. Mold is especially serious since its spores seek out warm, moist places, which your lungs exactly are.

Breathe Easy

By avoiding the above, you can breathe better as well as maintain respiratory health. You should actively care for your lungs by avoiding the respiratory hazards listed above.