Maintaining Healthy Lungs with Age

As time ravages your body, your once young and powerful lungs start to gradually lose their capacity. This starts at about age 35, and it gets worse with every passing year. By the age of 65, your lungs will lose up to one-liter of their former capacity naturally. That’s not including the effects of bad habits such as smoking or working in a dangerous environment for your respiratory system.

There are several ways to offset this natural decrease in lung capacity to live a longer and healthier life, though.

First, “pursed-lip breathing”, or breathing in through your nose and slowly out through pursed lips, can help open your airways and fully expel stale air. This helps promote healthier lungs, and it keeps your airways open longer for a more complete breathing cycle.

The second breathing exercise that can be done is known as diaphragm breathing. It is when you breathe with your diaphragm muscle instead of the muscles in your back and neck. This allows you to inhale more oxygen and provides your lungs with a more efficient way to deliver oxygen throughout your system.

Finally, simply increasing your daily activity will do wonders for your respiratory system. Physical activity engages the lungs, and that daily exercise can give them the boost they need to thrive.