Pneumonia can cause more than one concern. Once you regain your fitness, it is important to strengthen your lungs: in this way, you can once again control your breathing and your life. Read this article to learn how to invigorate your lungs after healing.
Steps
Method 1 of 3: Perform Breathing Exercises
Step 1. Practice deep breathing
This type of exercise helps regain lost lung capacity. Start by sitting or standing. Place your hands on your waist and relax. Inhale as much as possible. Once your lungs are full, hold your breath for five seconds. Breathe out as much as possible. Remember to exhale slowly and empty your lungs completely. But don't demand too much of your body, listen to it.
Repeat the procedure by doing it 10 times per set. It is advisable to do three to four sets of deep breathing exercises throughout the day
Step 2. Breathe with pursed lips
Performing this breath will help increase the oxygen intake of the lungs. At the same time, it lowers the amount of carbon dioxide. Start by relaxing your whole body. You can do this while standing or sitting. Inhale for three seconds through your nose. Before exhaling, you need to tighten your lips, as if you are going to kiss someone. Exhale through the pursed lips for six seconds. Inhale and exhale slowly. Don't force air in and out of your lungs.
Repeat the procedure. Pursed lip breathing is done when a patient is wheezing. This exercise should be repeated until there is a decrease in shortness of breath
Step 3. Try breathing using your diaphragm
The diaphragm is the muscle that allows air to enter and exit the lungs. Start by lying on your back and bend your knees. Place one hand on your stomach and the other on your chest. Breath deeply. Let the belly and lower rib cage rise while making sure the upper chest cavity does not move. This is the challenge you have to overcome when you breathe with your diaphragm. The inhalation should take about three seconds. The exhalation six seconds. You also need to tighten your lips to better control your breathing.
Repeat the whole procedure. At first, this exercise can be particularly strenuous. However, practice and repetitions can train the diaphragm, eventually increasing lung capacity. Over time, diaphragm breathing will become easier
Step 4. Try to breathe as if you are coughing heavily
This type of practice will help you eliminate bacteria and respiratory secretions by triggering the cough reflex. Sit down or raise the headboard if you can't get up. Relax and get ready. To perform this exercise:
- Step 1: Breathe deeply while inhaling and exhaling three to five times. Combine breathing with pursed lips and breathing with the diaphragm. Push the air out, as if you are coughing. After completing three to five deep breathing cycles, open your mouth, but don't exhale for now. You need to hold your breath and tighten your chest and abdomen.
- Step 2: Quickly force air out of your lungs. If you have performed this step correctly, you will cause the cough reflex and draw out the secretions dispersed and trapped in the respiratory tract. If mucus leaks, spit it out and repeat the entire procedure.
Method 2 of 3: Changing Your Lifestyle
Step 1. Drink lots of water
Consume eight glasses of water a day if you are an adult. For children, the amount depends on the body weight. Liquids allow the mucus found in the lungs to liquefy. Fluid substances help you get phlegm out of your lungs and nose much easier. And that leads to better breathing.
Step 2. Move regularly
Disciplined and regular training helps the lungs respond to disease. In most people who exercise at sea level, the lungs saturate the arterial blood with oxygen more effectively than in those who exercise elsewhere. This means that if there is respiratory restriction due to exercise at high altitudes, an exacerbation of asthma, or another type of chronic obstructive pulmonary disorder, people who exercise actively may have better lung ventilation.
Walking, running, swimming and cycling are excellent activities to restore strength to the lungs. Before exercising, stretch and flex. Each training session should last between 20 and 30 minutes. Stop if you are short of breath or if you have palpitations
Step 3. Stop smoking
Smoking is known for the damage it does to health. And it hurts even more if your lungs have had to deal with pneumonia. The constriction of the terminal bronchioles of the lungs is an effect of nicotine. This leads to resistance to the flow of air in and out of the lungs. If you already have trouble breathing, you definitely don't want to force them even more.
- Nicotine also paralyzes the lung cilia, hair-like bumps found in the epithelial tissue that lines the airways. Eyelashes help eliminate unnecessary fluids and particles. Paralyzing them will not allow them to remove excess fluids from the airways caused by pneumonia.
- The irritation caused by smoking is another effect that causes an increase in the secretion of fluids in the respiratory tract.
Step 4. Take the antibiotics following the prescription to the letter
Even if you think you are fine, you shouldn't stop taking antibiotics unless your doctor tells you to. People who suddenly stop following a treatment or who take medications late run the risk of developing some resistance to the treatment. So, if you don't follow your doctor's instructions, antibiotics may not be as effective.
Step 5. Get enough vitamins and minerals
Good nutrition helps you fight the disease. A balanced diet can give you the vitamins and minerals you need. For greater completeness, taking a multivitamin supplement or vitamin C tablet once a day could help the immune system.
- Adequate amounts of vitamins (such as A, B, C and E), folic acid and minerals (such as iron, zinc, selenium and copper) are needed. These minerals and vitamins are antioxidants and help the immune system fight diseases, especially infectious ones like pneumonia.
- Zinc sulfate is useful for re-epithelialization, that is, for the repair of the lining of the respiratory tract.
- Vitamin D and beta-carotene supplements can also help the immune system.
Method 3 of 3: Preventing a Relapse
Step 1. Do not drink alcohol while healing
This substance may cause a decrease in the sneeze and cough reflexes, which are needed to clear mucus from the lungs. It may also interfere with antibiotics or other medications, such as those taken during a bout of pneumonia.
Step 2. Get vaccinated when needed
There are several vaccines to prevent pneumonia. Those against pneumococcus and the flu virus are some examples. Some vaccines are routinely given to children. However, in some cases, they are also recommended for adults.
- There are two types of flu vaccines. One of them contains a flu virus that has been killed. It is given as an intramuscular injection from six months of age, including healthy people and those with chronic medical conditions.
- The other vaccine is available in the form of a nasal spray and contains live but weakened viruses. As viruses are weaker, they will not have the ability to cause disease, while the body will be able to develop defenses against them. Its use is approved for healthy people (excluding pregnant women) between 2 and 49 years.
Step 3. Cover your mouth when you cough or when someone else does
This action helps you avoid spreading germs and make you less likely to get pneumonia again. It is also important to wash your hands whenever you come into contact with a coughing or sneezing person.
How to cover the mouth and nose? With a paper handkerchief, with a sleeve or wearing a mask
Step 4. Wash your hands regularly
Our hands can carry and spread pathogens (microorganisms that cause the appearance of pathologies). This is because we use them to cover our mouths when we cough, to turn doorknobs, to rub our eyes and to pick up our children. Without thorough washing, pathogens multiply on the hands and spread over everything we touch. The United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) have prescribed the following technique:
- Wash your hands with clean running water.
- Apply the soap. Let the lather cleanse the back, the areas between the fingers and those under the nails by rubbing your hands together.
- Rub your hands for at least 20 seconds.
- Rinse them well under clean running water.
- Dry them.
Step 5. Clean the things you touch regularly and for a long time
As stated in the previous step, the hands are capable of spreading pathogens. Cleaning the objects usually touched will therefore prevent the spread of diseases.
Things you should clean include doorknobs, light switches, and remotes
Advice
- Rest often. When recovering from pneumonia, it is important to give your body plenty of rest so that it can repair itself.
- The lungs are best able to expand when you are upright or leaning forward, with pillows resting on your lap.
- Breathing exercises should all be done throughout the day, giving more emphasis in the morning. The lungs are saturated due to respiratory secretions accumulated during the night. Consequently, it is very important to perform these exercises upon awakening.
