A person breathes in and out around 17,000 to 19,000 times a day. There are good reasons why we should optimise the working conditions of our lungs!

An important part of our immune system

• the lungs trap pollutants and pathogens,
• transports them to the mouth with the help of tiny hairs and
• lets them cough up there.

What an ingenious system. But what if this system gets sick?

Pneumonia, a dreaded complication

Pneumonia is a very common complication of prolonged hospitalisation and influenza and Covid-19 infections.

Measures before and during an illness

A concept of the right behaviour, training and lifestyle will help your lungs. To do this, you should

1. not deliberately weaken (through active and passive smoking, direct inhalation of harmful substances, etc.),
2. relieve (through measures that support the lungs in their work)
3. and strengthen (through targeted exercises).

Targeted measures promise at least the hope of a milder course of the disease.

As a non-medical practitioner, I am - for good reason - not allowed to give medical advice.

That's why I'd just like to pass on the - somewhat linguistically revised - tips of a carer who gives advice on how to avoid pneumonia. Partly from: mypfelgephilosophie.com

Do not deliberately weaken your lungs

• Avoid harmful environmental influences: Walking directly along a busy road is just as inadvisable as smoking cigarettes.
• Avoid oxygen deficiency: Regularly ventilate the rooms where you spend a lot of time. Open the window: fresh air is important. The old adage that you can catch pneumonia by catching a cold is complete rubbish. The lungs need fresh air. And no, even "draughts" won't make you ill. Every breath of air helps and prevents. Get the air into your lungs.
• Counteracts fatigue of the lungs: Sitting for too long can cause problems for our lungs. They become weak. If stress and time pressure are added to this, we literally run out of air. Unfortunately, we sit too much and for too long in everyday life, leaving our lungs little room to expand as we breathe. Get up again and again, stretch and stretch. If possible, take a few steps. Ideally, of course, you guessed it, in the fresh air.

If you do catch it, take the pressure off your lungs:

• Get up: Please do not lie in bed as you would with a cold. If your condition even remotely allows it, remain seated with your upper body upright, but at least 30 degrees.
• Raise your arms: Raise your arms several times a day to expand your lungs. Breathe in and out deeply. Try to cough.
• Drink enough: Secretions can only be coughed up if you have drunk enough. If your doctor has not prescribed a drinking regime, please drink enough fluids so that the lungs can produce secretions at all. If it cannot, the secretions will thicken and you will no longer be able to cough them up. Raise your cups! And with non-alcoholic drinks that you like.
• Do not take cough suppressants. Coughing is what protects you. Always get it out. Be happy about every cough. Please put the handkerchief in your closed personal bin bag.
• Eat well: The right diet helps your body and your lungs. Fresh fruit and green salads, light food in general, should be on the menu for three days. As an attentive blog reader, you may already be familiar with this diet >:)

Turn the lungs into a muscle powerhouse. But wait: the lungs themselves have no muscles of their own. They are dependent on the support of the muscle groups around them. The most important factor here is the diaphragm.

Even if you are ill, you can strengthen your lungs through exercise:

• Use puff tubes: If you still have an old "puff tube" somewhere, now is the best time for it. Every hour would not be an exaggeration. Please put it out of reach of others. There are germs from your exhaled air on the mouthpiece and on the device itself.
• Straws and balloons. If you don't have such a device, you can help yourself in another way: Blow through drinking straws. Or bring balloons with you and blow one up every hour. Please also store straws and balloons out of reach of others. Because they harbour germs. Blow up the same balloon every hour. This is very strenuous, but prevents atelectasis.

Extra tip: Prevention is better, of course. You can now start integrating simple exercises into your daily routine to increase your lung volume. One exercise that can easily be integrated into your working day is the following:

1. Sit upright on a stool or chair.
2. Place your hands on your stomach to feel the movement of your lungs.
3. Now breathe in slowly through your nose. The inhalation should take about five seconds.
4. Hold your breath for a moment before exhaling slowly through your mouth.
5. You can repeat the exercise up to eight times in a row.

Today's blog post is inspired by my Webinar: Strengthening the immune system. Defence. Strength. Resilience 

You get in the webinar:

• 90 minutes of input and the opportunity to ask questions
• a detailed script for download
• Unlimited access to the webinar recording

This is how it works:

• You order the webinar here in the shop and pay the course fee.
• You can find the recording in your customer account under "My webinars".