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Effective closings against covid-19 in Latin America 1:43
(CNN) - Covid-19 is a respiratory disease, which means that if a person is infected, the condition of their respiratory system is a determinant of how the disease will fare.
First, it is important to understand how the virus attacks our lungs. When people become infected, the virus travels to the mucous membranes and then to the lungs. To control infection, the body responds with inflammation in the lungs. And this inflammation prevents the lungs from being able to oxygenate the blood and remove carbon dioxide, leading the patient to breathe and suffer more serious illnesses.
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But there are things you can do to improve your respiratory health, just by changing a few lifestyle factors, according to Dr. Robert Eitches, an allergist and immunologist at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles. Improving your respiratory health does not prevent you from becoming infected, he said. But it has benefits that can reduce the severity of the disease if you are infected and therefore your exposure to the virus.
This is how you can strengthen your body's breathing capacity so that if you become infected with the coronavirus, the chances of serious illness may be less.
Stop smoking
Eitches said one of the most important steps to improve your respiratory health is to avoid anything that affects lung function, such as cigarette smoking and vaping.
Smoking and vaping cause irritation to the lung airways, leading to permanent adverse effects on lung function by destroying the lung tissue where air exchange occurs.
"The smoke is made up of small particles; when inhaled, the particles get stuck in the lungs, "said Eitches. "This begins a vicious cycle of permanent lung damage."
Both activities can also suppress the immune system, which is needed to help fight infection.
Dr. Ryan Steele, an allergist-immunologist and assistant professor at Yale School of Medicine, also warned about marijuana use.
"Although there is a lot of controversy about the drug's benefits, anything you inhale into the lungs that is a combustible product will certainly increase stress on the lungs and the level of inflammation," he said. "Even if it is for medical purposes, you have to be careful with everything you are turning on and inhaling into your lungs right now."
Two other potentially harmful behaviors are sitting by the fireplace or burning candles, Eitches said. This could be somewhat disappointing, as both activities are relaxing. But like smoking or vaping, a fireplace, especially a wood-burning fireplace, "emits smoke into the environment, which you would then inhale and then deposit on your chest," he said.
Many candles have metal wicks, which vaporize along with smoke and can cause similar lung damage.
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Exercise
Exercise can improve breathing capacity. The alveoli are small, balloon-shaped air sacs arranged in groups along the lungs. They are an integral part of the respiratory system, as they exchange oxygen and carbon dioxide to and from the bloodstream.
When a person is sedentary, Steele said, that results in a phenomenon called "atelectasis," when the lung sacs don't have enough air and slightly collapse. To improve the capacity of the lung sac, people have to "breathe against resistance," he added.
"You can think of it as a partially deflated balloon," he suggested. "And what is the way you keep the air inside a balloon? Tie a knot to increase resistance, so the air has to work harder to get out. "
By breathing against resistance while exercising, "you're actually helping to expand and keep the alveoli open" in your lungs, Steele said.
Strengthen your immune system by eating superfoods 2:29In addition to cardio, yoga, and stretching, breathing exercises, such as pursed lip breathing and deep yogic nasal breathing, can help and are easy to do wherever you are, Eitches suggested. Pursed-lip breathing is when you breathe deeply with your mouth, close your lips, and then exhale through them like you're inflating a balloon. Deep yogic nasal breathing offers similar benefits as it filters air through the nose.
Improving your lung function means "you would be less likely to reach a critically low lung function state, which in turn would make you unable to oxygenate your blood," Eitches said.
“Respirators essentially breathe for you to try to open the airways. These exercises will teach you how to fight the respiratory side effects [of the covid-19] on your own. ”
In addition, Steele said, exercise decreases inflammation in the body and can reduce the onset of acute respiratory distress syndrome, a serious complication in some hospitalized patients with covid-19.
This is how Peru does the covid-19 tests in the country 3:02Reduces excess mucus build-up
"Mucus occurs naturally in our bodies and provides a very important function in maintaining good health in our respiratory tract," said Steele. "It helps capture [allergens, bacteria, and viruses]."
In our respiratory tract, we have small hairs called cilia that remove these threats from our tract. Steele said we swallow most of the mucus, but when we have things that irritate our nasal passages, we can make too much mucus and we can't clean it up. This creates a breeding ground for bacteria and viruses, and prevents oxygen from entering and leaving the pathways of the lungs.
We also have mucus in our lungs. People with asthma make too much mucus, which can predispose them to blockages and inflammation in their airways, Steele said.
There may be a connection between diet and mucus buildup. "Some people believe that inflammatory foods like milk and wheat increase mucus production," said Eitches. "Another school of thought that I have seen that works both anecdotally with my patients and with myself is eating spicy foods."
Spicy foods that have capsaicin (chilies, jalapeños, cayenne, hot sauce) can thin the mucus and allow it to pass.
There are a few methods to control excess mucus: You can try a saline nasal spray if you have allergies. People with asthma can use their inhalers to decrease inflammation, which reduces mucus. Taking a hot shower or boiling hot water to make a hot towel compress may also work, as the steam mixes with the mucus to dilute it.
"[The mucus] is something where if you have very little, it is bad because we can get infections," Steele said. “If you have too much, it can block your ability to breathe and also increase infection. So you want the right amount. "
Minimize exposure to allergens
Spending more time indoors during the pandemic means that we are increasingly exposed to indoor dust. And since it's spring in the U.S. now, there's pollen everywhere there.
Both of these can trigger allergies and asthma, Eitches said, and we need a working nose for clean air to enter our chest's airways.
"When you are allergic, you have inflammation of the inner tissue of the nose and excess mucus production," he added. “When you can't breathe through your nose, you switch from nasal breathing to mouth breathing. The lungs want warm, clean, humidified air from the nose, the air they cannot get from the mouth. ”
Handling dust through cleaning and an air filter, and managing pollen allergies with medications, can help you avoid having to rub or blow your nose to open it: if your hands are not clean, you are at risk of becoming infected with the virus.
For dust, a high-efficiency particulate air filter (HEPA) would help remove most allergens from the air, Steele said. The air conditioning filters must also be cleaned. When pets come out, clean them before they enter the house to remove pollen.
If people practice these techniques, they may have a milder course of illness if they become infected with coronavirus, Eitches said.
"These suggestions have immediate benefit, but don't expect to see dramatic results overnight," he added. "Your body will subtly improve and you will be able to manage the coronavirus and other infections."
Taking steps to improve respiratory health is another tool to add to the prevention kit, as we face the pandemic and anticipate another possible wave in the fall.
"The stronger your baseline health, the stronger your body will be at fighting infection," said Eitches. "It is like having the proper ammunition to fight a war."
CNN's Brian Fung and Jen Christensen contributed to this report.
Respiratory diseases
