How To Keep Your Lungs Healthy With Exercise

Exercise – or any physical activity – will help to improve your quality of life. Even if you’re not very active doing something physical will help. And if you have a lung condition and are finding breathing difficult, the European Lung Foundation believe exercise will help. Exercise will also help to keep your lungs healthy. However you must always check with your doctor first before engaging in any form of exercise or physical activity.

How exercise affects your lungs

When doing any form of physical activity your muscles will have to work harder than normal. Because of this your body will require and use more oxygen and produce more carbon dioxide. In order to achieve this your heart and lungs work together. It’s your heart that pumps the oxygen to your working muscles. And it’s your lungs that bring oxygen into your body in the first place. Your lungs are also responsible for getting rid of the waste product, carbon dioxide, this is created as you produce energy. By exercising regularly you will keep your lungs healthy.

How exercise affects your breathing

Because your muscles are working harder during an activity, your breathing demand increases. You may experience this as feeling ‘out of breath’ and you may need to ‘catch your breath’. When you have healthy lungs you are usually able to cope with this extra demand. But if you have reduced lung function then this extra demand will leave you more ‘short of breath’. This is when breathing feels uncomfortable.

You can help your lungs cope with extra breathing demands

The more exercise you do, the more efficient your lungs will become. But if your breathing prevents you from exercising, then POWERbreathe IMT can help. If you have a breathing problem or reduced lung function then you must talk to your doctor before using POWERbreathe. Please also read our Precautions and Contraindications.

How POWERbreathe IMT can help

POWERbreathe IMT is an inspiratory muscle training device. This means it trains the muscles you use to breathe in; your inspiratory muscles. Your inspiratory muscles help your lungs breathe in as much air as possible. These muscles are mainly your diaphragm and the muscles between your ribs, your intercostal muscles.

How POWERbreathe IMT works

POWERbreathe IMT uses the principles of resistance training. Resistance training makes muscles stronger. POWERbreathe IMT provides you with a variable resistance that you breathe in against. This makes your breathing muscles work harder when breathing in. Because your breathing muscles are being subjected to this training stimulus they become stronger. And with stronger breathing muscles you will have more breathing stamina too.

Find out more about POWERbreathe IMT in our video below.

How POWERbreathe IMT helps you exercise more

Just like any form of exercise training, the more you do the stronger you become. POWERbreathe IMT will increase your breathing strength. It will improve your breathing stamina. And it will reduce your breathing fatigue. This means it will help you exercise for longer with less effort. With regular POWERbreathe IMT training your breathing muscles will be more efficient. Exercise will become easier. And the more you exercise the more you decrease the risk of developing major illnesses and lower your risk of early death. The more you exercise the more you improve your physical and psychological wellbeing, and quality of life. The European Lung Foundation (ELF) have put together a leaflet about Your Lungs And Exercise which contains more helpful information.

POWERbreathe EMT

POWERbreathe EX1 EMT, or ‘expiratory muscle training’, is a range of devices that strengthens your expiratory breath.

Expiratory Muscle Training (EMT) is another element of respiratory muscle training and is performed using the POWERbreathe EX1 EMT device. It is a hand-held, drug-free, expiratory muscle training (EMT) device, developed to improve your expiratory muscles’ strength, function, and endurance. 

If you wish to keep your lungs healthy, then exercising your expiratory muscles is also beneficial, because expiratory muscle fatigue impairs performance. This is because during periods of active breathing, such as extreme exercise, your expiratory muscles contract to force air out of your lungs.

Find out more about POWERbreathe IMT in our video below.

Shop all POWERbreathe IMT and EMT devices here:

Breathing Trainers – IMT and EMT

Shop now