Congratulations on finally giving up a harmful habit!
I’m sure you’ve tried and failed quitting smoking in the past as it is a difficult vice to give up. I should know; I’ve tried everything in the past as well. Thankfully I’ve successfully given up smoking for around six months now. What’s the next step for us?
Well, it’s time to consolidate our gains by cleansing all the tar we have accumulated in our lungs during a gazillion smoking breaks we’ve had in the past—basically the black and ugly stuff now sticking to our lungs that make us more susceptible to lung and heart disease, cancers of various types among many complications. Stopping smoking is just the first step, you have a long way to go before your lungs go back to normal—around 10-15 years of completely no smoking, according to physicians.
But don’t fret. You can hurry up the process by providing your body with effective cleansing materials to cleanse your lungs of its dirty past, the way colons and stomachs and other parts of the body may be cleansed by food meant to detoxify. Here are some techniques you can employ to speed up the healing process:
Antioxidants. So you’ve started doing good stuff for your lungs—but you can’t stop there. Remember that all our body parts cannot work separately from one another and how you treat one part affects the rest. You can boost your lung’s cleansing capacity by eating a lot of antioxidants, or the stuff that counters aging, or inhibits free radicals that cause the body to degrade. In general fruits and vegetables boost your body’s healing factor, but centre on the following foods that are rich with antioxidants: berries, garlic, broccoli, tea, spinach, tomatoes and grapes.
Respiratory exercises. You can strengthen your heart by doing cardio exercises and you can help cleanse your kidneys by drinking more water. With your lungs, all you have to do is breathe more. And when I say more, it means breathing deeper than you usually do. Focus on your breathing for a moment and maximise what you inhale. You can also take various classes/hobbies where breathing is a central element of the activity and therefore teaches you a lot of techniques: yoga, skin diving, playing wind instruments like the tuba or clarinet and singing in a choir. You’ll be amazed at how people in these fields are able to maximize their breathing through various breathing techniques—and you learn a new thing as well!
Exercise. Cardiovascular activities work wonders in the strengthening of lungs and the clearing of air passages. Not only does blood circulation improve, but don’t forget that oxygen is one of the ingredients that blood distributes throughout the body. If your heart rate improves, your lung capacity does as well. By using more of your lungs you are able to push along the bad stuff that has accumulated in there. It would be best to seek professional help, especially if you’re coming from a sedentary lifestyle and had just emerged from a heavy smoking habit. Also, going for professional training will put focus on exercise forms—which includes forms on breathing—an essential part of exercise and what makes it more effective.
Excited to read up on more ways to purge the bad stuff on your lungs? Go on to Part Two for more tips!
Part 2
You can survive without food for a couple of days and you can do away with water for weeks; but you cannot last minutes, or seconds even without air. This is why for you, the ex-smoker, or someone who is aspiring to quit smoking, it is important to not just quit smoking, but to also help your body recover, cleanse and heal from the effects of a habit that has wrought destruction on your body, particularly on the very organs that allow you to inhale much taken for granted oxygen. Read along for more tips on how you can cleanse your body more effectively:
Do not smoke. You cannot put out a fire by spraying gasoline on it. If you want your lungs to go back to what it once was before you had begun smoking, you have to give up smoking. And you have to avoid second-hand smoke. If you’re not willing to take this step, then whatever cleansing techniques you will read from this article will be futile.
This is a not a typographical error. If you want cleaner lungs, just give up the habit. Apart from tar, there are a lot of carcinogenic chemicals in cigarettes that throw a wrench into the functioning of your lungs and cause respiratory diseases like emphysema and lung cancer. Take a look at your goals and what you want: if you feel smoking’s benefits outweighs the risks, then keep smoking (and stop reading this because it’s a waste of time for you, then). But if you want a cleaner, healthier, and thus more productive lifestyle, throw your lighter away.
Food that cleanse the lungs. It’s amazing how nature provides us with natural medicine that helps cleanse the lungs. If natural stuff like tobacco can harms the lungs, nature counters with stuff that heals it. Pistachios, plantain leaves, cayenne pepper are just some of these foods.
Think you’re safe indoors? Think again. When you’re indoors, there is less air circulation which means less ways for toxic chemicals harmful to the lungs to get out. Make sure your cleansers and sprays are water based and organic, and when purchasing, take not of the warning labels on these things. Paint, carpets and other materials used to build houses are also pollutants. Invest in air purification systems and research ways you can improve airflow in your house; opening two opposite windows allows for a draft, and placing an electric fan on one of these windows greatly improves it.
Castor oil packs. This classic health tonic helps improve the body’s breathing capacity and it’s ability to get rid of waste. Packs work like vapour rubs—apply it on your chest and get it to work wonders for your lungs and your body. It’s inexpensive and easy, so go for it!
Go herbal. Nature knows best how to cure you: oregano, orange peel, elecampane, eucalyptus, peppermint, lungwort, osha root, chaparral, and lobelia are just some of the stuff that’s been around for centuries as cures for respiratory ailments.
Cleanse Your Lungs: Tips for the Ex-Smoker
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