COPD Prevention: Easy Ways to Live a COPD Free Life

Understanding Why Prevention of COPD is Important

In 2019, COPD was the reason for 6% of deaths around our planet. Almost 80% of these deaths happened in third-world countries. This made it the third most lethal disease to human life. It is interesting to remember that this disease cannot be transmitted from one person to another and yet so many are diagnosed every year. Why is it so common?

There are several causes that impact lung structure and functions. Most of them are introduced to our system via our surroundings. Some are inherent to us via our genes and birth circumstances.

What causes COPD?

Smoking and All its Varieties

Smoking burns your lung tissues slowly. Your air passages get damaged and then your gas exchanging alveoli get damaged. This damage continues until and unless the smoking stops.

Smoking isn’t just dangerous for the smoker. Smoking also affects those in the immediate surroundings of the smoker. A smoker in your friend or family circle can easily damage lungs all around them. In patients with COPD, this habit can cause a quicker decline in lung function.

Air Pollution from Different Sources

This factor is both present inside and outside of the patient’s environment. When you go out, you are exposed to the dust and chemicals that come from vehicles. Factories contribute their own share to polluting air by releasing fumes. If we focus on the jobs of some, there is exposure to harmful materials like silica, asbestos etcetera.

Let’s focus on the environment inside one’s own residence. There are a lot of us who use toxic chemicals for getting rid of insects outside in our gardens and sometimes inside too. There are fumes from different cleaning substances we use regularly. We also like to renovate our homes and so a lot of us use paints and other construction materials inside our homes.

Low-income groups use alternative energy sources for their cooking, heating, and lighting. These alternative sources also release fumes and smoke into the environment. All these irritants affect the health of your lung.

Quality of Initial Air Exposure

What you breathe in from the very start of your life, affects your lungs. It is true that a child’s lungs are going through development in the early years. Overt exposure to polluted air to these developing lungs would damage the lungs.

Low-Birth Weight

The development of your lungs starts in the womb. This makes it important that the baby/fetus gets all the important nutrients through the mother. Prenatal care’s importance cannot be overestimated in this situation. Mothers need prenatal care and they need to take supplements that are given to them. A structurally affected lung can cause a lifelong breathing difficulty that can progress into several lung diseases.

Previous Lung Diseases

One should not forget the effects of the previous lung issues. Lung infections do not merely cause fever and seasonal flu. Lung infections have an insidious effect on the lung tissues. The lung tissue becomes weaker. The elasticity level declines. The lung cells are damaged, they get triggered and the reaction from our bodies damages the infecting organism as well as the lung tissues. Fluid also collects in these spaces.

Another function of this irritation is the reactionary production of mucus from the cells. The mucus affects the oxygen-absorbing capacity of the lungs. The function of ciliary cells is also affected by the infection and so the mucus can easily collect in the air passages.

Preventing COPD is Easy

Exercising Helps

There is proof in research that the more a person exercises, the better it is for their health. Exercising has a positive effect on all our body functions. If you get into the habit of exercising, your lung and heart will grow stronger. Our lungs become better at functioning in difficult oxygen-absorbing states and our muscles can still work properly at low oxygen levels.

It is important to remember that your exercise may influence others in your circle to exercise as well. So get up and get started!

Balanced Diet Leads to a Balanced Healthy Life

Infections cause the body to start using its mass for energy and to fight off the attacks. The low oxygen levels are dangerous to the muscle masses too. You need a good diet to ensure that your body remains in a good condition. Artificial foods increase the inflammatory reactions in the body. It is best if the diet contains more natural and raw materials- special emphasis on vegetables and fruits.

Smoking Kills

There are many reasons that one should stop smoking, cancer being the top reason. It is confusing that so many continue to endanger their lives and those of others because they cannot stop smoking.

There are a number of ways in which you can stop smoking if you’re stuck with this habit.

Medicines help with stopping this habit. Your physician will guide your treatment. Many drugs are available including bupropion, cytisine, and varenicline.
Behavioral therapies also help. Your friendly neighborhood psychologist can help you ditch the habit and improve your lifestyle so that you don’t feel the urge to smoke. Talking to a professional helps!
Nicotine patches and nicotine gums are a favorite amongst those who want to leave this habit. You can easily taper off smoking with the help of these.
Electronic cigarettes have been able to help some in ditching the cig. However, they should be scarcely used, otherwise you can grow attached to them.
There are many spots where you are simply not allowed to smoke. These places can help you stop smoking too.

Safe Environment Should Always Be a Priority

As mentioned before, our environments have detrimental effects on our lungs. The more exposed we are to the harmful fumes and chemicals, the more damaged our lungs become. The best thing to do would be to avoid these harmful places. It is better if all of us shift to less-polluting sources of heat and energy. We need better laws and policies to control the pollution in our environment that is caused by cars. There definitely needs to be a better check on the working environment of many. Why? Because even in the hospitals, there’s a need for proper passage of air let alone in the factories that are producing stuff made out of dangerous raw materials.

Vaccination and Antibiotics are Your Best friends

There are many bacteria, viruses, and fungi that would love to grow old and develop their communities in your lungs. Thankfully, our bodies stop them by attacking them but in doing so, our bodies also get damaged.

We will be forever grateful to those who developed vaccinations and antibiotics. You can save yourself against future grief against different strains of influenza virus, novel coronavirus, tuberculosis, pneumonia-causing bacteria, and many more. You need to visit your local doctor and get your vaccinations in order.

Health Education for All

If someone doesn’t know that they’re in danger, they won’t do anything to save themselves. Similarly, how can any of us hope to stop the spread of COPD in the population if no one knows that this is a dangerous situation?

Learn everything you can to avoid this disease. Help others avoid this disease as well.

So, find the time to share your knowledge about COPD. Even a more simple solution, share our blog with them. They’ll thank you for sure!

Conclusion

COPD is a preventable disease. This blog post focused on both the cause and prevention of COPD for the sake of understanding that COPD can be stopped. One should educate themselves to make informed daily choices because yes prevention requires your conscious effort. Staying healthy will only give you a better quality of life. The choice is yours.