World Lung Day: care for your lungs

With more people suffering from what has become known as long Covid and those who do contract the virus having difficulty breathing or ending up intubated, the theme of this year’s World Lung Day: “Care for your lungs”, commemorated on September 25, could not have been more fitting.

The Forum of International Respiratory Societies offered the following tips to take care of your lungs:

• Say no to tobacco

Tobacco causes eight million deaths every year and is the main cause of many lung diseases. Tobacco smoke contains more than 4 000 chemicals, many of which are toxic and can cause cancer. Stopping smoking is the best way to improve your lung health and overall health.

• Protect them through vaccination

Getting vaccinated can protect you from lots of different infectious diseases and help you keep your lungs healthy. Pneumococcal pneumonia, Covid-19, influenza and whooping cough are examples of respiratory infections that can be prevented by vaccination.

Vaccination can also help to protect other people. People can be protected if those close to them (like friends and family members) and enough people in their communities (including healthcare professionals) are vaccinated as it can help to stop infections from spreading.

• Breathe clean air

Air pollution has a negative impact on human health and exposure to it can affect 100% of the population, from unborn babies to the very elderly. The lungs are the first point of entry for air pollution into the body and are therefore the first affected organ.

• Regular exercise

When you exercise, your heart beats faster and your lungs work harder. Your body needs more oxygen to fuel your muscles. Your lungs step up their activity to deliver that oxygen while expelling additional carbon dioxide. In addition, your lungs expand during exercise compared to when not exercising, preventing compression of lower lung areas.

Lung transplantation

Successful Lung Transplantation is one of the more challenging areas in the field of transplantation; this is largely due to the complexity and length of the operation. The fact is that most of the surface area of the lung is separated from the environment by a mere layer of cells (a few microns thick).

The lung with its associated lymph nodes and specialised alveolar macrophage system is one of the body’s largest immune organs capable of eliciting a brisk and robust immune response to antigen challenge.

Lung transplant as a treatment option for certain diseases and conditions started in 2000 in Johannesburg private sector and Groote Schuur Hospital (Cape Town) is the only public hospital that offers lung transplants to state patients.

This World Lung Day, take a moment, take a deep breath and think about all the people that are not able to. Look after your lungs.