Getting Active & Your Respiratory Health

The Key Points:

Suggestions on how to get active:

Please talk to your GP before starting a new exercise regime.

  • Just moving a little every 30 to 60 minutes can have profound effects on your physical and mental health, reducing your risk of lung disease. Instead of being sat at your desk all day, after each meeting get up and do a few minutes’ walk.
  • You don’t have to run a 5k to get active or be active, just going for a 10-minute walk in the morning and evening is a good starting point.
  • Pick an activity that you enjoy and see if a friend or family member wants to get involved. Getting active with a friend or family member can help to get you motivated and stay motivated.
  • When first starting out, start off slowly and build the duration and intensity of exercise up over time. This helps to adapt your body over time and reduce the amount of muscle soreness the next day.
  • Aim for 30 minutes of physical activity 5 times a week, ensure not to have more than 2 days of rest between exercise sessions.

Getting Active & Your Respiratory Health: The Article

  • Your lungs are part of the respiratory system that has a very important function of getting oxygen into your body while removing waste gases. With every cell and function within your body needing oxygen to survive, we need to take care of our lungs.
  • During exercise, the heart and the lungs are two important organs that come into action immediately. Your breathing rate increases to meet the increased oxygen demand of the muscles while excess carbon dioxide which is a waste product created when you produce energy is needed to be removed.
  • To support this response there are three key groups of respiratory muscles involved in meeting this demand; the diaphragm, the rib cage muscles and the abdominal muscles. Therefore, physical activity will help strengthen these muscles around the lungs, which will improve your lung function.
  • Physical activity helps to clear out your lungs. Due to breathing more rapidly and deeply when performing exercise.