You’ve heard that exercise can trim your waistline, strengthen your heart and boost your mood, but did you know that exercising the muscles you breathe with can help keep your lungs healthy?
Once you register the app and take a lung test, Lung Trainer sets up a 28-day program based on your current lung capacity. It offers training for respiratory strength, vital lung capacity and anaerobic threshold.
1. Strengthens the diaphragm
The lungs are like bags that fill with air, and the muscles that fill them up (the diaphragm) can be strengthened through breathing exercises. Diaphragmatic breathing can also lower stress, improve sleep and reduce anxiety, which can be common among COPD patients.
Lie down on a flat surface with your knees bent and your shoulders, head and neck relaxed. Place one hand on your upper chest and the other on your belly, just below your rib cage. When you breathe in, your stomach should rise; if it does not, you may not be using your diaphragm properly.
You can use the Lung Trainer to practice diaphragmatic breathing, and the device will help you to expand your lungs through resistance training. The device also has a mouthpiece that you can use to control the level of resistance and set goals for your lung expansion. It’s also available in a portable version that can be used anywhere, making it more convenient for those living with COPD who need breathing exercise therapy.
2. Increases lung capacity
Lung training is not only beneficial for athletes, but also for anyone who wants to increase their lung capacity, whether it’s a beginner runner who wants to run faster, or someone with COPD, asthma or autoimmune diseases like Asthma, who is struggling with breathing. This breathing exercise trainer will help you improve your breathing and make it stronger, allowing you to use oxygen more efficiently and maximize every breath.
Breathing exercises are also effective at increasing VO2 max, which is the maximum amount of oxygen that your body can take in and out in one minute. Performance coach Chelsea Chicantek from fitness app Future tells Live Science that if you want to increase your VO2 max, try interval training, which will help strengthen your respiratory muscles and improve your lung capacity.
You can also try a simple breathing technique called the 4-7-8 breathing pattern. This involves breathing in for four seconds, holding your breath for seven seconds, and then slowly exhaling for eight seconds.
3. Reduces stress
Stress is a natural reaction to life events and situations but if it becomes chronic you could have long-lasting effects on your health. Medline defines it as, “a feeling of emotional or physical tension resulting from adverse conditions or thought.” If you’re looking to reduce your stress level and improve sleep, breathing exercises may be the answer.
Using a device like Lung Trainer will force you to slow down your breath, which stimulates the parasympathetic nervous system. When you breathe faster your heart rate increases, while when you slow your breathing down, the brain sends a signal to calm down and relax.
Try breathing in for two counts, and exhaling out for three or four counts to help with relaxation. This is a simple exercise to do in the comfort of your own home, and you can even practice it before bed to get a better night’s rest. Keep practicing to see the results in your lung function!
4. Improves sleep
Breathing exercises are the best remedy to prevent and treat sleep disorders such as snoring and sleep apnea. Inspiratory muscle training, which involves breathing against resistance (imagine sucking hard through a straw that sucks back), has been proven to improve sleep by strengthening the inspiratory muscles.
The training also helps to prevent sleep-disordered breathing episodes (stopped breathing followed by gasping) and increases the amount of time spent in consolidated sleep. Studies on the effectiveness of breath training have shown improvements in various sleep, respiratory and cardiovascular parameters as well as in overall health and quality of life.
Breathing exercises, like any other muscle, can be strengthened with regular practice. Daily sessions of inspiratory muscle training that last about 30 minutes per day can help to reduce blood pressure, increase lung capacity and decrease the risk of snoring and sleep apnea.
