6 Signs that your lungs are in trouble

Chest pain, prolonged breathlessness and chronic cough are some of the common symptoms of lung damage.

But how can you know that your lungs are in danger?

While we consciously take care of most of the organs, we seldom do anything to care for our lungs. Isn’t it wrong to take for granted the organ that is responsible for supplying oxygen to the blood cells? Any infection or injury to the lungs not only affects our breathing but can also increase the risk of various respiratory tract diseases like asthma and tuberculosis. Dr Gyanendra Agrawal, Consultant, Respiratory & Critical Care Medicine, Jaypee Hospital, Noida, shares a few key signs that indicate your lungs are in danger and that you need to consult a respiratory specialist.

1. Prolonged breathlessness: Whether climbing stairs or performing day-to-day chores, if you feel breathless after physical exertion, it could be a cause of concern. Also, if you find it difficult to run or suffer from breathlessness most of the time, even when lying on a bed, then it is a sign of lung problem. Prolonged breathlessness can be a sign of many respiratory ailments, it can be due to bronchitis, asthma, COPD or cardiac ailments (in severe cases).

2. Excessive mucus production: We usually ignore a productive cough or a cough with sputum. However, if you suffer from productive cough for more than three months, then consult your doctor as it could be a sign of chronic bronchitis. If this is coupled with wheezing or shortness of breath, then it could be a sign of COPD (chronic obstructive pulmonary disease). Hence, if you have been coughing for long, consult your doctor immediately.

3. Blood in the sputum: Another key symptom that indicates lung disease is the presence of blood in the sputum. While changes in the colour of the sputum or mucus can reveal a lot about the health, right from bacterial infection to pneumonia, presence of blood can be a sign of tuberculosis. If you suffer from prolonged cough, low-grade fever and have found streaks of blood in the sputum, get tested for tuberculosis.

4. Chest pain: You are wrong if you thought that chest pain always signifies heart attack as there’s more to chest pain than a heart attack. If you experience a sharp shooting pain in the chest when you breathe, cough or sneeze, it can be due to a lung infection caused by bacteria or virus. In rare cases, it can signify a blood clot in the arteries of the lungs, blocking blood flow to the lungs, knows as pulmonary embolism. Find out the causes of chest pain and deal with it accordingly.

5. Wheezing: A whistling or rattling sound in the lungs or wheezing is undoubtedly a symptom of decreased lung function. It indicates that the lungs are finding it difficult to breathe due to narrowing of the airways or arterial block due to foreign particles. In most cases, wheezing is associated with inflammation due to asthma, bronchitis, pneumonia, allergic reaction or physical obstruction caused due to a tumour or a foreign particle.

6. Chronic cough: Last but the most important sign that the lungs are in danger is a chronic cough. While a cough is a common occurrence due to a viral infection or common cold, it should start to improve after two –three weeks. However, if it fails to do so and lasts for more than eight weeks, then it is a sign of concern. This is the time you should go to a respiratory specialist and get tested to diagnose the underlying cause of the condition. Some of the common causes of a chronic cough include bronchitis, asthma, pneumonia and tuberculosis.

You can soon depend on text messages to help you kick the butt

The next time your phone dings, you could be reading a text message that inspires you to stub that cigarette butt.

The next time your phone dings, you could be reading a text message that inspires you to stub that cigarette butt. The U.S. Food Drug and Administration plans to use graphical warning labels to help people stop smoking, but researchers from The Miriam Hospital’s Centers for Behavioral and Preventive Medicine suggest another strategy: Text messaging. 

The team found that smokers who received a text messaging intervention were more likely to abstain from smoking relative to controls. ‘Tobacco use is one of the leading preventable global health problems, and text messaging has the promise to reach a wider audience with minimal costs and fewer resources,’ said senior researcher Lori Scott-Sheldon.

Text messaging (short message service, SMS) interventions provide health education, reminders and support using short written messages. SMS interventions can be adapted to fit an individual’s health needs in his or her natural environment. The messages of support can be as simple as ‘You can do it!’ or ‘Be strong.’ 

Using meta-analysis, a statistical technique for combining the findings from independent studies, the researchers conducted the most extensive systematic review of the literature to date. This included 20 manuscripts with 22 text messaging interventions for smoking cessation from 10 countries. ‘The evidence provides unequivocal support for the efficacy of text messaging interventions to reduce smoking behavior, but more research is needed to understand for whom they work, under what conditions, and why,’ said Scott-Sheldon. 

The answer to lower smoking addiction: Low Nicotine Cigarettes

 

Do you find it nearly impossible to quit cigarettes? Well a new technique is soon coming in your hand that may help you get rid of such addiction. In a recent research it was found that cigarettes with low levels of nicotine may reduce addiction in smokers without increasing exposure to toxic chemicals. 

In this study, 72 adults were monitored who were made to switch between three types of cigarettes, each type with markedly reduced nicotine levels.

One of the researchers, David Hammond,  Faculty of Applied Health Sciences at University of Waterloo in Canada, said that ‘When the participants switched between conventional cigarette brands – which have similar nicotine content – there was no significant change in their puffing behaviour, number of cigarettes consumed or levels of toxic chemicals in their systems’. However, when these adults were introduced to consume the low-nicotine cigarettes, Quest 1, Quest 2 and Quest 3  which had a nicotine content of 8.9, 8.4 and 0.6 mg, respectively (as opposed to an average of 12 mg in a regular cigarette) they found that smokers were unable or unwilling to compensate due to a markedly less nicotine in the cigarette,” said David Hammond, from the Faculty of Applied Health Sciences at University of Waterloo in Canada. The study appeared in the journal Cancer Epidemiology.

Is quitting cigarettes getting very difficult?  Try some natural remedies that may help you out.

1. Cleanse the Body of Toxins

Cigarette smoke poisons the body with not just nicotine, tar and carbon monoxide but several other toxins whose numbers run into thousands. Products containing herbs such as Shatavari, Gotu Kola (Brahmi ), Ginseng and Ashwagandha and products such as Triphala and Sudarshana Choorna can also help detoxify tissues; it is best to use these under the supervision of a qualified Ayurvedic doctor.

2. Substitute Herbal Cigarettes for Nicotine-Containing Ones

Many Ayurvedic medical stores sell herbal cigarettes that are free from nicotine; these generally contain medicinal herbs such as turmeric, tulsi, cinnamon, gangal, mulethi, clove and guggul. Ayurveda prescribes the use of such medicinal smoking as an initial step to overcome the craving for nicotine.

3. Get Sufficient Exercise

It is well-known that exercise causes the release of mood-enhancing endorphins and this can help you deal with the feelings of melancholy that sometimes accompanies the effort to give up cigarettes. Set up a regular routine for exercise and stick to it.

4. Make Changes to Your Diet

Quite a few people who quit smoking experience a peculiar bitter taste; changing the food you consume can help you adapt better to this. A vegetarian diet that is low in fat is the best when you first attempt to quit smoking. Increase your consumption of alkaline foods such as vegetables, fruits, dry nuts, sprouts, lima beans and raisins; cut down on the acidic content of your food by reducing foods such as bread, coffee, tea, dairy products and meat. 

Here are some of the ways which may help you to withdraw such an addiction. These are: nicotine replacement therapy, use of electronic cigarettes and other medical aids help one to quit the habit of smoking.

Sitting is the new Smoking

If we estimate the exact time we spend sitting, it comes to around to about 10-12 hours per day. This includes driving, sitting at your workplace, relaxing at home and other such activities. Thought to be as bad for your health as smoking, the number of hours you spend sitting directly affects your health. So much so, that in her book Don’t Lose Out, Work Out, Rujuta Diwekar mentions that sitting predisposes you to a variety of diseases like diabetes, heart disease, high levels of cholesterol and an overall sluggish system.

Sit at your own risk!

Sitting for long hours can lead to certain disorders like chronic fatigue syndrome accompanied by anemia, insomnia, digestive problems, lethargy, etc. Apart from that, it may also give rise to inactivity stress syndrome –a condition where a person suffers from stress without doing any work. 

At the work place, a sedentary lifestyle is accompanied with bad dietary habits like eating junk food, irregular eating habits or eating on the run and drinking unhealthy beverages like tea, coffee or soft drinks. This completely upsets your normal metabolic function which may lead to conditions like acidity, constipation, ulcers and irritable bowel syndrome.

Can lead to spinal problems

The way you sit or your posture can be one of the causes for spinal problems or common pains along the neck, shoulders and lower back. Bad posture or sitting the wrong way can lead to muscle strain and eventually severe back problems. Apart from that, you could also suffer from muscle and bone loss as well.  This problem is no more unique to the elderly, experts have found that even in teenagers; continuous sitting can be a reason for muscle pain and bone loss.

Another major ill effect of sitting is obesity. Sitting is known to lead to accumulation of belly fat, thereby increasing the amount of bad cholesterol in your body. This in turn leads to diabetes and heart problems.

Tips to keep the ill-effects of sitting at bay:

• While watching TV, take a short walk during the commercial breaks. Alternatively you can choose to finish some work between your regular TV shows.  While at work, take short walks either around your office or outside. This will not only help you relax and refresh your mind but will keep you fit as well. 
• Make your food habits healthier. Avoid eating junk food and try some healthy snack options instead.
• Practice relaxing and stretching exercises like yoga, which can be done while sitting at home or even in the office.