When Mr. Lucy, 42, was told that her lungs were 70 years old, she was bewildered and then asked a series of soul-crushing questions, “Do lungs have an age?” “Aging before aging?” “How do I measure the age of my lungs?” “Why are my lungs already in old age ……”
I believe that many people have the same doubts about “lung age”, and I came to unravel its mystery.
What is lung age?
Lung age is the age of the lungs, which refers to the level of the physiological function of the lungs quantified by age. The concept of lung age was introduced as early as 1985 when it was used to assess the effects of smoking on lung function and to reflect whether the lungs were “prematurely failing”.
The lung age of a healthy person is roughly the same as the actual age, but if the lung age is greater than the actual age, it indicates that lung function is declining and the individual’s lungs are “prematurely failing” before they are old.
What causes lung “premature aging”?
Studies have found that lung age is associated with obesity, breathing difficulties, smoking, history of COPD, bronchial asthma, age, and height. Factors that accelerate lung aging and affect lung health usually include smoking, environmental pollution, oil smoke, lung disease, and poor lifestyle.
How to measure lung age?
Lung age is mainly estimated by the level of spirometry indicators such as the first-second expiratory force volume (FEV1), which can usually be estimated using the formula for the expected value of FEV1, substituting the actual measurement of the indicator value and height into the formula.
Of course, other indicators of spirometry such as forceful spirometry (FVC) also correlate with lung age, and to measure lung age, spirometry can be done and evaluated by a professional.
It is important to note that.
The difference between lung age and actual age is usually no more than 10 years, but if the lung age is more than 10 years older than the actual age, further examination is needed to determine the cause of “premature aging”.
How can I keep my lungs from “aging”?
If you want your lungs to stay “young” or not continue to deteriorate after “premature aging”, you need to prevent “evil qi” externally and nurture “right qi” internally. The lungs are delicate organs, prone to being “damaged” by “evil energy”.
The lungs are delicate organs and are easily attacked by “external evil”.
The “external evil” includes smoke, oil smoke, dust, air pollution, and pathogens such as bacteria, fungi, and viruses. To prevent the invasion of “external evil”, the most important point is to stay away from them, you can take measures to quit smoking, open windows, wear masks, and wash hands regularly. For older people with chronic respiratory diseases and other underlying diseases, influenza vaccination and pneumonia vaccination are available.
“When the body has sufficient positive energy and is strong, it can also resist external evil attacks. So whether or not “premature aging”, we need to develop good habits and strengthen physical exercise.
For breathing exercises, you can do abdominal breathing, and lip reduction breathing to strengthen the respiratory muscle exercise; middle-aged and the elderly people can do breathing exercises, eight-dan jin, taijiquan, and other relatively gentle exercises to achieve the purpose of whole body exercise.
It is advocated that people aged 40 and above or those at high risk of disease should have annual pulmonary function tests. Therefore, for lung age testing, it is also recommended that it be performed once a year to keep abreast of the level of the physiological function of the lungs and prevent problems before they occur.