Benefits of Breathing Exercises for Increased Lung Capacity
Like most parts of your body, your lungs have reached full development around the age of 25. At peak capacity, your lungs can hold an average of six liters (though that varies slightly from person to person). Once the lungs are fully developed, they are relatively stable in their functioning for the following decade before beginning to gradually decline thereafter.
That being said, by the age of 65, it is likely an individual will have lost roughly one full liter of their total lung capacity as compared to when they were younger. However, there are multiple wellness practices to prevent this excessive loss in lung capacity, as well as specified breathing exercises designed to help increase the longevity of overall lung function. Though there is no way to prevent declining lung function (like most other parts of the body) indefinitely, these methods provide opportunity to alleviate some of the breathing difficulties brought on by age — not to mention the breathing difficulties brought on by certain lifestyle choices (like smoking) or working jobs that are known to negatively impact total lung capacity.
What is Total Lung Capacity?
Total Lung Capacity (TLC) is the entire gas volume of the maximally spontaneously inflated pulmonary parenchyma and airways in the thorax. Put simply; it refers to the volume of air inside the lungs when an individual exerts their maximum effort of inspiration.
To measure TLC, doctors will calculate a value determined from the total amount of exhaled air from a person’s lungs. To do this, there are a number of methods beyond superficial observations of breathing patterns of body plethysmography like nitrogen washout and helium dilution. Though the volumetric measurements will of course change based on age, body composition, respiratory conditions, and other factors, they establish a good baseline for overall lung strength and help assess lung function.
How Do Breathing Exercises Impact Lung Capacity?
Breathing exercises function in a very similar fashion to regular exercise, in that they can “increase the strength and function of your muscles, making them more efficient.” As you exercise more and gain endurance, “your muscles will require less oxygen to move, and they will produce less carbon dioxide. This will immediately reduce the amount of air you will need to breathe in and out for a given exercise.” With that in mind, the “breathlessness” of exercise is the focus of breathing exercises, and the muscles it strengthens are those involved specifically in breathing like the lungs, diaphragm and thorax.
Because “lungs at rest and during most daily activities are only at 50 percent of their capacity,” it is important to challenge them. You should exercise them as you would any other muscle in order “to help counteract the build-up of toxins and tar (in the lungs) caused by environmental pollutants, allergens, dust and cigarette smoke. You need to help your lungs cleanse themselves.” Breathing exercises or conscious breathing practices are meant to strengthen the muscles that naturally weaken with time in order to ease the oxygenation process and increase their capacity.
Which Breathing Exercises Offer Results?
The effectiveness of breathing exercises and practices used to increase lung capacity can vary by several degrees. It is important to note that breathing exercises are not a cure for respiratory illnesses or a full-proof solution to natural lung capacity decline. But, used in conjunction with medicine, they have been shown to help respiratory patients, as well as provide a great method for maintaining general wellness.
Let’s take a moment to examine some of the most common breathing exercises used to increase lung capacity, promote wellness, and as an added treatment for those affected by respiratory illnesses:
Diaphragmatic Breathing
Also known as “belly breathing,” this breathing exercise is done by taking deep-enough breaths to engage the diaphragm. The diaphragm is typically ignored in everyday breathing, but it is the main muscle used to breath — when it tightens, the lungs expand. In diaphragmatic breathing, it is important to consciously expand the abdomen. This makes it easy to measure your TLC, as well as improve it.
Pursed-Lips Breathing
This method of breathing is best done after an exercise, as it is meant to slow your breathing down and limit the time spent ‘breathless,’ where the lungs' oxygenation process is limited. Additionally, the removal of stale or trapped air allows those deep diaphragmatic breaths to take place again.
Inspiratory and Respiratory Muscle Training (IMT/RMT)
These methods of breathing and muscle training are best done under the care of a professional, and they are often used to help COPD patients, asthmatic patients or even athletes. The idea of these training practices comes from the use of a device which intentionally causes the action of breathing to become more difficult, thus forcing them to strengthen the muscles to combat the targeted fatigue.
Other Methods to Benefit Total Lung Capacity
While those are three of the main breathing exercises attributable to increasing lung capacity, they are far from the only ones and further from the only methods available. Other breathing methods such as straw-breathing or rib-stretch breathing are also wonderfully efficient and can be implemented into daily wellness practices.
However, beyond breathing exercises to increase lung capacity, there are other practices designed to reduce the lungs’ decline, ranging from simply eating more fruit high in antioxidants to an increased breathing focus in daily exercise routines, to getting vaccinated (PCV13 and PPSV23) in order to avoid continued respiratory infection and prolong lung function.
Though lungs, like all muscles in the body, will naturally decline with age after fully developing, there are a number of methods designed to help prevent the decline of lung capacity and, in some cases, increase it. “An average man who lives to age 80 may take more than 672 million breaths during his lifetime.
However, the breaths in his 60s and 70s are different from those he took when he was younger.’12But they do not necessarily have to be.
While breathing exercises are not a cure to respiratory illness or declining lung function, we can encourage wellness by putting an emphasis on breathing exercises. The age-related loss of a full liter of lung capacity does not have to occur, and breathing does not have to become fundamentally different with age.
2 Ibid.
3 Ibid.
5 Delgado, Benjamin J. “Physiology, Lung Capacity.”, U.S. National Library of Medicine, 11 Aug. 2020.
9 Ibid.
11 Publishing, Harvard Health. “Breathing Life into Your Lungs.”
12 Ibid.