Essential Oils for Respiratory Health
The following home remedies and natural treatments can help people with COPD manage their symptoms and slow disease progression:
Eucalyptus oil is a well known essential oil for respiratory support. It helps to clear congestion, reduce mucus, and open airways. It is also wonderful for relieving fatigue. Eucalyptus Diffuser Blends are a great way to take advantage of all the benefits this oil offers.
Essential oils that may be beneficial for COPD are listed below.
Research has shown that it can decrease mucus and expand the bronchi and bronchioles of your lungs. It's also a natural anti-inflammatory agent ( 5 , 6 ). The main ingredient responsible for these properties is eucalyptol, also known as cineole, which is a compound found in eucalyptus oil ( 5 , 6 , 7).
There are three things you can do to clear your lungs:
Aerobic exercises include: walking, jogging, jumping rope, bicycling (stationary or outdoor), cross-country skiing, skating, rowing, and low-impact aerobics or water aerobics. Strengthening: Repeated muscle contractions (tightening) until the muscle becomes tired.
Pursed-lip breathing. This slows your breathing and helps hold your airways open longer so your lungs work better. With your mouth closed, breathe in slowly through your nose. Then breathe out through your mouth, with your lips pursed like you're whistling, for twice as long.
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How to Calm That Cough
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There's currently no cure for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), but treatment can help slow the progression of the condition and control the symptoms. Treatments include: stopping smoking – if you have COPD and you smoke, this is the most important thing you can do.
Besides seeking medical care, the following home remedies may be helpful in managing COPD and its symptoms.
You can try:
The inhalation of essential oil vapors is not generally dangerous, but very intensive inhalation for more than about 20 minutes may lead to respiratory distress and/or neurological symptoms, such as headache, nausea, burning of eyes and throat, cough, shortness of breath, or slowed breathing in young children.
How to Help a Cough at Night: Try These Tips
Elevate your head and neck. Sleeping flat on your back or on your side can cause mucus to accumulate in your throat, which can trigger a cough. To avoid this, stack a couple of pillows or use a wedge to lift your head and neck slightly. Avoid elevating your head too much, as this could lead to neck pain and discomfort.
Inhaling steam from a hot shower or boiling pot of water can open the airways and help loosen and clear mucus from the lungs. Breathing in steam may also provide temporary relief to chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) patients who experience labored breathing.
Lavender oil is known for its soothing scent and antibacterial properties. One study on mice found that lavender oil might suppress inflammation of mucous in the respiratory system, as well as help with bronchial asthma. This suggests that lavender oil might be a good treatment for COPD.
There is no evidence that essential oils can help asthma. In fact, breathing in the particles released by the oils may trigger an asthma attack. The strong odors emitted by essential oils contain volatile organic compounds (VOCs). VOCs affect indoor air quality, just like incense, air fresheners and scented candles.
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There's currently no cure for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), but treatment can help slow the progression of the condition and control the symptoms.
Quick-relief inhalers contain a fast-acting medication such as albuterol. These medications are sometimes called rescue inhalers. They're used as needed to quickly open your airways and make breathing easier. Knowing when to use these medications can help prevent an impending asthma attack.
Aerobic exercises include: walking, jogging, jumping rope, bicycling (stationary or outdoor), cross-country skiing, skating, rowing, and low-impact aerobics or water aerobics. Strengthening: Repeated muscle contractions (tightening) until the muscle becomes tired.
Tips for When You Don't Have an Inhaler
Toxicologist Ron Kirschner, MD, also warns of their danger. "Ingesting essential oils like camphor, eucalyptus oil, tea tree oil or pine oil has been associated with changes in mental states and seizures. Ingesting lavender oil can cause severe allergic reactions and pennyroyal oil can give you toxic liver damage."
But some oil diffusers use special cartridges or scents instead of essential oils. Using these types of diffusers can be bad for your lungs because the fragrances often contain harmful chemicals and perfumes. When choosing a fragrance for your diffuser, always make sure to check the ingredient list.
How to Calm That Cough
Elevate your head and neck. Sleeping flat on your back or on your side can cause mucus to accumulate in your throat, which can trigger a cough. To avoid this, stack a couple of pillows or use a wedge to lift your head and neck slightly. Avoid elevating your head too much, as this could lead to neck pain and discomfort.
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Essential Oils and Asthma
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Too much oxygen can be dangerous for patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) with (or at risk of) hypercapnia (partial pressure of carbon dioxide in arterial blood greater than 45 mm Hg). Despite existing guidelines and known risk, patients with hypercapnia are often overoxygenated.
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Tips for When You Don't Have an Inhaler
Tips for When You Don't Have an Inhaler
Can people with COPD get better? Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease makes it increasingly difficult for a person to breathe. It is not currently possible to cure or reverse the condition completely, but a person can reduce its impact by making some treatment and lifestyle changes.
Tips for When You Don't Have an Inhaler
Quick-relief inhalers contain a fast-acting medication such as albuterol. These medications are sometimes called rescue inhalers. They're used as needed to quickly open your airways and make breathing easier. Knowing when to use these medications can help prevent an impending asthma attack.
There are three things you can do to clear your lungs:
How to break up chest congestion
How to break up chest congestion
Gravity The number one factor that makes your cough worse at night is simple: gravity. Mitchell Blass, MD, a physician with Georgia Infectious Diseases, says, “When we lie down, mucus automatically begins to pool.” The best way to counteract this gravitational pull is elevation.
Many fruits, berries, and citrus fruits contain flavonoids which are great for lung cleansing. These naturally-occurring compounds have an antioxidant effect on many organs in the body, including your lungs. Some great foods to eat that contain flavonoids are apples, blueberries, oranges, lemons, tomatoes, and cabbage.
Lungs are self-cleaning organs that will begin to heal themselves once they are no longer exposed to pollutants. The best way to ensure your lungs are healthy is by avoiding harmful toxins like cigarette smoke and air pollution, as well as getting regular exercise and eating well.
5 Ways to Breathe Easier with COPD