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Lung function predicts lifespan
Lung function and lifespan
The sooner lung function is lost, the sooner the lungs shrink and breathing moves up into the chest, and the sooner death comes. A larger lung capacity works like a larger fuel tank: fewer breaths for more energy, which matters more with age.
Keeping capacity up
Even moderate exercise can raise lung capacity by 15%, almost 20%. Add nasal, deep, slow, low breathing to that, and it becomes much easier to keep the capacity. Healthier lungs also don't have to keep fighting off the pollutants and allergens that come in through the mouth.
What yogis practice
Yogis spend much of their practice, sitting or standing, breathing and stretching to maintain and expand lung capacity. Few people think about expanding it unless they are athletes, so there is a lot of room for improvement.
How did the Framingham study change medicine?
It began in 1948 in Framingham, Massachusetts, with about 5,000 residents whose health was tracked for decades. Its findings identified high blood pressure, high cholesterol, and smoking as risk factors for heart disease, and the phrase 'risk factor' came out of it. The study later enrolled the children and grandchildren of the original participants.
How does lung capacity change across a lifetime?
Lung function grows through childhood, peaks in the mid-twenties, and then declines slowly. The chest wall stiffens, the breathing muscles weaken, and lung tissue loses some of its elastic recoil with age. Spirometry tracks the decline by measuring how much air a person can forcefully exhale in one second and in total.
How could lung function predict death from other causes?
Framingham investigators reported in 1980 that vital capacity, the largest breath a person can exhale, predicted death from heart disease as well as lung disease. Reduced lung function is associated with inflammation and stiffer arteries. The finding describes a statistical association across thousands of people and does not show that low capacity causes the other conditions.
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