Encouraging Health

Which is the more unfriendly place for your lungs — the smoking section inside a cafe or the one outside on the patio?

The answer may surprise you. Tests recently revealed that the air quality is often equally poor in both locations. So steer clear of that smoking section whenever you can. Now, which of these is worse for your lungs?

Cars or Bars?
Would your lungs be worse off if you spent a few hours in a car, windows cracked, with someone who’s smoking or if you whiled away an evening in a smoky bar? Again, the answer may seem counterintuitive. Seems the air in a car, after a few cigarettes, can be even worse than the air in a smoky bar — even with the windows open a bit. So now you know what to say the next time your pal wants to light up on a road trip.

Love Your Lungs
Try these other tips for battling bad air:

Eat some fish.

Put fish on the menu to help your heart and lungs battle pollution.
The fats in fish may help prevent the unhealthy irregular heartbeats that can be caused by breathing in particulate matter, the fine airborne particles from car emissions, industrial processes, and other sources. Dine on some chunk light tuna or salmon to help get your fill of heart-healthy fish fats.

Buy a spider plant for your bedroom.

Quite simply, because plants are nature’s air freshener — they continually improve a room’s air quality by increasing the oxygen and removing pollutants. Easy-to-grow spider plants, philodendrons, and golden pothos are the most effective, according to a NASA study. Talk about potluck!

Clean your air filter more often, and don’t overdo it with vitamins.

Air-filtering systems seem like they’d be the best things for your lungs since snorkels. Air filters are supposed to take allergens out of the air, but, unfortunately, many of them don’t work that well. The primary reason isn’t mechanical malfunction; it’s owner malfunction. People don’t change the filters often enough, so they’re not all that effective.

taking in more than 2,500 international units (IU) of vitamin A or the vitamin A equivalent in beta carotene — from supplements. When you add that amount to what you are likely already getting from food, the nutrient doesn’t serve its purpose as a disease-fighting antioxidant. In fact, it does the opposite and oxidizes tissue, which can cause DNA damage. One study from Finland found that people who took vitamin A had a higher risk of lung cancer, atherosclerosis, and, for smokers, stroke. So if you take vitamin A or beta carotene, choose one that contains under 1,500 to 2,500 IU a day, because you’ll get some in food.

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second hand smoke

second hand smoke