Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) can work its way into many aspects of your life, but the most troubling is your breathing. Whether you feel out of breath once a week or several times an hour, it’s a scary sensation that is best to be avoided altogether.

Even though there isn’t a cure for COPD, there are plenty of ways to ease the symptoms (and without breaking the bank). From good posture to getting enough sleep, read on to learn seven affordable ways to improve your breathing at home.

Stay Hydrated

If you’ve been told the importance of hydration your whole life, get ready to hear about it again (but this time, it’s even more critical). Lungs naturally produce mucus to keep the throat and nasal passages from drying out. This mucus also protects the sensitive tissue from irritants.

However, COPD patients may notice thicker, stickier mucus in their throats. This leads to coughing, hacking, and, yes, breathing problems. Proper hydration helps to thin this mucus to allow for easier breathing. The general rule for hydration is half your body weight, in ounces. In other words, if you weigh 200 pounds, drink 100 ounces each day.

That said, you should speak with your doctor if you have conditions like heart failure—an excess of fluid may be harmful to you. Your doctor will know the right amount of fluid you can safely drink, so listen to their recommendations first.

Use Good Posture

This tip is somewhat self-explanatory—people who slouch tend to inadvertently restrict the airflow through their body, making it more difficult to breathe properly. Keep your back straight and chest up to open your airways and allow oxygen to flow smoothly.

When sitting, put both your feet flat on the ground. While keeping your back straight, lean forward with your head and shoulders. Place your arms on your knees and stay relaxed.

If you’re standing, put your back against a flat surface, like a wall or counter. Spread your feet to about shoulder-width apart, keep your back straight, lean your head forward slightly, and put your hands on your thighs.

We recommend coupling these positions with one of the breathing exercises in the next section.

Practice Breathing Exercises

Your lungs function like any other muscle; the more you exercise them, the stronger they become. Try breathing exercises at least once a day to keep your lungs in good shape.

You may have heard of your diaphragm, the most important respiratory muscle. It sits under your lungs, but this exercise may feel like you’re breathing into your belly. Here’s what you do:

  • Relax your body (but especially your shoulders).
  • Lie down or sit back, whichever is more comfortable.
  • Put one of your hands on your stomach and the other on your chest.
  • Breathe in through your nose for three seconds. You should feel the air push your stomach outward, not your chest.
    • It may take a little while to breathe into your diaphragm, especially if you’re not used to this type of breathing. Keep at it and think about it as you fill your lungs from the bottom up.
  • Breathe out through your mouth for three seconds while pressing on your stomach.
  • Repeat this process for a few minutes.

 

Diaphragmatic breathing is often difficult for beginners, but it’s also the most effective breathing exercise. Try out pursed-lip breathing if you’re looking for something with a lower threshold. This exercise helps to slow your breathing, and slowed breathing lets your lungs off the hook. If you want to give pursed-lip breathing a try, here’s how you do it:

  • Breathe in slowly through your nose.
  • Pout your lips (like you’re cooling a hot drink).
  • Breathe out through your lips as slowly as possible. Your goal is to exhale for twice as long as you inhaled.
  • That’s it! Repeat the process until you feel your breathing naturally slowing down.

 

Keep Active

Exercise can feel counterintuitive—after all, it’s during exercise that you feel most out of breath. Exercise strengthens your heart, improves your circulation, and (most importantly) buffs up your respiratory muscles. We recommend starting small—try taking a 30-minute walk every day.

If you can get through that without shortness of breath, upgrade to a more intense (but still low impact) exercise such as cycling or swimming.

Prioritize Sleep

Sleep has a symbiotic relationship with breathing. You may not know it, but your breathing and heart rate both slow down significantly while you’re asleep, allowing all your organs a much-needed rest. Consistent sleepless nights don’t allow your lungs to rest, and they can also weaken your immune system.

These factors work together to exacerbate COPD symptoms, so do everything you can to get a good night’s sleep. If going to bed early doesn’t seem to do the trick, you could participate in a sleep study so experts can see what’s happening while you rest. People with sleep apnea may have trouble sleeping if it goes untreated, so talk to your doctor if you can’t get the rest you need.

Get Vaccinated

COPD patients are among the “high-risk” population for things like pneumonia, influenza, and COVID-19. The best protection against these dangerous viruses are up-to-date vaccinations. These shots help make it less likely to get infected, and they also make the viruses less effective if they are able to get past your body’s defenses.

Use an Oxygen Concentrator

Patients with severe COPD may need a little extra help to breathe freely. Luckily, technology is an amazing thing—oxygen concentrators give you purer O2 than what you breathe in normal air, allowing your lungs to take in all the nutrients they need. Talk with your doctor about oxygen therapy to see if it’s the right choice for you.

If your doctor agrees that you need some additional help, we recommend looking at refurbished home oxygen concentrators. These units are tested and completely functional but cost far less than their brand-new counterparts.

Now that you know these seven affordable ways to improve your breathing at home, try some (or ideally, all) of them out and enjoy a breath of fresh air!

7 Affordable Ways To Improve Your Breathing at Home