Introduction: Understanding the lungs
The lungs are the center of the body’s respiratory system.
The cells of the human body need oxygen to stay healthy and alive. Your body also needs to rid itself of toxic carbon dioxide. Carbon dioxide is a waste product made by the body’s cells as they perform their normal daily functions. The human lungs are designed to exchange oxygen and carbon dioxide every time you respire (i.e., breathe in and out).
Let’s look at this complex system in detail.
Anatomy of the lungs
The lung is a spongy, pinkish organ that has the appearance of two upside-down cones. There are two lungs in the human body, and they are located in your chest. The right lung consists of three lobes, while the left has just two lobes to make room for your heart.
Photo by Fabian Møller on Unsplash
Bronchial tree
The lungs originate at the bottom of your windpipe (trachea). Your windpipe is a tube that serves as a passage for the inflow and outflow of air. Each lung has a bronchus that links to the trachea. The bronchi and trachea airways form an inverted “Y” in your chest, often referred to as the bronchial tree.
The bronchi sub-divides into smaller bronchi and bronchioles. These tiny tubes stretch like tree branches into every part of the lung. Bronchioles are tiny. Some are even as tiny as the thickness of a hair. There are about 30,000 bronchioles in each lung.
Each bronchiole tube terminates with a cluster of alveoli (the singular form is alveolus). Alveoli look like tiny balloons or grape bunches. There are over 600 million alveoli in a mature human lung. The shape of the alveoli gives your lungs a large amount of surface area — equal to the size of a tennis court. So, there will be plenty of room to allow for the passage of vital oxygen.
Photo By Surasak
Lung infection, asthma, and COPD
Lung infection
A lung infection may be caused by a bacterium, a virus, or a fungus.
Pneumonia is one of the most typical types of lung infections. Pneumonia affects the tiny air sacs of the lungs. A contagious bacterium causes most cases of pneumonia, but a virus may also contribute. Infections occur when a person breathes in the virus or bacteria after an infected person coughs or sneezes within the environment.
Infection of the bronchial tubes is known as bronchitis. A virus, instead of bacteria, mainly cause bronchitis. However, a virus can also attack the air passages that open or may attack the lungs themselves.
Asthma
Asthma is a respiratory condition in which your airways narrow, swell, and produce more mucus. This can trigger coughing, make breathing harder, and cause breathing when you exhale.
Asthma may be a minor nuisance for some people. However, it can be a significant problem for others — interfering with daily activities and ultimately resulting in a life-threatening asthma attack.
It is unclear why some people have asthma and others don’t, but it is most likely due to genetic and environmental factors.
Photo By Axel Kock
Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease
Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is a group of progressive lung conditions. The most common COPDs are emphysema and chronic bronchitis. However, it is essential to note that many COPD patients have both conditions.
Over 30 million people in the United States have COPD.
The lungs and vitamin D
So, what’s the relationship between your lungs and vitamin D?
It would interest you to know that vitamin D is a potent remedy for many things, including inflammation in your lungs. Some studies, however, show mixed results regarding asthma and lung infections.
In general, vitamin D is antimicrobial; it helps modulate or regulate your immune system. It is also a potent anti-inflammatory. It also supports the smooth muscle of your lungs. So, vitamin D can help you breathe better.
The question here is, why would vitamin D work well in some people but not in others?
That brings us to an exciting piece of data known as polymorphism.
Polymorphism explained
More people are becoming aware of this condition concerning their vitamin D receptors. Polymorphism is the occurrence of two or more variant forms of a specific DNA sequence that can occur among different individuals or populations.
You can use a genetic test to determine if you have a problem with this (polymorphism), but to make it simple, your vitamin D receptors are not receiving vitamin D as they should, so even though you’re taking a substantial amount of vitamin D, you may not see the benefits because the receptor is insensitive to it. This explains why some people might experience benefits while others might not. And unless they do a genetic test to find out, they’ll be left with no other option than to up their vitamin D intake to almost 50,000 IUs daily to see the results.
In a particular study, researchers took 100 patients within a private Pakistan medical practice aged 18 to 50 diagnosed with bronchial asthma. The patients were randomly divided into two groups — a treatment group (50,000 IU vitamin D3 per day for 30 days) and a control group (placebo). Standard asthma medication was continued with both groups. FEV1 measurements were taken at baseline, one month, two months, and three months. The patients showed excellent results, but the point is that if you have a problem with your vitamin D receptor, the normal amounts of vitamin D will not be adequate.
Infrared light therapy
Infrared light therapy has been used for many things. For example, infrared light therapy can inhibit bronchoconstriction and help you breathe better. In addition, it has powerful anti-inflammatory properties and can even decrease fibrosis in COPD. It is also important to note that infrared can reduce pollution in the air.
UV light
Ultraviolet light can help sterilize or kill germs. UVs can also purify water or kill your water pipe’s microbes. UVs can therefore decrease airborne pathogens, which might overload the immune system.
Now the big question… what is the perfect remedy for your lungs?
Simple answer — THE SUN
The sun gives you UV light, UVB radiation that helps you increase vitamin D naturally, and it is not expensive. The sun is 100% free. The sun also gives you infrared therapy, so that’s naturally built into the sun, which directly affects the lungs, inflammation, and immune system.
The infrared from the sun also stimulates melatonin. Melatonin refers to the one in the mitochondria, not the pineal gland. Perhaps this is something new you may never have heard before, but melatonin plays another role other than helping you sleep at night. It has a powerful antioxidant function in all the cells in the body.
So, getting more sun can give you all of these benefits. It is also important to note that vitamin D helps decrease corticosteroid resistance. So, if you used steroids in the past and they don’t work, vitamin D can help fix this.
Photo by Rampal Singh on Unsplash
Takeaway
Toxins and pathogens can affect the lungs. In addition, chronic conditions, such as COPD, asthma, and cystic fibrosis, damage the lung. The sun is a perfect remedy for the lungs because it gives you UV light and UVB radiation that helps you increase vitamin D naturally.
Disclaimer: Dr. Berner does not diagnose, treat, or prevent any medical diseases or conditions; instead, he analyzes and corrects the structure of his patients with Foundational Correction to improve their overall quality of life. He works with their physicians, who regulate their medications. This blog post is not designed to provide medical advice, professional diagnosis, opinion, treatment, or services to you or any other individual. The information provided in this post or through linkages to other sites is not a substitute for medical or professional care. You should not use the information in place of a visit, consultation, or the advice of your physician or another healthcare provider. Foundation Chiropractic and Dr. Brett Berner are not liable or responsible for any advice, the course of treatment, diagnosis, or any other information, services, or product you obtain through this article or others.
