Your lungs are very important to your body and to your overall health. They pump oxygen to your entire body, and when there is a breakdown in your lungs, your entire body suffers as a consequence.

Many doctors recommend exercise for increasing your lung's capacity. This is especially true of those people who are susceptible to asthma and bronchitis, two acute problems which the lungs can develop. They believe that building up your lungs will help to ward off the problems that you have with them. Much in the same way as changing your car's air filter, pumping up your lungs also encourages maximum air flow.

So what kind of exercise will help your lungs? Anything that gets you breathing hard and increasing the oxygen flow into your body will be beneficial to you. Walking, jogging, basketball, tennis, skiing, basketball, football, soccer, even swimming have been undertaken with success by those with chronic lung problems. In fact, there are some people that will swear that swimming "cured" the chronic bronchitis they would get year after year.

While there is no guarantee that you'll never have an asthma attack, or have to battle the horrible coughing and wheezing of bronchitis again, it is certainly worth putting the theory to the test and seeing how it works for you. The worst outcome might be that you lose 20 pounds and feel comfortable in your own skin, and not carrying around the equivalent of an automobile tire with you everywhere you go should definitely ease the strain on your joints, heart, and lungs.

Ask your doctor, or even your yoga practitioner, about breathing exercises to help expand your lungs abilities. Even something as simple as slowly and completely focusing on the breath is effective. In this type of yoga, you focus completely, and then inhale slowly to a count of six, and exhaling as well to the slow count of six, all the while focusing on nothing but your breathing. Yoga has been proven to be of significant benefit in many ways- it can help your lung's capacity, but also it can reduce stress and help you learn to focus more fully on your daily tasks.

Also check out home fitness equipment to help in your quest.