So just how healthy are your lungs? And can you do anything to improve the state they are in?
Studies like the one described above use expensive equipment to measure lung health, but there is a simple way to test your lungs at home. All you need is a large plastic bottle, a bucket or bathtub and a length of rubber tubing. And then do the following (you might want to do it in a sink or outside as it can get a bit messy):
1. First, measure out 200ml (7fl oz) of water into a measuring jug, transfer to the plastic bottle and use a pen to mark the water level.
2. Add another 200ml of water, mark the new water level and repeat the process until the bottle is full.
3. Fill the bucket or bathtub with water and dip the now full bottle into it, turning the bottle upside down under the water.
4. Keeping the bottle in this position, place the rubber tubing inside the bottle neck. It doesn’t have to fit tightly.
5. Take a deep breath and blow into the tube.
6. Count how many lines of water you can blow out of the bottle.
7. Multiply the number of lines by 200ml. (eg three lines is 600ml). This number is your vital lung capacity, also referred to as forced vital capacity or FVC.
Video showing how to model lung capacity with a bottle, water and a tube.
“The test looks at the volume of air you can breathe out, which has been termed vital [lung] capacity,” says John Dickinson, who heads the exercise respiratory clinic at the University of Kent. “This term was first used by English surgeon John Hutchinson in the 1840s. He started to notice that those who could only breath small volumes of air had less time to live.”