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How to Detox Your Lungs after Vaping or Smoking Weed
Vaping and smoking weed can have adverse effects on your lungs, but there are ways to detox them and reduce any negative impact on lung capacity.
Table of Contents
Difference between Smoking and Vaping Cannabis
Vaping is a relatively new method of using cannabis as opposed to smoking. It involves inhaling vapor from heated THC-infused e-liquid through a cannabis vaporizer. Vapor can also be obtained from heating dried plant material.
Smoking includes grinding the dry herb and burning it while inhaling the product from the mouth. Smoking the dry herb works faster to create euphoric and intense effects. The extreme temperature releases the cannabinoids needed for a sedative effect. This is why it is more effective.
Is Smoking Marijuana Bad for Your Lungs?
Smoking marijuana deposits tar in the lungs because of the inhalation techniques. When people do this, they usually hold the smoke in their lungs for a longer period as compared to smoking tobacco. The continued exposure enables smoke molecules to settle in the lungs. In the long term, it could create issues for the lungs.
When you burn something to smoke, it could create an inflammatory response in the lungs and airways. This could lead to wheezing, coughing and chest tightness in the future.
Is Vaporizer Bad for Your Lungs?
There is still little research on vaporization of marijuana, but initial studies confirm that it has better effect on lung health compared to smoking, because vaping significantly reduces the level of carcinogenic toxins inhaled. This means that it looks like much safer alternative to smoking based on early research.
Ways to Detox Your Lungs
There are a few ways to detox your lungs from smoke. The are as follows:
1. Steam therapy
This procedure implies inhaling water vapor in a bid to open the airways. It also helps drain the lungs of mucus. Steam also adds moisture and warmth to the air and improves breathing as it loosens the mucus in the lungs and airways. This therapy can provide instant relief and ease your breathing.
2. Controlled coughing
Coughing helps your body to expel toxins trapped in mucus. When you try controlled coughing exercises, you could loosen the excess mucus and send it through the airways. Some people use this exercise to clear their lungs if they have problems with mucus gathering in the lungs.
You can do postural drainage by lying in more than one position to use gravity to get rid of the mucus in the lungs. The practice can help improve breathing and even prevent or treat lung infections.
3. Exercise
Regular exercise can enhance both mental and physical health of humans. It also reduces the risk of several health conditions like heart disease and stroke.
How do they help detox the lungs? Exercise forces your muscles to work a lot harder and this increases your breathing rate. It results in more supply of oxygen to your body and this improves blood circulation. It makes the body more efficient in getting rid of excess carbon dioxide.
4. Green tea
Green tea has been used for many soothing treatments because it has antioxidants that help reduce lung inflammation. These compounds also protect the lung tissue from negative effects of smoke inhalation.
5. Chest percussion
Percussion can help remove excess mucus from the airways and lungs. However, you cannot do it alone. You will need help of a healthcare professional. The therapist uses a cupped hand to tap the chest walls rhythmically to remove trapped mucus in the airways and lungs.
A combination of postural drainage and chest percussion can clear the excess mucus on the airways.
How Long Does It Take to Heal after Quitting Weed?
Structural damage caused by smoking to the lungs cannot be undone. However, your lung function can significantly improve when you stop smoking weed.
The lungs are self cleaning and this means that they can start to heal themselves immediately after you stop smoking. The level of healing depends on your health, the existing lung damage and how long you have smoked for.
You will feel better within a month after you quit smoking weed. After a year, your lungs will be the same as those of nonsmokers. Lung detox can help you do this even faster.
