How to protect your lungs from poor air quality and extreme heat

Lisa Stanley, LPN and lung health coordinator with the Manitoba Lung Association, shares how wildfire smoke, poor air quality and extreme heat can affect lungs.

As Manitoba contends with wildfires, extreme heat, and air quality warnings, residents are being urged to take proper safety measures for their lungs.

According to the Manitoba Lung Association, air pollution makes it harder to breathe, irritates lungs and airways, and can worsen chronic lung conditions.

Though poor air quality impacts each person differently, children, older adults and those with diabetes, heart or lung disease are most at risk.

“We have wildfire smoke that is affecting people’s ability to breathe and then we also have the extreme heat that can affect that as well,” said Lisa Stanley, lung health coordinator with the Manitoba Lung Association, in an interview with Your Morning Winnipeg on Thursday.

To protect your lungs, Stanley recommends checking the air quality health index, which shows the current risk level associated with the air quality.

She also suggests limiting exposure through hydration and staying indoors when necessary. Stanley also said wearing an N95 mask can be helpful.

“If you are having any sort of restriction to your airway, you are going to notice it,” she said.

“If you have a lung condition that you have a rescue inhaler for, always keep that on hand…If you don’t have a lung condition, you’re going to want to watch for any signs of a scratchy throat or inflammation of that airway.”

A full list of Manitoba communities under air quality warnings is available online.

• With files from CTV’s Rachel Lagacé