Author: One Liverpool Digital Flyers

How can eating a balanced diet help my lungs ?

A balanced diet is very important for everybody. The essential nutrients in healthy foods and fluids can help you to feel as fit as you can. This is especially important if you have an existing lung condition as it helps to prevent infections and keep your lungs as healthy as possible.

Eating a balanced diet as well as being active will also help you to maintain a healthy eight. This is really important for your lung health as being overweight can make your breathing more difficult, making it harder for you to be active

Ways to improve your diet:

• Try to replace snacks with fruit and add vegetables to meals where possible. Aim to eat 5 portions a day.
• Choose low fat dairy products, but be careful as these can be high in sugars
• Try to replace eating red meat with more lean meats, including skinless chicken, turkey and fish. You can also have red meat with fat trimmed off, which is healthier
• Choose wholegrain carbohydrates where possible including wholemeal bread, rice and pasta
• Try to lower your salt intake by not adding salt at the table and reducing the amount you add to food when cooking so that you have no more than one teaspoon of salt a day
• Try to drink water regularly throughout the day. Remember that many drinks have sugar in them even when it says ‘no added sugar’
• Try to avoid sugar and sugary foods.

You should also try and keep an eye on the amount of alcohol you drink.

Guidelines are now the same for men and women. Both are advised not to regularly drink more than 14 units of alcohol per week.

It’s important that you don’t save up your units and have these all in one drinking session. Its best to spread this evenly across the week and have regular drink free days.

How do I know if I’m a healthy weight?

To check your body weight you can use body mass index (BMI). Your BMI shows if you are a healthy weight for your height.

Liverpool services that can help:

Fit for me

Find out more about being active with a health condition and find a local provider who can help you find an activity that will benefit your health condition.

Healthwatch

Wellbeing Liverpool is a service designed to help you find activities, groups and organisations that can help you live the life you want to live.

Knowsley services that can help:

Healthy Knowsley

The Healthy Knowsley Service offers a range of advice, support and dedicated programmes to residents who want to improve their, and their families, health and wellbeing such as getting more active, healthy eating, losing weight or stopping smoking.

Healthwatch Knowsley

The staff at Healthwatch can help you to find out more about what information, services and activities are available to help you manage your health needs so that you are one step closer to better lung health.

How can being more active help my lungs?

Being active is one of the best things you can do to take care of your lungs. Even 10 minutes a day can make all the difference!

Not only does it make your lungs feel stronger and help deliver oxygen better throughout your body, it can also help reduce your risk of long-term lung conditions such as Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD).

Being active can help you control your weight also which can affect your lung function.

Increasing your activity levels can:

• give you more energy
• lower high blood pressure
• strengthen the muscles you use to breathe
• strengthen your heart and improve circulation
• reduce the risk of conditions like arthritis, diabetes, heart disease, stroke and cancer
• reduce your risk of falling by improving your strength and balance
• reduce stress levels and help to reduce anxiety and depression

Even if you feel unfit and often get breathless when being active now, it is all about finding what is right for you to begin with. Small amounts of activity such as taking the dog for a walk and gardening can still have a huge impact.

All you need to do is find the right level of physical activity for you to feel the positive effects throughout your life.

How active should I be?

For adults we recommend that you are physically active for 150 minutes (2 hours and 30 minutes) a week. You can break this down into:

150 minutes a week may seem too much if you are not used to being active. Just try your best to be as active as possible and slowly build this up at a steady pace.

How does becoming smokefree help my lungs?

You may think that if you already smoke tobacco cigarettes or other products such as shisha that there is no point in stopping smoking as the damage to your lungs is already done. However, the best thing you can do is stop now and you can still make a difference to your lung health.

You can slow down the damage that smoking causes to your lungs and ease your symptoms.

Useful tips you can try:

1. Think about why you smoke? Why do you want to give up? Write this down so you can remember why you are giving up
2. Remove anything that reminds you of smoking such as ashtrays and lighters
3. Call yourself a non-smoker, soon you will be!
4. Get the support of friends and family by telling them you’re dedicated to quitting
5. Keep track of how much money you’re saving and plan how you will spend it
6. Prepare for possible withdrawal symptoms and how you will cope
7. Remember cravings only last 2 to 3 minutes so distract yourself and it will be gone before you know it
8. Don’t let a slip up stop you. Just put it down to experience and start again
9. Challenge yourself to quit by a certain date and stick to it
10. Avoid other people smoking. This can be as bad as smoking yourself and will make it harder to quit.

Becoming smokefree is not easy, but there are lots of local services available to offer the right support that will help you to quit smoking, this time for good.

Even if you have not been successful before, it’s important that you saw the need to try.

Remember, each quit attempt is a step further towards becoming smokefree.

What support is right for you?

There are many support options available with different choices working better for different people.

Nicotine Replacement Therapy

Nicotine replacement therapy (also know as ‘NRT’), comes in all shapes and sizes and helps to reduce symptoms so you can give up smoking easily.

You can get patches, gum, nose and mouth sprays, all of which release nicotine into your bloodstream without you needing to smoke.

Other local support options include:

Smokefree Liverpool

A free, confidential Stop Smoking Service which is available to anyone wanting to quit smoking.

Smokefree

Online tools from the NHS including a FREE smokefree quit kit.

Halton Stop Smoking Service

A free, confidential Stop Smoking Service.

Knowsley Stop Smoking Service

Specialist support for Knowsley residents to quit smoking

What signs or symptoms should I look out for?

Recognising the signs of a lung condition early on can be helpful. It means you are more likely to be able to treat it earlier and in more serious cases such as lung cancer, increase chances of survival.

Common symptoms you can look out for:

If you are worried about any of the symptoms above, see your GP as soon as possible.

If you're worried about yourself or someone else

There are many support services that can help you and your loved ones.

Common mental health problems

There are many different types of mental health problems and symptoms and the following information is a guide to help understand what the problem might be.

If you feel mentally unwell you should seek the advice of your GP. If you feel you need help right now contact your GP or go to your local A&E department. Read more detailed information here.

More support

If you need help or if you are worried about someone else you can find immediate assistance via the following support services:

Samaritans

A national registered charity with local branches, available around the clock to help anyone.

Zero Suicide Alliance

A collaborative who are all committed to suicide prevention in the UK and beyond.

CALM

A registered charity, which exists to prevent male suicide in the UK.

Papyrus

As a national charity, they work towards building a society which speaks openly about suicide and has the resources to help young people who may have suicidal thoughts.

Content provided by Mersey Care NHS Foundation Trust.

Mersey Care is one of the largest trusts providing physical health and mental health services in the North West.

Published on Fri, 18 Jun 2021 09:40:19 GMT
Modified on Fri, 24 Dec 2021 14:49:47 GMT

Further support

These organisations provide non-urgent mental health and wellbeing support.

You can contact the organisations below if you’re looking for non-urgent help. Click or tap on each image to go to the organisation’s website and find out more about what they do and how you can access help.

Talk Liverpool

This is a free NHS service offering psychological therapies to adults who are feeling depressed, anxious, living with a long term health condition that is affecting their mental health or PTSD. 

Live Well Directory

Live Well is a directory of care and support services, activities and information covering Knowsley and Liverpool.

Shout

You can text us any time, day or night.

Every Mind Matters

We have expert advice and practical tips to help you look after your mental health and wellbeing.

Type 1 diabetes

Type 1 diabetes causes the level of glucose (sugar) in your blood to become too high.

Type 1 diabetes causes the level of glucose (sugar) in your blood to become too high. It happens when your body cannot produce enough of a hormone called insulin, which controls blood glucose. You need daily injections of insulin to keep your blood glucose levels under control. Managing type 1 diabetes can take time to get used to, but you can still do all the things you enjoy. 

Type 1 diabetes is not linked with age or being overweight – this is type 2 diabetes.

Symptoms

See your GP if you have symptoms of type 1 diabetes:

• feeling very thirsty
• peeing more than usual, particularly at night
• feeling very tired
• losing weight without trying
• thrush that keeps coming back
• blurred vision
• cuts and grazes that are not healing

Type 1 diabetes symptoms can come on quickly, particularly in children.

Getting tested for type 1 diabetes

Your GP will do a urine test and might check your blood glucose (sugar) level.

If they think you might have diabetes, they may advise you to go to hospital for an assessment with the diabetes team or they may arrange for the blood tests to be done in the community setting.

This page has been amended by the Diabetes Team from Liverpool University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust.

Content provided by NHS.uk

Find information and advice on health conditions, symptoms, healthy living, medicines and how to get help.

Published on Mon, 12 Jul 2021 10:49:44 GMT
Modified on Mon, 13 Jun 2022 10:34:34 GMT

Type 2 diabetes

Type 2 diabetes is a common condition that causes the level of glucose (sugar) in the blood to become too high.

Type 2 diabetes is a common condition that causes the level of glucose (sugar) in the blood to become too high.

• It can cause symptoms like excessive thirst, needing to pee a lot and tiredness. It can also increase your risk of getting serious problems with your eyes, heart and nerves.
• It’s a lifelong condition that can affect your everyday life. You may need to change your diet, take medicines and have regular check-ups.
• It’s caused by problems with a chemical in the body (hormone) called insulin. It’s often linked to being overweight or inactive, or having a family history of type 2 diabetes.

Symptoms

Many people have type 2 diabetes without realising. This is because symptoms do not necessarily make you feel unwell.

Symptoms of type 2 diabetes include:

• peeing more than usual, particularly at night
• feeling thirsty all the time
• feeling very tired
• losing weight without trying to
• itching around your penis or vagina, or repeatedly getting thrush
• cuts or wounds taking longer to heal
• blurred vision

You’re more at risk of developing type 2 diabetes if you:

• are over 40 (or 25 for south Asian people)
• have a close relative with diabetes (such as a parent, brother or sister)
• are overweight or obese
• are of Asian, African-Caribbean or black African origin (even if you were born in the UK)

Diagnosis

Type 2 diabetes is often diagnosed following blood or urine tests for something else.

However, you should see a GP straight away if you have any symptoms of diabetes.

To find out if you have type 2 diabetes, you usually have to go through the following steps:

1. See a GP about your symptoms.
2. The GP will check your urine and arrange a blood test to check your blood sugar levels. It usually takes about 1 to 2 days for the results to come back.
3. If you have diabetes, the GP will explain the test results and what will happen next.

If you’re diagnosed with diabetes

What the GP will discuss with you during your appointment depends on the diagnosis and the treatment they recommend.

Generally, they’ll talk to you about:

• what diabetes is
• what high blood sugar means for your health
• whether you need to take medicine
• your diet and exercise
• your lifestyle – for example, alcohol and smoking

The GP will do their best to discuss the diagnosis with you, but this first appointment might only be 10 to 15 minutes.

If you have questions about your diagnosis

It’s usually difficult to take in everything the GP tells you during the appointment.

Talk to family and friends about what the GP told you, and write down any questions you have.

Then make another GP appointment and take your list of questions with you.

There’s also a lot of information on diabetes available.

What happens after the diagnosis

Usually, the following things happen after your diagnosis:

• The GP may prescribe medicine. It might take time for you to get used to the medicine and to find the right doses for you.
• You will usually need to make changes to your diet and be more active.
• You’ll have to go for regular type 2 diabetes check-ups.
• You’ll have to look out for certain signs to avoid other health problems.
• Ask the GP about a free education course for type 2 diabetes.

Liverpool Diabetes Partnership

The Liverpool Diabetes Partnership [LDP] is a service dedicated to providing quality diabetes care within the community, right on your doorstep.

Diabetes & You

FREE education sessions – are currently running at health centres across the city.

This page has been amended by the Diabetes Team from Liverpool University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust.

Content provided by NHS.uk

Find information and advice on health conditions, symptoms, healthy living, medicines and how to get help.

Published on Mon, 12 Jul 2021 11:01:36 GMT
Modified on Wed, 20 Jul 2022 16:37:39 GMT

About COPD

Here you'll learn about what exactly COPD (chronic obstructive pulmonary disease) is, its symptoms, diagnosis and what you can do to help your condition.

Information

Tap on each image for more information about COPD and the services available to help you.

Videos

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Local Services

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Coping with Chronic Respiratory Disease

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Environmental Health

This video explores how the weather and the environment may affect your health, in particular to chronic respiratory disease.

Breathlessness Management

This breathlessness management video, focuses on breathlessness management strategies.

Exercise

This video focuses on the various different aspects of what you need to consider when participating in an exercise routine. There are lots of helpful tips and advice throughout.

Medicines

Medication can help you control and manage your symptoms. Medication can’t replace being active and eating healthily but the right combination of all three will help you feel healthier.

Inhalers

View more inhalers and medicines at RightBreathe.

Videos

These videos will explore some of the different types of medications that you may use to manage your respiratory symptoms and other useful tips. You will find more videos in the Health and Care Video Library.

Treatment (Medications)

Treatments for COPD

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Help and Support

In this section you'll find helpful information for you and anyone who cares for you about local COPD services and support for your physical and mental wellbeing.

Information

Videos

Take a look at the videos below about self-care and helping your COPD. You will find more videos in the Health and Care Video Library.

Self-help tips for fatigue and breathlessness

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