Anti-Aging Information

As in most parts of the body, as you age you're going to notice a certain amount of inevitable decline in the function of your breathing machinery. However, unless you've been a high-level endurance athlete all your life, this change is not so dire as to make you miserable. In fact, if you're an average citizen, you can easily manage to the point of not even noticing those changes.

So what should you expect in terms of lung function? Here's the list, for better or for worse:

a 25 percent decline in the lungs' vital capacitythat is, the maximum amount of air the lungs can hold.
a decrease in the ventilation-to-perfusion ratiothe ratio of air to blood in the lungs. This means that the lung tissue ends up getting supplied less efficiently with blood.
an increase in residual volumethe amount of air left in the lungs after a complete expiration.
a reduction in the flexibility of the chest wall as the movable ribs calcify. This is called chest wall compliance.
a decrease in the elastic recoil of the lungs.
a 50 percent increase in reserve volume between ages 17 and 70.
an increase in premature airway closure.
a decrease in amount of alveolar air.
a decrease in gas transfer.
a decrease in power of the respiratory muscles.
a 50 percent decrease in ventilatory response to oxygen/carbon dioxide ratio.

Whew!

In plain English, what this list means is that as you age, your lung tissue becomes less flexible and less able to absorb oxygen. Your lungs don't pump quite as efficiently, hold as much air, or put as much oxygen into your blood. All this is going to happen no matter what you do. How much it affects your life, though, is up to you. No matter how old you are, you can try as best you can to monitor your pulmonary function status, but in later life, guessing pulmonary function becomes harder. Unfortunately, aging lungs can begin to act like the lungs of someone with emphysema. They can become less elastic, less distensiblein other words, less able to stretch.

The so-called small airwaysthe ones that can become overreactive in asthma or become overly irritable and spasmodic when you least want itbegin to snap closed. The telltale wheezes of asthma are the early closure of these smaller airways.

Along with the so-called ventilation-perfusion mismatch, there is also a loss of muscle power from weaker accessory breathing muscles. That, along with the reduction in lung elasticity, can result in the retention of carbon dioxide, which can contribute to a buildup of lactic acidthe stuff that makes your muscles "burn" when you exercise.