It’s a gorgeous spring Saturday and you’re itching to get outside for a hike in the country, a brisk run, a swim at the lake or a long bike ride through the countryside. The excitement of the first real outing of the spring pumps through your veins as you get started. The feel of your muscles working is great at the outset but, as you get farther into your exercise, you feel the muscles begin to burn as you struggle to get enough breath. You end up cutting it short because your lungs begin to tighten up, you’re wheezing a bit and the burn in the muscles has now turned into pain. That vague sense that you’ve been through this before at this time of year comes to you—that awful admission of a winter’s worth of sedentary living.

Sound familiar? Getting going again is often challenging because of the mild atrophy of our lung capacity caused by too much couch potatoing and Internet surfing all winter. Our lungs tend to accumulate more mucus and phlegm over the course of the winter due to the colder weather and the lack of muscular contractions during exercise that help to move these accumulations out of the lungs. If you also smoke, this is all more pronounced because of the effects of tobacco on the lungs.

There are a number of medicinal herbs that may be of benefit in your daily regimen when you wish to increase your lung capacity and, thus, your exercise comfort level and performance. Ideally, those herbs you choose should have a number of the following properties: They should open and relax the lung musculature to deepen breath capacity; they should relieve spasms in the bronchial area; and they should provide extra energy circulation to the lung system. The latter is a principle referred to as a lung tonic in Western herbalism and a chi tonic for the lung meridian in Asian herbalism.

Herbs should not only benefit lung capacity but should also clear toxins from the system. This is because exercise itself—in spite of its many physiological benefits—produces toxins that must be removed from the lungs and musculature via the bloodstream. If this process is hampered, our comfort, endurance and performance suffer.

Smoking causes even greater accumulation of mucus, as well as providing an extra large load of toxins in the lungs and bloodstream that must be removed. Traditional medicine holds that part of the craving experienced in breaking any addiction, including smoking tobacco, is actually the discharge of the accumulated toxins from the addicting substance. From this viewpoint, increasing the rate of detoxification often alleviates the craving. Without this step we return to using the addicting substance, which relieves the craving by suppressing the discharge of the accumulated toxins, thus deepening the cycle. So it is important that the herbs we choose have properties for resolving accumulations in the lungs as well as detoxifying actions.

The challenge of exercise on the system is met most easily when our adrenal glands are working properly, because this physical challenge, from the body’s viewpoint, constitutes a mild stress. If our adrenals are depleted by chronic stress in our daily lives, by caffeine and other stimulants (including tobacco) or by poor nutrition, we will have more difficulty responding to the stress of exercise. So the herbs we choose should support adrenal functioning according to Western herbalism or provide yang or general chi tonic properties according to Asian systems of herbalism.

Herbs

Garlic has an age-old folk reputation in Europe for benefiting runners and improving the competitive spirit, as well as being a lung/adrenal/chi tonic and an energy booster. Additionally, it has long been used for resolving phlegm and mucus in the lungs, for coughs and for difficult breathing. Traditionally it was used as a tonic for chronic weak lung conditions like asthma, where both lung and adrenal strengthening may be called for. Scientific research has found that it improves circulation as well, which means that more oxygen is delivered to the brain and musculature while facilitating toxin removal through improved circulation. Research has also found that garlic benefits fatigue.

Rosemary has been used for centuries in folk herbalism to treat coughs and lung weakness. It is traditionally classified as a lung/chi/yang tonic that relieves shortness of breath, adrenal depletion and fatigue. Additionally, it is thought to boost energy, support healthy heart and circulatory function, clear phlegm from the lungs and relieve wheezing. It was frequently used as a tonic for chronic weakness of the lungs in conditions like asthma and bronchitis. An old European use of rosemary was as an air purifier. Either a plant or burning sprigs (as incense) were placed in sick rooms or other areas with bad air, as they were thought to absorb toxins.

Research has found that rosemary provides antioxidant properties. Many antioxidant substances inactivate toxic substances, making them unable to damage cell components. Several studies suggest that rosemary’s antioxidant actions may be better than the more popular milk thistle, vitamin C, BHA (butylated hydroxyanisole) or BHT (butylated hydroxytoluene).

The famous traditional herbalist Culpeper reflects a commonly held traditional viewpoint that thyme, the kitchen herb, is an excellent lung tonic for shortness of breath and for resolving upper respiratory congestion, mucus and phlegm. At the same time it relieves coughs and relaxes spasms. It has a traditional reputation for benefiting chronic lung deficiency conditions like asthma and emphysema. Research on thyme has found that it has antioxidant properties as well.

One of the most popular herbal remedies today for colds and upper respiratory flu is echinacea, which has a reputation supported by generous amounts of scientific research. However, few people today know that this herb has been widely recommended as a general lung tonic and not just for infection related coughs. Native Americans used it regularly as a stimulant to stay up on night watches. In fact, research has found that it greatly increases adrenal output, which we feel as a surge in energy and alertness. Both traditional folklore and scientific literature credit it with detoxifying properties of the blood and lymph, which in our exercise scenario might improve the rate of toxin clearance. This property may be especially helpful for those trying to quit smoking by increasing the rate of toxin removal.

Rosehips are another old-time household remedy for coughs, consumption, congestion and phlegm, as well as lung weakness. This cooling herb is traditionally used to detoxify the blood, an action particularly attractive for those trying to quit smoking. Research has found that rosehips are a source of vitamin C, which provides antioxidant protection.

The herbs discussed here are a great addition to your plan for supporting lung function and exercise performance. See you on the trail!