Protect Yourself From Wildfire Smoke

Learn to protect yourself from wildfire smoke. Many of us in the Western side of the United States are surrounded by smoke if not outright fire. The photo above is from outside my back door.  I find most people are  not aware of just how dangerous the smoke can be.  If you want to know more about how to protect your living space and support your body in general, check out the  "Protection From Forest Fire & Smoke Exposure article."

Along with our skin, the respiratory system is one of the first organs to come into contact with toxins in our environment. This causes a variety of reactions as the respiratory system reacts to and attempts to remove these toxins. This article will give you some tools to help protect yourself from wildfire smoke.

For continuous updates as to how dangerous the smoke is in your area, use this website that has sensors all over the world and monitors the air quality in general. It is a  great website to know about.

Toxic Gases

The Smoke Contains  toxic gases such as nitrous oxides and sulfur dioxide as well as particulate air pollutants. Fires emit carbon monoxide, hydrocarbons, plus nitrogen oxides that along with sunlight will make ozone. Ozone is very hard on living tissue. Ozone from fires is at higher levels in the countryside than in cities, so country folk need to worry even more about ozone. It is thought that the pollutant nitrogen dioxide which is higher in cities, reduces the efficiency with which ozone is produced.

Fine Particulate Matter

Although the gases are an issue, the fine particulate matter is an even bigger health hazard. The fine particles in the smoke can penetrate deep inside your lungs. On its way there, it also penetrates into your nasal mucus membranes, and your throat. When your throat gets inflamed it can occlude the openings of your eustachian tubes leading to your ears, which causes plugged and even painful ears. These particles also cause burning eyes and a runny or stuffy nose. More serious matters are aggravation of asthma or other lung diseases as well as aggravation of chronic heart disease.

Our Lungs Biotransformation System Protects Us From Toxin Damage

Luckily, the lungs contain a detox/biotransformation system that is constantly on the watch for incoming toxins. This cellular biotransformational system takes those toxins and changes them into less harmful molecules. This is necessary as research suggests environmental toxicants including those in smoke may lead to the creation of lung diseases. This has lead to interest in xenobiotic (toxins from the environment) metabolizing capacity or the lung. It is evident from the studies carried out to date that the biotransformational enzymes CYP1A1, 1B1, 2A13, 2F1, 2S1 and 4B1 are preferentially expressed in the lung together with CYP2E1 and 3A5. Many phase II transformation pathways are also involved in the lungs biotransformational abilities of xenobiotics. Toxins in smoke along with other environmental pollutants can enter the lungs and  activate the biotransformation enzymes that protect our lungs from toxins. However, what happens if these toxins overwhelm the biotransformation system or the system is not working up to par, due to lack of nutrients or genetic issues?

Lungs Overwhelmed

Excess toxins or inability to react appropriately to the toxins is thought to irritate, inflame, and open the tight junctions between the epithelial cells that prevents entry of environmental toxins. There is a breakdown of protein complexes in these tight junctions that allows entry of antigens, chemicals, and xenobiotics into the circulation which can lead to the formation of autoantibodies. These autoantibodies then cause a variety of systemic inflammatory responses through-out the body and a variety of symptoms. This reaction in the lungs is similar to the reactions that takes place in the intestines that we call "leaky gut".

Prevention And Treatment

You can protect yourself from wildfire smoke and specifically your respiratory system by staying away from smokey environments. Currently, with all the outdoor wildfires, this means staying inside with our doors with windows shut and making sure we have no open vents on our HVAC or anywhere else allowing smoke inside the house. If you smell smoke, find out where it is coming from. When outdoors be sure to wear an N-95 mask. Make sure they fit and wear them correctly.

How The Respiratory Tract Protects Us

Our respiratory system is set up to protect us from particulate matter, noxious fumes and such.

Mucus: It has a coating of mucus that protects the lungs surface. It catches particles in this mucus which acts as a barrier. The mucus that our respiratory system produces is our friend in small amounts although it can be annoying when on overdrive. It is there to protect our delicate mucous membranes. The mucus catches particulate matter and the cilia move it out of the respiratory tract into the nose to be "blown out" or it ends up being dumped into the digestive tract. The mucus also acts as a barrier to protect our cells from damage.

Cilia: Fine hairs called cilia that line the respiratory tract, move the toxins out and away from the lungs.

How to Protect Yourself and Support the Respiratory Tract in A Smokey Environment

Our lungs should be moist at all times.  However, too moist and we start coughing up phlegm. Too dry and we get a dry cough, loss of voice, and a dry throat and nasal passages. Generally acute inflammation brings on mucus and excess moisture with chronic inflammation of long duration can end up causing dryness.

Hydration Is Important With Smoke Exposure

You need to support the mucus layer when exposed to smoke. Keep your body hydrated at all times. Drink water when you are thirsty. Listen to your body.

Moistening Herbs and Food

Herbs and food that can help to promote fluid and fluidity in the body are almonds, american ginseng, codonopsis, eggs, cold water fish, fish oil, flaxseeds, jerusalem artichoke, jujubee dates, licorice, marshmallow, or wild mallows, milk and diary products in general (organic with full fat), oats, purslane, sea vegetables, sesame seeds and oil, schizandra, slippery elm, rehmannia, and saw palmetto. This is not a complete list. These are just a few ideas.

Irrigate the Nasal Cavity

Irrigation of the nasal passages via a neti pot or even snorting saline/water after a smoke exposure can be beneficial if a person is sensitive to the smoke and there is nasal irritation. Doing it as soon as you come inside will remove much of the offending particles causing irritation.

Supporting the detox/biotransformation systems in the body

Milk thistle and Turmeric are two good choices for this. They both increase glutathione which is used an an antioxidant for the detox system as well as is used for glutathione conjugation. They both also support and protect the liver which is the powerhouse of detoxification.

Vitamin D & Sunshine

In the lungs, deficiency of vitamin D is associated with accelerated decline in lung function.  Chronic respiratory diseases associated with vitamin D deficiency include cystic fibrosis, interstitial lung disease and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). Deficiency of vitamin D has also been associated with increased risk of respiratory infection from influenza A and Mycobacterium tuberculosis. Absence of Vitamin D receptors (VDR) in mouse lungs can lead to an early onset of emphysema/COPD because of chronic inflammation, immune dysregulation and lung destruction. There is research showing VDR regulation of cell junction proteins in lungs like there is in the intestines.

If lab levels of vitamin D are low, it may be beneficial to give vitamin D3 to support the lungs through this smokey period.

Vitamin B

B vitamins are needed for multiple Detox activities. I find small amounts of Bs such as found in the Biotics Research product called Bio-B 100 is a wonderful choice due to the lower level of B vitamins in the product. The average person without contraindications to taking any B vitamins usually takes one tablet 2-3 times per day.

Antioxidants

Vitamin C

Supporting your antioxidant system can be beneficial. Vitamin C is a good place to start. It is better to take small amounts of vitamin C multiple times per day rather than one big dose as it is urinated out of the body rather quickly.  If you take too much you will know as it will cause loose stools. You can also get vitamin C from most fresh fruits and many vegetables.

Glutathione

The Queen of antioxidants is glutathione, however good glutathione is spendy. Liposomal glutathione should be used by people with gut assimilation problems and for others acetyl glutathione can be used. Small amounts can be helpful, while large amounts can dislodge heavy metals and mycotoxins as well as other biotoxins or other general toxins from cells and make a person feel sick. Most people will do okay with 100 mg twice per day if they do not have toxins stashed away in their cells. Higher doses are taken when needed.  If a person is known to have a toxic load,  giving glutathione in smaller amounts 3-4 times a day can be helpful to keep an even level in the blood and decrease reactions they might have. There are now some sustained release products, but I am not sure how well they work. If you use them, let me know how they are working for you. Additionally, glutathione contains sulfur which if used in high amounts can feed some bacteria in the colon that make hydrogen sulfide which can cause dysbiosis and digestive distress. Due to these issues, there is no one appropriate dose for an individual without examining their history and present state.

N-acetyl cysteine

N-acetyl cysteine (another sulfur containing antioxidant) is often used in the lungs when there is inflammation and excess mucous such as in cystic fibrosis. It is also the limiting amino acid of the three amino acids that make up glutathione. So, it is used to support the bodies creation of glutathione. In some sensitive people it can cause some of the same issues as glutathione as it too can remove some toxins. If I am concerned, I start people on small amounts in the beginning and tell them to use a sustained release product, three times per day as it also has a short half-life.  However, many people use 500 mg twice per day with no issues.

Breathing

We often take our lungs for granted. It is not until they start to have issues that we take note of them. Exercising our lungs should be a part of our lives. Additionally, Taking our lungs out to the forest where we can breath clean, healthy air is something we should do as often as possible. Here are some ideas to exercise your lungs and invigorate your entire body. These exercises will help to make your respiratory tract more resilent and naturally protect yourself from wildfire smoke.

• Deep Breathing - slow and steady - breathe from your belly
• Qi Gong
• Yoga For The Lungs
• Walking & General Exerices
• Forest Breathing
• Clean Country Air Breathing

Additional Lifestyle Methods To Support Lungs

• Good Posture
• Hydration
• Healthy Diet
• Sunshine
• Laughter
• Don't smoke anything
• Live where there is clean air
• Dancing