Do you know what COPD stands for? Do you know what it is?
COPD stands for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. It’s a respiratory disease that could be virtually eliminated from the world if we would stop smoking altogether. Imagine that. Emphysema and chronic bronchitis fall under the COPD umbrella.
According to the National Heart Lung and Blood Institute,
COPD is now the 4th leading cause of death in the United States and also causes long-term disability.
The number of people who have COPD is on the rise — more than 12 million are currently diagnosed with it. And it is estimated that another 12 …read more

“Two lungs are better than one – when it comes to lung transplantations,” thanks to a new study that looked at the long-term survival rates of patients who had lung transplants.
Lung transplantation may be an option for people with cystic fibrosis , emphysema, idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis , or sarcoidosis , although there may be other illnesses in the group as well.
The study, done by researchers from Johns Hopkins, found that having both lung replaced by healthy lungs because if one lung is left behind, there may be some residual (left over) parts of the disease, which could end up causing …read more

An article at MSNBC made my head spin – Could there be some health benefits to being slightly heavy, i.e. around 25 pounds overweight? Apparently overweight (not obese) folks are more likely to survive illnesses such as pneumonia and emphysema. However, they are still more likely to die from kidney disease and diabetes.
I’m wondering if it’s simply an issue of having extra nutrients to feed on during illness. It’s not exactly clear at this point in time.
I’d say that the health benefits of being a normal, healthy weight outweigh (no pun intended) those of being slightly overweight. Think of all …read more