A Health Alert For Your Heart And Lungs: How To Protect Yourself

It's not the best day to be taking deep breaths if you live up or down the Front Range -- or anywhere east of the Continental Divide. And for some groups, even a normal breath may be a problem if you have a history of health problems.

The air is filled with more particulates than normal, hitting the range of "moderate to unhealthy," especially for people with heart or lung disease, plus the very young and the very old. Particulates are microscopic particles which can be inhaled to the deep regions of the lungs, placing a strain on the airways as well as the heart. It can make you clogged, congested, tighten your airways and make your heart work harder. These particulates are mainly from wildfires in Canada.

What this means is that it's important to limit outdoor activity if you are in a high risk group.

And even if you are young and healthy, exercise outdoors is not a good idea, since heavy breathing, say during a run, will cause these fine particulates to make their way into the deepest areas of the lungs -- causing irritation and inflammation.

If visibility drops to five miles or less in your neighborhood from smoke, that's a sign it is unhealthy to be outside, no matter what the state of your health.

Other tips: if you find that the air is irritating your eyes, nose and throat, use some artificial tears/salt water nasal spray/and drink plenty of fluids in order to soothe the tissues of those areas.

And if you develop chest pain, shortness of breath, wheezing, or find that you are going through your heart or lung medication more than usual, play it safe and call your doctor.

Authorities are hoping the particulates will begin to lessen up later today, and air quality will improve.

LINK: colorado.gov/airquality

Dr. Dave Hnida is CBS4's Medical Editor. He blogs about the latest studies and trends in the health world. Read his latest blog entries, check out his bio or follow him on Twitter @drdavehnida