Staying healthy after a lung transplant

Healthy eating, regular exercise and not smoking will help with your recovery

Key points

Your lifestyle can affect the long-term success of your lung transplant
Adapting a healthy lifestyle is very important
This means eating the right foods, keeping active and not smoking
Your transplant team will talk to you about the best ways to achieve this

Don't start smoking again

If you had to gave up smoking to have your lung transplant, don’t start again afterwards. Smoking is one of the worst things you can do to your donated lung. It also increases the risk of strokes, heart problems, and cancers in transplant patients.

Go to NHS stop smoking services

Eat and drink the right things

After your transplant, it’s important to eat a nutritious, balanced diet to help encourage your transplant to work well. Aim for at least 5 portions of fruit and vegetables a day and plenty of wholegrain foods that are high in fibre. Avoid too much sugar, saturated fats and salt. A low sugar diet is particularly important for managing diabetes. A diet low in saturated fat will help to keep your cholesterol levels controlled.

Most people are able to drink alcohol in moderation after a lung transplant.

Food safety advice after a heart or lung transplant

After your transplant, your risk of infection is greater than before due to the immunosuppressant medications that you are given to reduce the chance of organ rejection.

How to stay safe

Take regular exercise

Keeping active is very important after a lung transplant. In the first few weeks, you should try to walk a little every day to prevent blood clots. As you recover, you can do more. If your recovery is going well, after 6-8 weeks, you will usually be encouraged to start moderate exercise.

This could be walking, jogging, swimming or cycling. Most sports and activities are possible but you should avoid heavy contact sports (rugby, martial arts, boxing) as these risk damaging your transplanted organ.

Aim for a healthy weight

Weight gain is common after a lung transplant, especially in the first year. This is often a side effect of the medications, but it can also be because your diet is less restrictive. Or because you have a better appetite due to improving health. However, too much weight gain places a strain on your heart and blood vessels so it’s important to eat healthily and stay active as much as possible.

Being a healthier weight can help to lower your chances of having problems with your recovery. You should lose weight by increasing the amount of exercise you do and taking extra care with your diet. Speak to your transplant team for more advice on losing weight.

Wear sunscreen and be careful in the sun

Cancers, especially skin cancers, are more common in patients who have had a lung transplant. Avoid staying out in the sun for long periods, and wear factor 50 sunblock, long-sleeved shirts and a hat if you are in the sun. If you are invited for screening tests (e.g. a mammogram, a cervical smear or bowel cancer screening) it’s strongly recommended that you attend

Control your blood pressure

Taking regular exercise, eating a balanced diet and keeping to a healthy weight are very important for controlling blood pressure. It’s not just about taking blood pressure tablets!

Keep your bones strong

Again, exercise is important, but you may need bone scans to find out if there is any thinning of your bones. You may be advised about changes to your lifestyle or even given medications if there’s a problem.