Tobacco smoking has serious health consequences. Every cigarette that you smoke has a lifelong impact on your health. Nicotine found inside cigarettes are addictive, this makes it difficult for smokers to quit it at once. When you light up a cigarette, along with nicotine, there are 7000 more chemicals that you’ll inhale. The tobacco smoke that you inhale has over 70 known cancer-causing chemicals that damage almost every part of your body and in general reducing the quality of health.
The effects of cigarettes on your lungs and airways
Cigarette smoking causes tremendous changes in your lungs and airways. Cold and pneumonia are sudden changes that last for a short time, while conditions like emphysema happen slowly and can last a lifetime.
The following changes happen to your lungs and airways when you smoke:
- Mucus and infection
Smoking helps in the growth of mucus-producing cells in your lungs and airways. This results in thickening and an increase in the amount of mucus. As your lungs cannot clean the excess mucus, it stays in the airways, clogs them and makes you cough. This excess mucus is prone to infection. Smoking hampers the natural defence mechanism of your lungs as it causes the lungs to age faster.
- Less airflow
Every cigarette you smoke causes irritation, inflammation and coughing in your lungs. Smoking can result in lower oxygen flow to the critical parts of the body, as it damages the lungs and tissues thus decreasing the air spaces and blood vessels in the lungs.
- Fewer cilia
Cilia is a broom-like hair lined on the lungs. Their major function is to keep the lungs clean. As you light a cigarette, the movement of cilia slows down, it can often slow down for several hours. Prolonged smoking reduces the number of cilia on the lungs, leaving fewer to clean the organ.
Other health complications of smoking
- Circulation
Smoking cigarettes can damage your circulation system as the tar from them can infect your bloodstream. When these chemicals enter your blood-
- Your blood becomes thicker putting you at an increased risk of blood clots.
- Your heart will work harder, as blood pressure and heart rate will increase.
- Your arteries become thinner reducing the amount of blood carrying oxygen to other parts of the body.
- Brain
Smoking is quite harmful to your brain. Compared to a non-smoker, a smoker has 50% more chances of having a stroke. So, the chances of you having a stroke are twice if you smoke.
- Stomach
Reflux is a condition when the digestive acid travels in the wrong direction due to the weakened esophagus. This is caused as a result of smoking, as it impacts your stomach, moreover, your digestive system.
- Skin
Smoking causes your skin to age faster as the oxygen needed for your skin gets reduced. That’s why you can see smokers have face wrinkles under their eyes and mouth as compared to those who don’t. Smoking triggers your aging process.
How does quitting smoking helps your body?
- Breathing related problems
When you Smoke When you Quit
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- Asthma
When you Smoke When you Quit
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- Cold and lung infection
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- Flu and pneumonia
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- Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Diseases [COPD]
Smoking cigarettes is the major cause of COPD. COPD hampers the inflow and outflow of air into the lungs. Chronic bronchitis and emphysema are the two major diseases of COPD
When you have chronic bronchitis When you quit smoking
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When you have emphysema When you quit smoking
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- Lung Cancer
Lung cancer is a major disease caused due to smoking.
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- Secondhand smoke damages to lungs
There are two sources of secondhand smoke:
- Burning end of cigarettes
- Exhale of smoke by the smoker
When a non-smoker breathes the second-hand smoke, following health problems can arise
- Wheezing
- Chronic cough
- Increased mucus
- Shortness of breath
- Lung infection and pneumonia
- Lung cancer
In conclusion, we’d like to say, refrain from smoking if you do and never try smoking if you haven’t started yet. It is very harmful to you and the people around you. Stay healthy and do not smoke.
Dr. Arun H M | Associate Consultant – Pulmonology | Narayana Multispeciality Hospital, Mysore