How Does Smoking Affect Your Lungs?

We are all aware of the dangers smoking poses. Indeed, cigarette smoking affects our general health. How does smoking affect your lungs? It puts us at risk of lung cancer, heart attack, stroke, lung damage, and long-term respiratory system problems. Moreover, Secondhand smoking increases the risk of heart disease. Get some advice at www.healthon21.com.au on how you will quit tobacco use and restore the health of your teeth damaged caused by smoking.

How Smoking Affect Your Lungs and Airways

Tobacco and cigarettes have a significant impact on your respiratory system. Sometimes, the effects are sudden, but they gradually develop, making it hard for the smoker to distinguish the changes in his health. Sadly, these diseases that grow slowly have usually required lifetime treatments. Here are some of the specific effects of smoking on your lungs:

Mucus formation and infection

When a person smokes, the production of mucus in the lung and air sacs grows bigger. Eventually, the mucus gets thick and becomes hard to clean.

The lungs clean the mucus, but it might stay longer in the airways, causing them to get clogged if it is too thick. In the end, you will be coughing, and you’ll be likely to develop infections. In addition, cigarettes make your lungs older and decrease your ability to fight infections effectively.

Decreased airflow

Cigarette smoking and tobacco use reduce oxygen flow and cause lung inflammation and irritation. In fact, one or two sticks of cigarette can lead to irritation and coughing immediately.

In addition, it also affects other parts of the body. How? Smoking reduces the number of blood vessels and air spaces. As a result, lesser oxygen will be distributed to every organ in the body.

Lesser Cilia

What are cilia? Cilia are hairs in the lungs (like a broom) that are essential for cleaning purposes. It’s important to keep their numbers high as they maintain the cleanliness of the organ and prevent health effects such as chronic bronchitis and chronic cough.

Other effects of tobacco smoke:

• larynx and trachea irritation
• swelling lungs causing breathlessness and poor lung functions
• risk of developing harmful substances in the lungs
• chronic cough
• permanent lung damages

Smoking Effects on Circulatory System

Related to smoking, cigarettes can also affect the functions of the circulatory system. The harmful risks include:

• high blood pressure
• tight blood vessels leading to low skin temperature.
• breathlessness during physical activities
• reduced oxygen levels
• risk of blood clots
• artery damages
• lower blood flow to toes and fingers

Cigarette smoking and brain health

Studies show that smoking also increases the risk of stroke. Chain smokers tend to have a 50% higher chance of getting a stroke than those who don’t. With this, the harmful chemicals of smoke can even lead to death.

Effects of smoking on other parts of the body

Apart from the respiratory system, smoking can definitely affect other parts of the body. This results in hard-to-treat diseases, which might cause smokers to suffer for a long period. Here are some of the significant effects of smoking that we must all be aware of:

• increased risk of contracting pneumonia and infections
• long-running and severe illnesses
• lower levels of antioxidants
• weak bone density
• weak muscles
• intestinal inflammation and irritation
• weak taste and smell senses
• increased risk of getting blind
• periodontitis
• skin wrinkles

Furthermore, did you know that smoking can also affect the health of your sexual organs? In fact, cigarette smoke has been related to fewer sperm count cells and infertility. In addition, some of the common effects of smoke are:

1. increased risk of deformed sperm cells
2. genetically damaged sperm
3. incapability to reproduce (due to the negative effects of smoke on the blood flow and affected blood vessels in the penis)
4. for women, there will also be a risk of lower fertility rate and irregular menstrual cycle
5. we will also reach their menopausal stage earlier than expected
6. risks of cervical cancer

How Smoking Affect Babies

It is also important to take note of the negative effects of tobacco products on babies. Smoke contains carbon monoxide, nicotine, and hydrogen cyanide which are all harmful chemicals. Pregnant smokers might cause harm to their babies, which might include the following:

1. risks of miscarriage and premature birth
2. weak lungs and other organs
3. poor immune system
4. low weight during birth (which greatly impacts their development)
5. higher risk of cleft lip and cleft palate

Diseases Caused by Smoking

According to data, about 32.51 million U.S. citizens are smokers. And the number grows higher every year. This obligates the Department of Health to develop prevention and health promotion programs to encourage smokers to stop tobacco smoke use, managed by health and human services.

Here are the worst diseases due to smoking:

• Lung cancer. Lung cancer is the leading type of cancer that causes fatalities. More people die because of this compared to other kinds of cancer. Additionally, a huge number of lung cancer patients are smokers. It also lowers the life span of people who smoke excessively.
• Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease or COPD is a lung disease that results in breathing difficulties. The initial symptom of COPD is the inability to be physically active, especially for the elderly. Simple activities such as playing with kids become quite challenging.
• Diabetes. Your chances of getting diabetes get higher if you are a smoker. Plus, it also increases the complications related to diabetes, like poor circulation and heart disease.
• Asthma. Asthma is also a lung disease that causes breathing problems. While many individuals are born with asthma, inhaling smoke from tobacco products is a significant trigger. Secondhand smokers might also develop COPD in the long run.

Benefits of Quitting Smoking

Quitting smoking is not easy. Despite the dangers it poses, the nicotine and chemicals in each pack of cigarettes are very addictive. But here are the reasons why you should quit smoking immediately:

1. healthier lifestyle
2. lower risk of getting a disease
3. better circulation
4. healthy blood pressure and heart rate
5. reduces the risk of heart attack and stroke

References:

Smoking – effects on your body (https://www.betterhealth.vic.gov.au/health/healthyliving/smoking-effects-on-your-body)

How Smoking Cigarettes Affects Your Lungs (https://share.upmc.com/2016/04/how-smoking-affects-lungs/)