How Does Smoking Affect Your Lungs

See how smoking wreaks havoc on lung health by comparing the lungs of a healthy nonsmoker versus those of a smoker. Even one or two cigarettes cause irritation and coughing.

Nurse Explains What Smoking Every Day Does To Your Lungs

Learn more about the American Lung Associations proven effective Freedom From Smoking program.

How does smoking affect your lungs. Cigarette smoke is composed of particulate matter toxins and oxidative chemicals. Smoking can cause fatal diseases such as pneumonia emphysema and lung cancer. It decreases the number of blood vessels and air spaces in the lungs.

Cigar smoking can cause cancers of the lung oral cavity larynx and esophagus as well as cardiovascular disease. Smokers increase their risk of lung disease including lung cancer. Smoking also can destroy your lungs and lung tissue.

Burning tobacco produces more than 4000 chemicals including nicotine carbon monoxide and tars. Over time the thin walls of these air sacs fuse together forming larger air spaces than normal. Smoking causes 84 of deaths from lung cancer and 83 of deaths from.

But they also increase their risk of other illnesses such as heart disease stroke and mouth oral cancer. As they recover and are able to once again remove mucus and other substances from the lungs you may cough as part of the process and do it more frequently and aggressively than normal. This decreases the number of air spaces and blood vessels in the lungs resulting in less oxygen to critical parts of your body.

Along with increased infections people who smoke are at higher risk for chronic nonreversible lung conditions such as. Each puff of cigarette smoke contains a mix of over 7000 chemicals. 1 When you breathe this in the smoke hits your lungs.

3 Both can become partially trapped in the lungs. Cigarette smoking can cause immediate damage to your health. Cigarette smoke damages the airways The chemicals in cigarette smoke dont just irritate the airways carrying air to the lungs.

Over time the toxins from inhaled cigarette smoke break the thin walls of alveoli leaving larger less efficient air sacs. Risks from smoking as they relate to lung disease include the following. 2 They also damage the clusters of tiny air sacs deep inside the lungs.

It also contains levels of volatile chemicals and tar that are similar to tobacco smoke raising concerns about risk for cancer and lung disease. Coughs colds wheezing and asthma are just the start. Like tobacco smoke marijuana smoke is an irritant to the throat and lungs and can cause a heavy cough during use.

Smoking inflames and irritates the lungs. Your lungs can be very badly affected by smoking. What are marijuanas effects on lung health.

Those who smoke cigars heavily or inhale deeply also increase their risk of developing chronic obstructive pulmonary disease COPD which includes chronic bronchitis and emphysema. Once you stop smoking the cilia or thin hairs in your lungs start working again notes the Mayo Clinic. How Does Smoking Affect Lung Health.

This video shows the damage smoking causes to healthy lungsand explains how much of it can be reversed by quitting smoking. Emphysema the destruction of the air sacs in your lungs. The sacs also begin to lose their bounce making it harder to bring in the oxygen and expel carbon dioxide.

Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease COPD. This can be a sign that the body is healing. Smoking even one or two cigarettes inflames and irritates the lungs.

How Does Smoking Affect Our Lungs More Videos Aumsum Kids Science Education Children Youtube