|  | Public Health Safety | Smoking

Smoking & Lung Health

Smoking is the leading preventable cause of death. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 1 of 5 deaths in the United States each year is caused by smoking. Cancer is the second leading cause of death, and lung cancer causes the most deaths. Smoking causes 90 percent of lung cancer deaths in men and nearly 80 percent of lung cancer deaths in women. Nonsmokers also are affected; about 3,000 U.S. nonsmokers each year die of lung cancer from secondhand smoke. And many other lung diseases that are also are caused by smoking.

  1. Function

    • Tiny hairs called cilia help repair lungs and keep them clean. When you breathe in dirt and toxins, mucus lining your airways trap pollutants and cilia push them out. Smoking damages cilia as soon as you inhale, and heavy smoking permanently destroys them. Chronic health conditions develop when toxins from smoke get trapped in your lungs, and they can destroy your lungs.

    Features

    • Tiny air sacs in your lungs called alveoli help your body take in oxygen and get rid of carbon dioxide. Smoke damages alveoli when tar plugs bronchial tubes and causes the air sacs to collapse.The alveoli are unable to stretch and can't take in the amount of oxygen you need, causing your heart to work harder. Damaged alveoli can't dispose of enough carbon dioxide, and you can become short of breath and fatigued.

    Risks

    • When smoking damages parts of your lungs, you have a higher risk of developing diseases that keep oxygen from reaching your blood vessels and organs. Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, which includes chronic bronchitis and emphysema; asthma; pneumonia; and cancer can develop, permanently disabling or destroying your lungs.

    Effects

    • Even nonsmokers' lungs are affected by lung damage from smoking. Lung cancer can develop from secondhand smoke, and respiratory diseases occur in nonsmokers who have to work or live with smokers. Teenagers and children's lung growth are affected by smoking, and babies' lungs are too small to tolerate smoke. Being around smokers makes breathing difficult, and respiratory illnesses are more likely in children exposed to smoke.

    Prevention/Solution

    • As soon as you quit smoking, you begin to eliminate the effects of smoking on your health. By three months after you stop smoking, your lung function increases up to 30 percent. Within nine months, cilia grow back. In five years, your risk for developing lung cancer is cut in half, and, by 10 years, precancerous cells are replaced, and your risk for dying from lung cancer is the same as the risk for nonsmokers.

Smoking - Related Articles