Effect of Smoking on the Lungs

Smoking has a wide variety of health effects and can affect almost every organ of the body. But one of the organs that are most directly affected are the lungs . This is not surprising, because it may be the body in direct contact with cigarette smoke .

The lungs are the organs of respiration . They are designed to carry the air containing oxygen and the oxygen to pass into the bloodstream . Everyone has two lungs are divided into lobes.

When someone starts to smoke , it causes irritation of the cells lining the airways in the lungs (bronchi and bronchioles ) . One solution to this basic body to produce mucus. This mucus can reduce the diameter of airtubes making it difficult to breathe. Have you heard of cough "smoker" to ? This is when a smoker cough this mucus .

In a healthy person , there are cells that line the lungs and upper respiratory tract with small hair-like projections called cilia present. This rate to move the dust and debris from the lungs . They are a bit like the team itself lung broom . Smoking kills these cells , so that its cleaning function is no longer performed . Dust and particles can then build is one of the reasons that smokers often complain of respiratory diseases.

One of the gases in cigarette smoke is carbon monoxide . This gas interferes with the process of blood oxygenation in the lungs. In fact, if you breathe in carbon monoxide too suffocate and die . This gas is present in car exhaust gases and is responsible for many deaths each year using this as a form of suicide.

The air sacs in the lungs where oxygen enters the blood are called alveoli . They have a very large area - about the size of a tennis court. Whenever you smoke kill some of these cells . These structures can not grow back , so once that is destroyed , that's all. No wonder that smokers have trouble breathing because of less effort , like climbing stairs?

The long-term consumption of tobacco on the lungs is well documented. Lung cancer is largely due to smoking . It is estimated that 87% of cases of lung cancer in the U.S. are related to smoking . Smoking is a disease called COPD (chronic obstructive pulmonary disease) the main cause. Patients with this disease is very difficult breathing because their airways have become so clogged.