Are We Smoking Away Our Lungs?  

Telling people that smoking is harmful is like telling them that a year has 12 months. Something which is a universal truth. Even the packet of cigarettes says that it is harmful for health. 

However, every claim needs a backup of science, for people to know the process and how it affects them. Also, what can they do to control the damage. This piece explores the ways smoking affects the respiratory system.

Here are a few things that seriously get affected and damage your respiratory system:-

• COPD (Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease)

A lung disease

wherein patients find it difficult to breathe

. It causes serious long-term disability and early death. COPD starts by making it hard to be active, such as playing a game of badminton, and eventually gets worse, and make staple tasks like climbing stairs or taking a walk down the road difficult. 

1. 1. Asthma

      Asthma is a chronic lung disease. It makes it difficult to move air in and out of your lungs—otherwise known as breathing. The cigarette smoke irritates the air passages and is so much capable of triggering sudden and severe asthma attacks. Today, every 1 in ten asthma patients is from India.

• Lung Cancer

This is probably the biggest concern. Smoking is the biggest cause of lung cancer, a disease which results in 1.38 million deaths per year in India. It is the most dangerous type of cancer. If you are a regular smoker, your chances of being prone to lung cancer are much higher than that of a normal people.

1. Stroke

   Smoking affects your air passage and it can also make it difficult for blood to pass through the arteries and eventually, the brain cells stop receiving oxygen and die. This is nothing but stroke which can cause paralytic attacks, altered brain function and eventually death.

    

2. Regular cough and chest pain.

   Smokers have weak lungs. As a result, any respiratory disease takes time to heal. A small cough, a simple viral attack might cause you much discomfort if you are inflicted with even a little bit of cough. Needless to say, the immunity of a smoker is badly affected.

3. Abnormal Breathing

   If you are a chain smoker, your breathing pattern will change, the continuous presence of smoke and tar in your air pipes will make the flow of oxygen abnormal. As a result, your breathing cycle won’t be natural. This in turn, would affect the flow of blood and eventually result in improper functioning of the heart.

A striking concern here is that smoking is known to give rise to some of the most lethal diseases that may result in fatality. However, the good news here is that you are your own doctor when it comes to these concerns. And your prescription for your good health is simple – do not smoke.  The best thing to do today, is to dispose of that packet, throw away the lighter, and march towards a happy life.