We are all aware of the detrimental effects of smoking, but numerous people enjoy in this dangerous habit and continue damaging their own health. However, many people are simply not fully aware of the severe complications that might arise as a result of smoking.
The NHS (National Health Service) confirmed that smoking cigarettes on a daily basis seriously damages the function of the lungs and the respiratory system, since it:
- Destroys the lung tissue and narrows the airways, leading to breathing difficulties, shortness of breath, persistent coughs and chest infections. It paralyzes and destroys cilia, the tiny hairs in the airways, so they cannot filter mucus and dirt from the lungs.
- Weakens the immune system and makes one prone to coughs and colds pneumonia, lung cancer, and emphysema.
- Causes inflammation buildup in the lungs, and destroys air sacs, or alveoli, which support the oxygen exchange.
- Increases the risk of death, as it raises the risk of dying from ischemic heart disease and lung cancer.
These horrible effects of smoking are the reason why Amanda Eller, a nurse from North Carolina, decided to upload videos to Facebook, with the aim to show the difference between the lungs of a smoker and non-smoker after 20 years.
In the first video, she blows air into the lungs of the smoker, and in the second one, she repeats the same with the lungs of a non-smoker.
The differences are evident even on first sight, as the lungs of the smoker are black, and hardly expand when the air is pumped into them, while the ones of the non-smoker are pink and healthy, and normally expand.
This is just another case when experts persuade smokers to start taking care of their health and give up this dangerous habit, which is actually the leading preventable cause of death in the United States.
Cigarette smoking harms every body organ, endangers health in various ways, and causes many diseases, so you will drastically improve your health if you decide to quit.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC):
- “Quitting smoking cuts cardiovascular risks. Just 1 year after quitting smoking, your risk for a heart attack drops sharply.
- Within 2 to 5 years after quitting smoking, your risk for stroke may reduce to about that of a nonsmoker’s.
- If you quit smoking, your risks for cancers of the mouth, throat, esophagus, and bladder drop by half within 5 years.
- Ten years after you quit smoking, your risk for dying from lung cancer drops by half.”
