How Smoking Affects Your Lungs
By Barb Hicks | September 18, 2009
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Smoking causes over 443,000 deaths in the United States each year that could have been prevented while second hand smoke kills over 50,000 people each year.
Smoking cigarettes allows you to be exposed to over 49 different carcinogens including formaldehide and ammonia. Every puff you take forces your lungs to work harder to oxygenate other cells in the body. In addition to this, it also depletes Elastin, an enzyme in the lungs which allows them to be more flexible. With depletion in elastin, you become more susceptible to emphysema.
Tar is inhaled from a cigarette which coats lungs. This tar not only damages your lungs, but your heart as well. For this reason, smoking causes 160,000 deaths in the United States every year. In addition to these negative effects, smoking also rises blood pressure and increases clotting time which then leads to stroke.
Smoking and the lungs:
Tiny air sacs line the lungs and are called alveoli. These air sacs are responsible for the exchange of oxygen and gases through epithelial cells. The alveoli are covered with pulmonary surfactant which prevents the alveoli from collapsing during exhalation. Smoking cigarettes prevents the alveoli from receiving oxygen. For this reason, lung cancer is 90% responsible for death among men and 80% responsible for death among women.
Lung Cancer:
You don’t necessarily have to smoke to get lung cancer. There are reported cases of people who have died from lung cancer who have never smoked in their lives. Of 20,000 new cases, ten to fifteen percent of these new cases are people who never smoked. Other causes of lung cancer include:
Second-hand smoke Arsenic Asbestos Chromium Radon gas – the number one cause of lung cancer in those who don’t smoke. Excessive exposure to radiation
How lung cancer develops:
Exposure to carcinogens in the air are the root cause of lung cancer. These are usually found in the air in our homes, work or environment. These carcinogens lead to lesions on the lungs which then become tumors. These growths can be benign which means non cancerous or malignant meaning cancerous. As they grow, the tumors begin to put pressure on other nearby organs resulting in severe pain. Unfortunately, most lung cancers are not detected until they are in their later stages.
How is lung cancer treated?
Options for treatment are dependent upon the health of the patient, the severity and the type of cancer involved. In general treatment options include chemotherapy, radiation or surgery. In some cases, a combination of all three may be warranted. Often times there are new clinical trials available. Your physician can help you determine if you are a candidate for these clinical trials.
A licensed registered nurse and passionate writer, Barb Hicks loves to share her knowledge about Stop Smoking Aids and Quit Smoking Injection Shot with others on Clivir.com.
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