4 Lung problems

Smoking means poisoning yourself. The reason is, the lungs that should get fresh air are instead subjected to various foreign substances that are destructive. Yes! When you smoke, there will be more than 4,000 chemicals such as nicotine, carbon monoxide and tar, which enter the body. How does smoking damage the lungs, and what happens next to smokers' lungs?

The dangers of smoking for lung health

The respiratory tract produces mucus to keep moisture and filter out the dirt that enters when you inhale. The main danger of smoking for lung health is that it makes these organs not function properly.

The reason is, the chemicals in cigarettes can stimulate mucus-producing membrane cells to become more productive. As a result, the amount of mucus will increase, creating a thick layer around the lungs.

The lungs cannot clear the mucus, causing blockage. When this happens, your body will certainly not stand still. The body will release extra mucus from the body through coughing. This is why smokers often cough with mucus (phlegm).

Apart from stimulating the production of more mucus, smoking also makes the lungs experience premature aging. Basically, all organs of the body will experience a decline in function with age. However, the lungs of active smokers will age faster and damage faster. Why?

This is because a cigarette you inhale slows down the movement of cilia, the fine hairs in the cells that clean the lungs. This causes all the dirt that should be cleaned and removed actually accumulates in the lungs.

Reporting from the UPMC Health Beat page, the chemicals in cigarettes can also destroy lung tissue. As a result, the number of blood vessels decreases and the air space becomes narrower. This leaves less oxygen to the essential parts of the body.

Lung problems that are prone to occur in active smokers

There are many dangers of smoking to lung health, even causing certain diseases. Most of these diseases are chronic and require a long treatment.

Then, what are the effects on the lung health of active smokers?

1. Chronic bronchitis

Chronic bronchitis is part of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). This disease indicates inflammation of the lining of the bronchial tubes (the tubes that carry air to and from the lungs).

This inflammation causes the mucus to become too sticky and eventually blocks the flow of air in and out of the lungs. Gradually, the airflow gets worse and makes it difficult to breathe.

Inflammation of the bronchial tubes also damages the cilia. As a result, the lungs cannot clean themselves and make it easy for germs to develop in them.

You need to know that almost more than 90 percent of people with chronic bronchitis have a smoking habit. Even so, passive smokers are also at risk for this problem due to inhaling cigarette smoke too often.

The typical symptom of chronic bronchitis is a prolonged cough with yellow, green, or white phlegm. Other symptoms that may occur include:

• Fever or chills
• Fatigue
• Chest pain due to frequent coughing
• Nasal congestion
• Bad breath
• Skin and lips turn blue from lack of oxygen
• Swelling in the legs

2. Emphysema

Apart from bronchitis, the lungs of active smokers can also develop emphysema. This disease indicates that the alveoli (air sacs in the lungs) are damaged, weakened, and eventually burst.

This condition reduces the surface area of ​​the lungs and the amount of oxygen that can reach the bloodstream. People with emphysema tend to have difficulty breathing when doing strenuous activities or exercising because the lungs lose flexibility.

Emphysema is also included in COPD, the main cause of which is smoking. Many chronic bronchitis patients also have emphysema, if not treated. Unfortunately, emphysema often goes unnoticed. Early symptoms suggestive of emphysema include difficulty breathing during exercise and coughing. Other symptoms that may occur include:

• Tires easily and has difficulty breathing even when resting
• Fast heartbeat (arrhythmia)
• Weight loss
• Hard to breathe
• Lips and fingernails turn blue from lack of oxygen

3. Lung cancer

Another problem that is no less serious and very susceptible to attacking the lungs of active smokers is lung cancer.

The chemicals in cigarettes that enter the body are likely to stimulate abnormal cell growth in the lungs. Cancer cells usually appear around the lining of the bronchi or other areas of the respiratory tract, cause lumps, and continue to spread to other tissues.

If you already have bronchitis or emphysema, your risk of developing lung cancer is higher. Research estimates that a 68-year-old man who smoked two packs per day for 50 years had a 15 percent risk of lung cancer in the next 10 years.

The more cigarettes smoked, the higher the risk of a person's lung cancer. The risk of lung cancer will decrease to 10.8 percent if he stops smoking.

In addition, it was found that people who smoked 15 cigarettes per day had a reduced risk of lung problems if they halved the number of cigarettes smoked. But of course it would be much better if someone quit smoking.

Some of the symptoms of lung cancer that smokers need to watch out for include:

• Cough sometimes accompanied by a little blood
• Chest pain
• Hard to breathe
• Hoarseness
• Swollen face and neck
• Pain in the shoulder, arm, or hand
• Frequent fever

4. Pneumonia

Pneumonia indicates an infection of the air sacs in the lungs, whether it's due to bacteria, viruses, or fungi. However, if you are an active smoker, this habit can lower the immune system to fight pathogens that cause pneumonia.

Being an active smoker makes you more likely to get pneumonia if you also already have COPD, such as bronchitis or emphysema.

Symptoms of pneumonia vary from person to person from mild to severe, depending on the type of germ that infects, age, and body health.

Symptoms of pneumonia that you may experience are similar to flu, but occur for a longer time and are followed by other symptoms, such as:

• Chest pain when breathing in or coughing
  
• Cough with phlegm
• The body is weak and tired
• Fever accompanied by chills and sweating
• Nausea, vomiting or diarrhea
• Hard to breathe

Coughing is a symptom of lung disease that is very typical of smokers. If the cough does not go away and is followed by various symptoms, you should immediately check it out.

Better yet, if you stop the habit of smoking, even though it is not easy and requires a hard struggle. Ask for support from family and loved ones for better health and quality of life.

Comparison between smokers and nonsmokers' lungs

The lungs of smokers and non-smokers are certainly very different. Here are the differences when viewed from various sides:

Oxygen exchange

In a healthy person's lungs, oxygen will enter and descend into the alveoli. The alveoli are small sacs in the lungs where oxygen and carbon dioxide are exchanged.

Oxygen that reaches these alveoli then passes through the single cell layer and double capillaries to get to the hemoglobin in the red blood cells. Later, this oxygen will then be sent throughout the body.

Unfortunately, the alveoli and capillary lining of smokers' lungs are disrupted, making it harder for oxygen and carbon dioxide to exchange. When the alveoli walls have scar tissue from smoking, it can be difficult for oxygen to pass through.

Lung physical changes

Cigarette smoke that gets into the lungs can affect the capillaries and every blood vessel in the body. When some of the blood vessels are damaged, blood flow to the lungs will be interrupted.

In addition, smoking also increases the risk of blood clots in the legs (deep vein thrombosis). In time, these blood clots can burst and spread to the lungs (pulmonary embolism) and cause further damage.

Although some of the damage that has been done cannot be eliminated, it is never too late to quit smoking.

Quitting smoking from now on helps minimize the damage. In addition, quitting smoking also allows the body to repair any damage it might be able to restore and heal.

Total lung capacity

Smoking can cause damage to the muscles in the chest, reducing the ability to take deep breaths. In addition, the elasticity of the smooth muscle in the airways of the lungs of smokers is also reduced, limiting the amount of air that is inhaled.

Aveoli or air sacs that are also damaged by smoking will reduce lung capacity. The total lung capacity is the total amount of air that can be inhaled while taking the deepest possible breath.

There is evidence that when a person stops smoking, two weeks after that there will be an increase in lung capacity and expiratory volume.

Lung function

Judging from the results of pulmonary function tests, people who smoke and do not smoke have a significant difference. In fact, before symptoms appeared and felt there were some changes in lung function,

Some smokers feel that they are breathing without problems. But in fact, most of the lung tissue begins to experience destruction before symptoms appear.

Therefore, it is very wrong to think that your lungs are healthy just because you have no negative symptoms. Do not wait for any symptoms because it is a sign that the damage to the lungs has expanded.

Lung color

Healthy lungs range in color from pink to dark gray with patchy spots on their surface. While smokers' lungs are usually blackish in color. Apart from blackening, there are brown particles which are also visible with the enlarged air space.

So, where does this black or brown color come from? When you inhale cigarette smoke, there are thousands of tiny carbon particles that are inhaled. Well the body has a special way of getting these particles out.

After a person inhales cigarette smoke, the body will notice that there are poisonous particles that have invaded. This causes the cells that cause inflammation to move to the place where these particles originate.

One type of white blood cell called macrophage is part of the immune system which is responsible for eating the bad particles in cigarette smoke.

However, because the particles in cigarette smoke can damage the macrophage cells, the body closes them in a space in the cells and is stored as toxic waste.

The more macrophages that accumulate in the lungs and lymph nodes in the chest, the darker a person's lungs will be. That is why the more and often a person smokes cigarettes, the darker their lungs will be.