Table of contents:
- The reason smoking is the main cause of lung cancer
- Passive smoking also has the potential to develop lung cancer
- Lung cancer risk decreases after quitting smoking
Lung cancer is the deadliest type of cancer in Indonesia, according to WHO. This cancer usually occurs as a result of unhealthy living habits, namely smoking. Even so, people who don't smoke but are often near smokers can also cause this condition to occur. Then, how can smoking activity be the cause of lung cancer? Check out the following explanation.
The reason smoking is the main cause of lung cancer
As mentioned earlier, lung cancer mainly occurs as a result of smoking. In fact, nearly 80% of lung cancer deaths occur due to patients having this unhealthy habit.
When you inhale cigarette smoke, you are also inhaling the substances in cigarettes. Once cigarette smoke is inhaled into the body, changes in lung tissue will occur in a short time.
At first, the body can still repair the damage done to the lungs. However, if the lungs often experience the same thing due to continued smoking, damage to the cells that line the lungs is inevitable.
Not only that, the damage causes cells to become abnormal and sooner or later cancer will form. That's the process of lung cancer due to cigarette smoke that you need to know.
Therefore, if you begin to feel symptoms of lung cancer, immediately consult your health condition with your doctor. If you are diagnosed with this condition due to smoking, your doctor can immediately provide lung cancer treatment.
Passive smoking also has the potential to develop lung cancer
In addition to active smokers, namely people who smoke, passive smoking also has the same potential for developing lung cancer due to smoking. Passive smokers are people who do not smoke but often inhale cigarette smoke because people around them smoke.
Usually, you will be exposed to secondhand smoke and become passive smokers if you live in the same house with active smokers or in an environment where you work, many of which act as active smokers.
In addition, you can also be exposed to cigarette smoke while in a place to eat or other public places. The problem is, the cigarette smoke inhaled by passive smokers is as much smoke as inhaled by active smokers.
Therefore, one way to prevent lung cancer is to stop smoking. In addition to reducing the risk of lung cancer to yourself, you can also help reduce the risk of lung cancer in those around you.
Lung cancer risk decreases after quitting smoking
After quitting smoking, there will be many positive changes that occur in your body. One of them is an increase in lung function. You will no longer feel pain when you breathe deeply.
If previously your risk of developing lung cancer due to smoking was high enough, this risk will slowly decrease after you stop doing these unhealthy activities.
It takes about 10 years without a cigarette to help lower the risk of lung cancer by 50 percent. In fact, if you manage to quit smoking for up to 15 years, your risk of developing lung cancer is almost as low as someone who never smoked and didn't inhale the smoke.
In addition, various risks of other diseases will also decrease after you stop smoking for two to three years.
However, that does not mean you will be completely free from the risk of developing lung cancer due to smoking. Remember that quitting smoking only helps lower the risk.
This is because, even though you have quit smoking for a long time, your body has been exposed to cigarette smoke for a long time. That way, the toxic effects of cigarettes continue to grow in your body.
Still, you are not advised to continue activities that can have a negative impact on the health of the body. Instead, immediately stop adopting this unhealthy lifestyle.
Better to stop smoking early and do early detection of lung cancer. This can also be done as an effort to prevent lung cancer.
If you are already experiencing this disease due to smoking, immediately apply a healthy lifestyle as a natural treatment for lung cancer.
The doctor will also help you undergo the treatment given based on the stages of the lung cancer stage that you are undergoing.