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Rapid Effects of Tobacco Smoking on the Respiratory System or Lungs

Because all of these spaces are in direct communication with one another, they can be affected by tobacco smoke concurrently.

• Bronchospasm.

The lungs. Bronchospasm makes airways bigger and contributes to wheezing similar to that experienced by someone with asthma through an asthma attack.13 While smokers may not have asthma, they’re vulnerable to this type of reaction to tobacco smoke.14 An asthmatic that starts smoking can seriously worsen their condition.15 Bronchospasm makes breathing harder, as the body tries to get more air into irritated lungs.

• Increases phlegm production.

The lungs create mucus to trap toxic and chemical substances. Little”finger-like” hairs, called cilia, coat the lung airways and move rhythmically to clean this mucus from the lungs. Coupled with coughing, this is usually an effective way of preventing the lungs of harmful substances. Tobacco smoke paralyses these hairs, allowing mucus to collect in the lungs of the smoker.16 Cigarette smoke promotes goblet cell growth increasing excretion.17 More mucus is created with every breath of bothersome tobacco, and the smoker can’t quickly clear the higher mucus.

Coughing is the body’s natural response to clear irritants from the lungs. Without The assistance of cilia (above), a smoker is confronted with the tricky task of clearing increased amounts of phlegm with cough alone. A persistent cough, while irritating, is the smoker’s sole defence against the damaging products of cigarette smoke. A smoker will probably have a persistent, bothersome cough in the time they begin smoking. A smoker who is not coughing is perhaps not doing a successful job of preventing his/her lungs of the harmful irritants found in cigarette smoke.18

• Decreases physical functionality.

After the body is stressed or very active (for example, running, swimming, playing competitive sports), it requires that more oxygen be delivered to active muscles. Diminished lung function, resulting in poor physical functionality. Also, smoking has been shown to stunt lung development in teenage girls, limiting adult breathing capacity. 19 Smoking not only Limits one’s present state of fitness but can also restrict prospective physical possibility.

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