The effects of cigarette smoking on a lung are felt throughout the body. The lung is the "working" part of the respiratory system that extracts life-sustaining oxygen from the air and sends it to the rest of the body via the bloodstream. Inhaling substances other than air, such as smoke or dust, sends a healthy respiratory system to work cleaning to keep both lungs clear. Tobacco use, however, interferes with this response. Daily exposure to smoke causes damage and health problems that only begin with the lung.
Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD)
The first stage of COPD, chronic bronchitis, affects the lungs by disabling the cleaning mechanism of the respiratory system. This health problem, brought on by cigarette smoking, paralyzes the bronchial cilia so they are less able to filter out poisons and particulate. According to the American Lung Association (ALA), a "smoker's cough" develops as compensation, in an effort to eject the unwanted substances. However, this eventually fails to do the job. As stress on the lungs grows with continued tobacco use, emphysema develops. This second stage of COPD involves the structural breakdown of the alveoli, the lung tissue responsible for oxygen exchange. COPD claims the lives of about 93,000 tobacco users every year, as per the 2004 Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) data.
Reduced Cardiopulmonary Performance
The lungs do not function in isolation, but in concert with the cardiovascular system in transporting oxygen to all the body's cells. As tobacco use damages the blood vessels and dilutes the blood oxygen levels with other compounds, the heart must work harder. By the time emphysema further cuts oxygen loads in the bloodstream, the body literally starves for oxygen.
Lung alveoli damaged by cigarette smoking can't efficiently transfer oxygen in, and carbon dioxide out of the blood. Damaged pulmonary blood vessels compound this health problem with greater reductions in circulation, reports the Mayo Clinic. This condition, called pulmonary hypertension, can lead to fatal heart failure when the heart can no long keep up with demands.
Cancer of the Lung
With over 50 carcinogenic compounds in tobacco, smoking cigarettes daily sharply raises the odds for contracting cancer. While cancer can strike many organs of the body, cigarette smoking most often results in lung cancer. The CDC calculates a smoker's risk for lung cancer at about 20 times that of the nonsmoking public.
Lung cancer is a health problem that degrades the quality of life before finally ending a life. The CDC points out that a smoker who quits before lung cancer develops can cut his risk of developing it in half within 10 years of his last cigarette.
