Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer death in the United States, according to MayoClinic.com. Your risk of contracting lung cancer is increased if you smoke or if you are exposed to secondhand smoke. Supplemental use of vitamin A or...
Smoking cigarettes is one of the hardest addictions to kick. Smoking tobacco reduces your lung capacity and increases your risks for cancer and heart disease. However, even as a smoker, you can improve your lung functioning and reduce your risk of...
Lung cancer kills nearly 160,000 people in the United States each year, and remains the leading cause of cancer deaths, the American Cancer Society (ACS) states. Lung cancer has one of the lowest survival rates of all cancers, with between 11 and...
Smokers can actively practice a number of exercises to improve the condition of their lungs. Aerobic exercises, in particular, have been shown to enhance the quality of lung function in smokers. Seek the guidance of your health care professional...
There is a direct link between smoking and lung cancer. This has been proven beyond any doubt and is a universally accepted fact within the medical community. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) states unequivocally that...
One of the primary negative health issues associated with smoking is the destruction of lung tissue. Lung tissue damage occurs in a number of ways when you smoke. In some cases, the damage is permanent and even life-threatening, according to the...
One of the reasons smoking is considered harmful is because of the different ways it destroys a smoker's lungs. Indeed, even the first cigarette smoked causes an immediate and negative impact on the lungs, according to the American Cancer Society....
When you light up a cigarette, more than 4,000 chemicals enter your lungs, according to the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center. Although these chemicals affect the lungs in different ways, even smoking one cigarette can cause permanent harm....
Electronic cigarettes are a new trend, especially among young people. They are gaining in popularity as a replacement for traditional cigarettes. However, this product has not yet undergone full U.S. Food and Drug Administration, or FDA, testing...
Currently, 21 percent of adults over the age of 18 are smokers, reports the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). It's no secret that smoking releases harmful contaminants into the air, and it isn't only the smokers who the...
The Surgeon General has called smoking "the single greatest avoidable cause of disease and death." Smoking damages multiple organ systems and some of the damage is irreversible. Smokers also are plagued by chronic cough, discolorations of the...
Smokers frequently suffer mucous build-up in their airways. This condition is referred to as chronic mucus hypersecretion, or CMH. It happens because smokers' lungs make more mucus in an effort to clear away toxins inhaled with smoke. As thick and...
Cigarettes contain many poisons including tar, nicotine and carcinogens. In a 2006 report, the Surgeon General called smoking "the single greatest avoidable cause of death and disease." Cigarette smoke not only affects the smoker but those around...
The dangers of tobacco smoking have been widely known since at least the 1960s. Only relatively recently, however, have the dangers of secondhand smoking been understood. Nevertheless, secondhand smoking is still more dangerous than many people...
Smoking is a harmful habit that is difficult to quit. The effects of smoking are both immediate and long term. However, the human body is resilient and begins to heal itself quickly after the last cigarette. Healing inside and out continues for...
Your lungs are under a near-constant assaults from free radicals -- renegade molecules that destroy your vulnerable lung cells. Free radical activity significantly increases if you smoke or inhale pollutants. If free radical activity continues...
That smoking damages lungs might be obvious with each cough, wheeze and shortened breath a smoker takes. The effect that impaired breathing has on physical activities may also seem obvious. Even light physical activities, such as climbing stairs...
Within 12 hours of quitting smoking, the potentially toxic carbon monoxide levels in your blood drop to normal. Ten years after quitting smoking, your risk of dying from lung cancer is half that of a smoker's. Although quitting smoking...
You've finally decided to quit smoking cigarettes and improve your health. Ask any medical expert and he'll say quitting smoking can make you breathe easier and cut down on your risks for cancer and other diseases. But if you're worrying it will...
When a smoker quits smoking, the health benefits are immediate. Energy levels increase, food tastes better and coughing subsides, according to the article "Quit Smoking" at Healthfinder.gov. The most important benefits are the decreased risk of...
Smoking is a difficult addiction to overcome, and many individuals have taken the challenging yet necessary steps to eliminate smoking from their lives, but are left with ongoing side effects that are a result of the toxic nature of cigarettes and...
If you have been a regular smoker, chances are that your lungs have been scarred. Because of the scarring, your breathing will be weakened and the oxygen content that your body receives will be reduced. There are a variety of natural options that...
Your body begins to repair itself almost immediately after you quit smoking. According to the CDC, your heart rate drops within 20 minutes of smoking your last cigarette, and your lung function begins to improve within 3 months of quitting. If you...
When you breathe tobacco smoke, even from someone else's tobacco product, you are inhaling over 4,000 chemicals at once, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Tobacco smoke damages the lungs in a number of ways, and is...
Beta-carotene is a chemical that occurs in nature as a coloring for various vegetables. Beta-carotene is an essential component of a healthy diet. Unfortunately, when beta-carotene is taken in large amounts as a dietary supplement, it can...
Heavy smoking is a dangerous habit that can cause conditions that affect the heart, lungs and other major organs. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, male smokers are 23 times more likely to develop lung cancer and female...
According to the National Cancer Institute, more than 220,000 people develop lung cancer annually in the United States. A disease that is almost always fatal, lung cancer accounts for almost 20 percent of all cancer deaths in the United States....
Smoking cigarettes is serious health hazard, since it increases the risk for heart disease and cancer, especially lung cancer. In addition, it depletes the body of vital minerals and vitamins that are required to maintain overall health. The...
You use your lungs every second of every day. Sometimes, they work only minimally, such as when you are sleeping or reading; at other times, they must work very hard to help you climb stairs and play sports. Maybe you've experienced feelings of...
If your chest starts to feel sore and you develop a cough followed by the chills or a slight fever, you just might have bronchitis. Bronchitis is a condition that occurs when the inner walls that line the main air passageways of your lungs become...
Coughing could be due to a cold or the flu, but the reason for a cough isn't always clear. Even your doctor may have trouble determining the exact cause. Learn about the different causes, symptoms, and treatments of a cough in this video.
Lung cancer is when lung cells become cancerous and grow at an abnormal rate taking over the lungs and spreading to other parts of the body. Lung cancer is one of the leaders in deaths caused by cancer. In this video learn more about this serious...
