Question

Explain how cigarette smoking impacts the lungs at the physiologic level.

Answer 1

The cigarette smoking impacts the lungs at the physiologic level;

The cells producing mucus in our lungs and airways grow in size and number leading to an increase in the amount of mucus.

The cilia clean our lungs. The cilia slow down after we start smoking a cigarette. Smoking reduces the number of cilia, so few cilia are left clean your lungs.

The mucus clogs our airways as it stays in our airways. The extra mucus gets easily infected.

As our lungs and airways get irritated and inflamed, they become narrow and this reduces the air flow.

When the tissues of the lung are destroyed, the number of air spaces and blood vessels in the lungs decreases. This leads to less supply of oxygen in our body.

Cigarette smoke has carcinogens that can make normal cells change into cancer cells.