Cigarette smoke has a wide range of health effects on the body, and the lungs and respiratory tract are the two most severely affected areas.
But the good news is that after quitting smoking, the lungs can heal to some extent, Dr. Norman Edelman said. He is a senior scientific advisor to the American Lung Association and a lung disease specialist.
When a person inhales chemicals in cigarette smoke, the epidermis in the alveoli begins to become inflamed and painful. Within a few hours after smoking, the cilia in the alveoli begin to slow down their brush-like movements. This will temporarily paralyze them and will not effectively remove mucus and other substances (such as dust particles) from the respiratory tract.
Another change observed in the lungs of smokers is the increased viscosity and secretion of mucus. Because the cilia sweep the mucus out of the lungs at a slower rate than it forms, the mucus accumulates in the airways, blocking the airways and causing coughing. The accumulation of mucus can also cause more lung infections, such as chronic bronchitis.
How can the lungs recover?
In general, when people start to quit, some short-term inflammatory changes in the lungs can be reversed. Edelman said. In other words, the swelling of the lungs and respiratory surfaces began to subside, and the amount of mucus secreted by the lung cells began to decrease, he said. New cilia can grow, and these new cilia can better remove mucus secretions, he added.
In an interview with Life Science, Edelman said that within a few days to a few weeks after quitting smoking, former smokers will notice that their breathing is becoming more urgent during exercise. He said it is unclear why this happened, but partly because of the carbon monoxide in the blood being expelled from the body. The carbon monoxide contained in cigarette smoke interferes with the transport of oxygen because carbon monoxide combines with oxygen to bind red blood cells. This may explain some of the smokers' experiences of breathing difficulties.
Another reason for the improvement in respiratory function in former smokers is that the inflammatory response in the respiratory tract has improved because the alveolar endothelium is no longer exposed to chemical stimuli contained in smoke, Dr. Edelman said. This will reduce the swelling and allow the air to flow through the airway to the home.
Another paradox is that in the first few weeks after quitting smoking, the former smoker may have more coughs than when smoking. But this is a good thing, it means that the cilia in the lungs are once again active. These thin cilia can now transport excess mucus from the lungs to the respiratory tract to the throat and then cough them up, Edelman said.
“The cough is cleaning up the mucus in the lungs,†Edelman explained.
He said another health benefit of quitting smoking is to reduce the risk of lung cancer. Edelman said that the longer a former smoker does not smoke, the lower the risk of cancer, although the risk will never completely disappear.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, for example, after 10 years of smoking cessation, the risk of lung cancer among former smokers is about half that of smokers. But a former quitters are more likely to die of lung cancer than those who never smoke.
Not all changes are reversible
Our bodies are well able to repair some of the damage to lung cells and tissues caused by smoking, but not all injuries are reversible.
Edelman said that the damage caused by smoking to the lungs and the deterioration of lung function are directly related to the number of cigarettes a person usually smokes per day and the age of their cigarettes. The degree of smoking is usually measured by “package/yearâ€. He pointed out that the more the number of cigarettes smoked each year, the more easily the lungs are irreversibly damaged.
Although the lungs have a way to protect themselves from external damage, long-term exposure to harmful chemicals contained in inhaled cigarettes can reduce these defenses. As a result, lung tissue opportunities begin to become inflamed and scarred due to smoking, and the lungs gradually lose their elasticity and cannot exchange oxygen efficiently.
Long-term smoking can cause emphysema, a chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). Edelman said that emphysema destroys part of the lungs, the alveoli, which is the place where oxygen and carbon dioxide are exchanged. Patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) have shortness of breath and even have difficulty breathing.
Once a person's lungs are destroyed to the extent of emphysema, the airway wall loses its original shape and elasticity, and it is difficult to exhale all the air in the lungs. Edelman said that these lung changes are permanent and cannot be reversed.
Recently, scientists have discovered through magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) that tracheal damage associated with emphysema begins after a person has started smoking for a few years, although this symptom may not occur in the first 20 to 30 years of smoking. Edelman said.
But quitting smoking will never be too late, and smoking cessation at any age can help people breathe better and increase their life expectancy, Edelman said.
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