Smoking

Smoking is probably the worst thing you can do for your respiratory system. It is the greatest cause of respiratory diseases. Smoking is known to cause lung cancer, bronchitis, oral and throat cancers and also heart attacks.

The main 3 substances in cigarettes that cause problems for our respiratory systems are nicotine, carbon monoxide, and tar. Nicotine is actually a natural insecticide produced in tobacco plants to kill insects. It is an addictive chemical.

Carbon monoxide affects the reparatory system really badly because it affects the ability of the respiratory system to deliver oxygen to the body cells. Carbon Monoxide actually diffuses into the blood stream instead of the opposite.

Tar is also very bad because of its stickiness it accumulates in the alveoli and of Corse this can lead to problems in gas exchange. The tar itself is also made up of hundreds of different chemicals that are toxic and some are cancer causing. Some of these chemicals irritate the airways causing swelling and increased mucus. Tar also stops the cilia and bronchi from being active.

There is not much you can do to prevent this because its not a disease its ultimately your choice if you want to do it or not but its highly not recommended. Also if you don’t smoke but have a smoker in your family try to stay away from them when they’re smoking to prevent second hand smoke.

As far as treatment goes the main thing is to quite smoking. There is a thing called FLAP inhibitors, which is a category of drugs that interfere with the production of chemicals that cause inflammation.