Will damaged lungs recover after quitting smoking?

 Will damaged lungs recover after quitting smoking?

Smoking is addictive. Addiction increases the amount of cigarettes. As the amount increases, the lungs deteriorate. As it deteriorates, it causes lung cancer. Gradually, it damages every organ.

Everyone who is addicted to cigarettes knows that this will happen. Despite knowing this, they do not quit smoking. Because even after becoming addicted, they do not want to quit. Whatever happens, it will happen tomorrow. They continue their addiction to cigarettes, saying that their health has deteriorated.

But most of them do not know. As soon as they quit smoking, the condition of the damaged lungs gradually improves. The sooner you quit, the risk of lung damage is reduced by 90 percent.

Is it possible to restore damaged lungs to their previous health after quitting smoking?

It is certainly possible. By the time a cigarette becomes an addiction, the lung cells have already been damaged. In that case, if you quit smoking, 90 percent of your damaged lungs will improve after five years. Because quitting smoking means removing the trigger that damages cells. The process of cells forming and dying is happening all over the body. This process is also damaged because cigarettes trigger it. After this trigger is removed, the cells get a chance to become normal again.

In this case, the longer the time is more than five years, the less the risk of lung damage. The damaged condition gradually improves. But that risk does not reduce to zero. But if you quit smoking completely before 40 years, the risk can be reduced to around zero. Similarly, it has been shown that people aged 70 to 80 years also benefit from quitting smoking.

Not only that, quitting smoking after cancer has developed allows the drugs to work more effectively, reduces the risk of second cancers, and reduces the risk of spread. Quitting smoking even when asthma and oxygen are low is beneficial. Therefore, quitting smoking is an effective way to improve health, regardless of your condition, age, or disease.

Science says that a person's blood pressure normalizes within 20 minutes of quitting smoking. If you can breathe easier in three days, your risk of having a heart attack in one year is reduced by 50 percent. The risk of paralysis in five years after quitting smoking is the same as that of a non-smoker, and the risk of having a heart attack in 15 years is the same as that of a non-smoker.

Limiting the amount of cigarettes does not eliminate the risk

Some people think that they can reduce the risk by smoking less. They do so. If they practice this and quit completely, their efforts will be effective. But if they continue to smoke even if the amount decreases, the limitation will not work.

Because smoking a little or a lot is poison for the entire body. Since it is a habit of smoking, even reducing the amount of cigarettes does not reduce the risk of lung damage. Studies have also shown that limiting cigarettes does not reduce the risk.

Instead, it brings some changes in the way you eat. This means that the only option is to quit smoking. Only by quitting smoking will your lung health improve.

When do cigarettes affect your lungs?

Nicotine captivates the brain so much that it makes you think you can do without nicotine. As a result, people become addicted to it one after another, smoking one after another. Smoking cigarettes every day starts to affect them within a few months.

In this case, the more cigarettes you smoke, the more your risk of lung damage increases. If you smoke cigarettes continuously for 15 years, you are 40 times more likely to develop lung cancer and chronic asthma.

Recent studies have shown that people who smoke just one cigarette a day are 50 percent more likely to develop heart disease and 30 percent more likely to have a stroke than people who never smoke.

How do cigarettes affect your lungs?

Cigarettes cause lung infections. The chemicals in cigarettes can cause allergies and increase the risk of colds, pneumonia, and viral infections. The chemicals can damage the small airways and soft tissues of the lungs. They can narrow the airways, which can cause coughing and chest tightness.

According to an international journal, smoking also damages the tiny air sacs in the lungs, called alveoli. Once the alveoli are damaged, they have a hard time repairing themselves. If enough alveoli are damaged, there is a high risk of respiratory infections.

Cigarette smoke contributes to air pollution. When cigarette smoke enters the air, it stays in the air for up to five hours, floating around. It goes directly into the lungs when people breathe it in. This is also increasing the risk of cancer and other respiratory diseases. Which are the main causes of non-communicable diseases.

It also affects the glands in the bronchial tubes by damaging the cells in the lungs. This causes more mucus to come out of the glands and causes frequent coughing.

Smoking increases the risk of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). This condition causes narrowing of the airways, making it difficult to breathe, increasing coughing, and reducing oxygen flow. It also damages the lungs by creating a network of holes. This is called ILD.

How do cigarettes cause cancer?

Of the thousands of chemicals in cigarettes, 69 are carcinogenic. These chemicals slowly reach the lungs and mix with the cells and blood. Lung cells are at risk of cancer. It changes the stage of pre-malignant cells and changes them into cancer cells.

Looking at the statistics of lung cancer, it has been found that 90 percent of people smoke cigarettes. Smoking 15 cigarettes a day increases the risk of lung cancer.

Not only that, the carcinogenic substances reach other organs through the blood and cause other cancers. The airways also become narrow and damaged. The ability to fight the disease decreases. It increases the risk of not only lung cancer but also all cancers.

According to a study by the World Health Organization, smoking kills one person every four seconds. Smoking kills 8 million people worldwide annually.

Differences between smoking and non-smoking?

There are many differences between smoking and non-smoking. Smoking is relatively risky for heart problems, brain damage, sexual dysfunction, eye problems, oral and dental health. Not only that, there is a risk of cancer in every organ.

How did smoking, which causes so many problems, begin?

Cigarettes were previously used for medicinal purposes. Since the 15th century, the use of cigarettes has become widespread in England. At that time, even though they were used as medicine, their smell attracted people. Which later led to the wrong practice of burning the chemicals in cigarettes, sniffing the smell, and smoking them in pipes, hookahs, and chilims. After this, the number of users and their addiction increased day by day.

In the 20th century, seeing that it was being traded commercially, the sale and distribution of cigarettes began as a business. As a result, today, despite the increased awareness about the deadly effects of cigarettes, users and sales have not been able to stop them.

Today, a terrible addiction to cigarettes can be seen in the young generation. It is found that they eat by imitating their friends and gradually become addicted to it. If we talk about Nepal, 25 percent of the population is addicted to cigarettes.

Vape, which was introduced to eliminate cigarettes, became dangerous

There are no attempts to eliminate addiction. Vape was introduced to eliminate cigarette addiction. But the result was the opposite of what was expected. Along with cigarettes, the addiction to vaping has also increased among young people.

Various studies have shown that vaping addiction is more dangerous than cigarettes. Due to this, the sale and distribution of vaping has been banned in the United States. But in Asian countries like Nepal, it is consumed and sold openly. While cigarettes used to be consumed secretly, the number of people who consume vaping for fashion is increasing.

How to quit smoking?

There is also a rule for quitting smoking. For that, the person's willingness is first asked. If the question is asked if they are ready to quit smoking, if the answer is 'I can't or don't want to', in that discussion, instead of telling them to quit, they are told about the effects of smoking.

After saying this, when they are asked again if they are ready to quit smoking, if the answer is 'yes', how many cigarettes have you smoked? What kind of cigarettes have you smoked? At what time, all the information is taken.

After getting this information, they are asked to reduce the amount and time of smoking. Nicotine replacement therapy is given to those who cannot quit due to addiction. This therapy gradually reduces the addiction to cigarettes. Apart from these, some medicines, yoga and meditation also reduce its addiction.

Similarly, those who want to quit smoking should be reminded in a motivating way, not by scolding them, but by not pressuring them. Some people start using khaini and tobacco after quitting cigarettes. But this is a wrong practice.