Smoking damages the whole body, but for this answer, I am going to focus on smoking and the changes to our respiratory tract, skin blood vessels and antioxidant levels.
Respiratory tract: “(1) Nicotine constricts terminal bronchioles, which decreases airflow into and out of the lungs. (2) Carbon monoxide in smoke binds to hemoglobin and reduces its oxygen-carrying capability. (3) Irritants in smoke cause increased mucus secretion by the mucosa of the bronchial tree and swelling of the mucosal lining, both of which impede airflow into and out of the lungs. (4) Irritants in smoke also inhibit the movement of cilia and destroy cilia in the lining of the respiratory system. Thus, excess mucus and foreign debris are not easily removed, which further adds to the difficulty in breathing. The irritants can also convert the normal respiratory epithelium into stratified …show more content…
Tortora, G. & Derrickson, B. (2017). Principles of Anatomy and Physiology, 15th ed. New York: John Wiley & Sons Inc. p 889.
2. Sela BA. Dermatological manifestations of smoking. Harefuah. 2002 Aug;141(8):736-40, 760. Review. Hebrew. PMID: 12222141
3. Powell J.T. (1998) Vascular damage from smoking: Disease mechanisms at the arterial wall. Vasc Med 3:21–28.
4. Alberg A. The influence of cigarette smoking on circulating concentrations of antioxidant micronutrients. Toxicology. 2002 Nov 15;180(2):121-37. Review. PMID: 12324189
Question 3 Additon:
Hi Emily,
I wanted to share something I found on thirdhand smoke. "Thirdhand smoke (THS) refers to components of secondhand smoke that stick to indoor surfaces and persist in the environment" (1). When I was a teacher, I would collect the student's homework folders daily and knew which children had a parent that smoked in the house. As the child opened their folder, I would smell the cigarette smoke coming off of the paper. I could only imagine the level of thirdhand smoke in their home if I was smelling it on their