How Does Smoking Cause Bronchitis?

Video Transcript

"Hi, I'm Doctor Savage. I'm here to describe how smoking causes bronchitis. First of all, bronchitis, what...what is the bronchi? What are the bronchioles? Those are the tubes that go from the trachea, the beginning of the airway leading to the lungs, to two main bronchi, which are the larger tubes leading to the lungs, to little bronchioles, which end in the...the little pockets called alveoli, where most of the gas exchange takes place in your lungs. When your lungs, including your bronchi, are exposed to any type of chemical or allergic exposure, inflammation then takes place. It's part of your immune system. It's part of, you know, normal inflammation. But, when you actually are smoking there're...you know, nicotine, tar, and multiple other chemicals that the bronchi are exposed to, causes a chemical type of inflammation. And that, in essence, is bronchitis. Someone who smokes regularly ends up having chronic bronchitis, which actually is a serious medical condition that people actually end up, you know, succumbing to this disease. That's one of the many reasons not to smoke. I'm sure this has been informative. I'm Doctor Savage, and here's to your health."