You are breathing in second-hand smoke – a mixture of smoke from the burning cigarette, the smoke exhaled by the smoker.
Surgeon reveals what former smokers should knowHow can second-hand smoking impact your lungs?
“People often underestimate second-hand smoke because they are not the ones holding the cigarette.
But the lungs and blood vessels do not distinguish between a smoker’s cigarette and smoke forced into the air around them,” said Dr Rajbhoj.
He highlighted that cigarette smoke contains more than 7,000 chemicals, including dozens known to cause cancer.
You may not smoke. You may even avoid smoking areas at restaurants and airports, insist that nobody smokes inside your home. But what happens when the person sitting next to you lights a cigarette? That familiar smell drifting across a balcony, into a car, through a window or across a tea stall is not ‘just smoke’. You are breathing in second-hand smoke – a mixture of smoke from the burning cigarette, the smoke exhaled by the smoker.
In an interview with HT Lifestyle, Dr Ashwin Rajbhoj, cancer physician, MOC, Cancer Care, Pune, and Dr Sewanti Limaye, director of medical and precision oncology, Sir HN Reliance Foundation Hospital, shared how second-hand smoking can impact your lungs.
Also read | Is it ever too late to quit smoking? Surgeon reveals what former smokers should know
How can second-hand smoking impact your lungs? “People often underestimate second-hand smoke because they are not the ones holding the cigarette. But the lungs and blood vessels do not distinguish between a smoker’s cigarette and smoke forced into the air around them,” said Dr Rajbhoj.
He highlighted that cigarette smoke contains more than 7,000 chemicals, including dozens known to cause cancer. For non-smokers, repeated exposure has been linked with lung cancer, heart disease and stroke. Even short-term exposure can affect blood vessels and trigger inflammatory and respiratory changes.
