'Terrifying' footage shows breathing with a normal lung compared to a smoker's lung

A video showing the effects smoking has on lungs has been shared online, giving many a serious reality check when it comes to smoking.

There's no denying how bad smoking is for your health, but seeing it up close and personal really shows how much damage it can do.

This video, shot back in 2018 by a nurse named Amanda Eller in North Carolina, shows a side-by-side comparison of a healthy lung versus a pair of lunges belonging to a smoker and how they both inflate with help of a ventilator. Take a look:

We all know that smoking for years damages your lungs and can lead to a variety of illnesses and diseases, but to see it up close is another thing entirely.

In nurse Amanda Eller's clip above, you can see the healthy lung being pumped with air to simulate breathing, and it expands and collapses as you would usually expect to feel inside of your body.

But it’s the smoker’s lung which shows a stark difference in functionality as it rises just like the healthy lung but quickly collapses.

The nurse is heard explaining: “Because these lungs are COPD [chronic obstructive pulmonary disease] lungs, cancerous lungs, the elastin has gone - so they’ll stretch out but the recoil of them just snaps right back, because there’s nothing to help hold them open.”

Facebook/Amanda Eller

When switching to the healthy lungs and pumping them with the bag, she then explains: “So inspiration, expiration - they totally deflate and they’re right back to where they started.”

The video, which has been reposted on social media this week, seems to have opened many eyes, with one user saying: "I’ve now smoked for 27 years and I’m 41. This freaks me out so much but I can’t seem to kick it.”

And another said: "I'm getting ready to attempt to stop smoking again. I'm saving this video, thank you"

There are thousands of chemicals in cigarette smoke, and a lot of them have been linked to the development of lung cancer, emphysema and other serious conditions.

Pixabay

A hallmark of smoking is often showed on cigarette packaging or advertisements which is horribly blackened lungs, damaged from years of cigarette use.

Tobacco smoke notoriously contains many noxious chemicals like carbon monoxide, sulphur, nitrogen dioxide, nitric oxide, and methane, which is why it’s so dangerous.

It can also cause at least eight different types of cancer, though the exact underlying compound is still a mystery.

But it’s the terrible blackened colour which is probably a great visual aid to anyone who needs to quit today.