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Understanding Lung Problems—Make Each Breath Healthy National Institute on Aging

Understanding Lung Problems—Make Each Breath Healthy

Lupe has smoked for over 45 years. This year she started having trouble keeping up with her 3-year-old grandson without gasping for air. She can no longer work in her garden without having coughing fits. Sometimes Lupe feels out of breath strolling through the market. Yet, Lupe was surprised when her doctor said she had chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.

Every day you breathe in and out nearly 20,000 times. That’s a lot of work for your lungs. Over time your likelihood of having a serious lung problem increases, especially if you smoke.

Lung problems that are more common among older people include:

Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease
Pneumonia
Lung cancer

Lung Diseases

URL of this page: http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/lungdiseases.html

When you breathe, your lungs take in oxygen from the air and deliver it to the bloodstream. The cells in your body need oxygen to work and grow. During a normal day, you breathe nearly 25,000 times. People with lung disease have difficulty breathing. Millions of people in the U.S. have lung disease. If all types of lung disease are lumped together, it is the number three killer in the United States.

The term lung disease refers to many disorders affecting the lungs, such as asthma, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, infections like influenza, pneumonia and tuberculosis, lung cancer, and many other breathing problems.

Dept. of Health and Human Services Office on Women's Health

http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/lungdiseases.html

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Lung Diseases: MedlinePlus