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Many students have expressed interest in sharing the anti-smoking station materials with their families. The station materials presented here are some of those that are shared with the students during a visit to the classroom by the EOP.
These are photographs of the preserved pig lungs. They are used to familiarize the students with the structure of our own lungs — pig lungs are very similar to ours in their structure (but are much larger). One set of lungs is used to demonstrate "healthy" lung tissue, and one set is of simulated "smoker's" lung tissue. We also use these lungs to discuss the dangers of breathing secondhand smoke.
Once students have explored the structure of the lungs and see the damage that smoking can inflict, we discuss the positive aspects to quitting smoking. We caution them, however, that not all of the damage done to the lungs, heart, and circulatory system can be reversed, so it is best to never start smoking and to avoid breathing secondhand smoke.
- 20 minutes after quitting, your blood pressure drops to a level close to that before the last cigarette and the temperature of your hands and feet increases to normal
- 8 hours after quitting, carbon monoxide levels in the blood drop to normal
- 24 hours after quitting, chance of heart attack decreases
- 2 weeks to 3 months after quitting, circulation improves and lung function increases up to 30%
- 5 years after quitting, stroke risk is reduced to that of a nonsmoker
- 15 years after quitting, risk of coronary heart disease is that of a nonsmoker
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