As soon as you put a cigarette into your mouth, it starts killing your body. However, coughs and other warning signs often prove too mild to make those smoking cigarettes kick the habit. But maybe this video will help them. Amanda Eller, a nurse from North Carolina, has shared a graphic comparison between healthy and smokers’ lungs. The difference is so eye-opening that nearly 500K people have already shared the footage on Facebook.

In the video, it’s easy to tell which is which. The healthy lungs are pinky red and the those that went through a pack of cigarettes a day for 20 years look like a wreck, destroyed in a fire. “Because these lungs are COPD, cancerous lungs, the elastance is gone so that they will stretch out, but then the recoil of them just snaps right back,” a voice in the recording explained. Elastance is the ability of lungs to rebound after inhalation. Reduced elastance means the human lungs are stiff and have to work way harder to bring in sufficient air, leaving its possessor breathless, and if that’s not enough proof that smoking kills, we don’t know what is.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), “[the] overall mortality among both male and female smokers in the United States is about three times higher than that among similar people who never smoked.” Cigarettes cause about one of every five deaths in the States each year, killing more than 480,000 people annually. However, it’s never too late. For example, quitting smoking before 40 reduces the risk of dying from smoking-related disease and lung cancer by about 90%.

More info: Facebook

A nurse from North Carolina has uploaded a graphic video that has been shared nearly 500,000 times in just a few days

Image credits: Amanda Eller

To show the difference between the two, they inflated the healthy lungs

And made a video, illustrating that the healthy not only look, but work properly as well

Then, it was the turn of the cancerous lungs, damaged by 20 years of smoking a pack a day

The elastance was gone, so they would stretch out but then the recoil of them just snaps right back

The striking difference is visible in the second video

This inspired people to share their smoking stories

While others still defended their habit

What’s your take on this? Let’s talk in the comments!

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