1. Smoking or vaping

It’s no secret that smoking is one of the worst things you can do for your lungs; according to the NHS, 35% of all deaths for respiratory conditions in the UK are linked to smoking. The tar, carbon monoxide and other chemicals in cigarette smoke can cause inflammation and damage in your lungs, putting you at a higher risk of conditions like chest infections, emphysema and lung cancer.

But while smoking is certainly one of the most severe examples of how chemical exposure can damage the lungs, it’s not the only one. While research into the impact of vaping is still ongoing, Dr George says he’s seen patients suffer damage as a result of using vapes.

“I’m the clinical lead at the Royal Brompton Hospital for the service which looks after patients with interstitial, inflammatory and scarring lung diseases, and we do sometimes see patients come in with vaping-related lung injuries,” he says. “It is a very much evolving field, and we don’t fully understand the breadth of the risk that vaping poses, but what we do know is that vaping can be harmful and is harmful to a proportion of people who expose themselves to it.”

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