Lung health – How healthy are yours?

At rest, an average adult takes about 16 breaths per minute. This means we breathe about 960 breaths an hour, 23,040 breaths a day, 8,409,600 a year (unless we get a lot of exercise). By the age of 80, you will have taken about 672,768,000 breaths in your lifetime.

During the month of November, Lung Foundation Australia will be celebrating the importance of breathing and encourage everyone to stop and think about what they can do with just one breath.

Lung statistics:

• 1 in 10 Australians have some form of lung disease
• 3 out of 5 Australians have risk factors associated with lung disease
• 50 people die each day due to lung cancer
• Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer death

Cancer was the number one cause of tobacco-related death in men (57%) and women (51%). While lung cancer is the fifth most common type of cancer overall, it is the leading cause of cancer death in Australians. Smoking is also a risk factor for gastro intestinal disease, macular degeneration, hair loss, accelerated skin ageing, and osteoporosis to name a few.

Why would you smoke when tobacco smoke contains 7000 chemical compounds?! Of the 7000 different chemicals, we know that 69 of them cause cancer. If you are thinking about quitting smoking, click here to find out how you can start your journey.

Check how healthy your lungs are by taking a interactive Lung Health Checklist