Activities Ideas

Gasping for Air

Time: 10 minutes

Materials: One regular straw and one small coffee straw for each participant (round coffee straws are better than flat ones).

Objective: To help participants experience the effect of loss of lung capacity as a result of smoking.

Activity Steps:

1. Provide each participant with a regular straw and a coffee straw.  Explain that they are going to participate in an activity that demonstrates how difficult it might be to breathe in certain situations.
2. Ask each participant to pinch their nostrils closed and place the larger straw in his or her mouth.
3. Have participant breathe through the straw for one minute, while someone else (like you) times them.
4. Ask participant to describe what it was like to breathe through the straw.  In order to inhale the same amount of air that they normally inhale each minute, they needed to inhale more often, which raises the heart beat and becomes more tiring.  Explain that this is what happens when a person smokes cigarettes.  Note: Often people think that the harmful consequences of smoking are not experienced until they have smoked for many years.  Point out that smoking can interfere with short-term goals like athletic performance or leisure activities.
5. Ask participants to repeat the exercise using the coffee straw.
6. Point out that the long-term effects of smoking cigarettes are very serious.  Breathing through the coffee straw demonstrates what it is like to breathe when you have chronic obstructive lung disease.
7. Remind participants of the many diseases that are linked to cigarette smoking and tobacco use.

Explanation: Emphysema and chronic bronchitis are two examples of chronic obstructive lung disease.  In emphysema, there is a limited airflow into and out of the lungs due to changes in the smallest air passages and the walls of the alveoli (tiny air sacs).  The alveoli are destroyed by cigarette smoke.  It then becomes difficult for the lungs to bring in oxygen and remove carbon dioxide.  The heart must work harder to get oxygen to cells.  Chronic bronchitis is an inflammation of the bronchial tubes causing a thickening of the tube walls and an increase in mucous production, which narrows air passages, making it more difficult to breathe.