Lungs

Your lungs are the powerhouse of your breathing system, which bring oxygen into your body and remove carbon dioxide. The lungs are controlled by specialised areas of the brain, which control your breathing automatically unless there is a problem. Asthma is an increasing problem, usually starting from childhood, which can have a great effect on quality of life. Smoking can damage the lungs severely, and is the main preventable cause of lung damage such as bronchitis or emphysema. Snoring and sleep apnoea can cause breathing problems at night which can result in sleep problems and lack of energy.

Lung function is the best indicator of how long you will live

Lung function is a measure of the amount of air that you can breathe in and out, and this naturally declines with age, however this decline in lung function is thought to be the best indicator of how long you will live, because when it reaches a critical value you can not breathe in enough oxygen to survive.

Smoking reduces lung function and shortens your life, so that smoking is one of the worst things you can do for your health.

Diabetes also causes a reduction in lung function that starts even before diabetes is obvious enough to be diagnosed, and so is probably associated with metabolic syndrome. This decline increases after diabestes is fully established.