Dangers Of Smoking

Almost everybody knows that smoking is bad for the health. Images of blackened lungs line school hallways and hospital waiting rooms, but despite this people continue to take up smoking. This may have to do with the pervasive romantic image of smoking -- an image that has nothing in common with reality.

There are many ways to take tobacco. You can chew it, inhale it through the nose, and smoke it in the form of cigars or cigarettes. No matter how it's taken it is dangerous, but because smoking is the most popular way to consume tobacco it has also received the greatest attention from the medical field and the media.

When a smoker inhales a puff of cigarette smoke the large surface area of the lungs allows nicotine to pass into the blood stream almost immediately. It is this nicotine "hit" that smokers crave, but there is a lot more to smoke than just nicotine. In fact, there are more than 4000 chemical substances that make up cigarette smoke and many of them are toxic.

Cigarette smoke is composed of 43 carcinogenic substances and more than 400 other toxins that can also be found in wood varnish, nail polish remover, and rat poison. All of these substances accumulate in the body and can cause serious problems to the heart and lungs.

Cancer is the most common disease associated with smoking. Smoking is the cause of 90% of lung cancer cases and is related to 30% of all cancer fatalities. Other smoking-related cancers include cancers of the mouth, pancreas, urinary bladder, kidney, stomach, esophagus, and larynx.

Besides cancer, smoking is also related to several other diseases of the lungs. Emphysema and bronchitis can be fatal and 75% of all deaths from these diseases are linked to smoking.

Smokers have shorter lives than non-smokers. On average, smoking takes 15 years off your life span. This can be explained by the high rate of exposure to toxic substances which are found in cigarette smoke.

Smokers also put others at risk. The dangers of breathing in second-hand smoke are well known. Smokers harm their loved ones by exposing them to the smoke they exhale. All sorts of health problems are related to breathing in second-hand smoke. Children are especially susceptible to the dangers of second-hand smoke because their internal organs are still developing. Children exposed to second-hand smoke are more vulnerable to asthma, sudden infant death syndrome, bronchitis, pneumonia, and ear infections.

Smoking can also be dangerous for unborn children. Mothers who smoke are more likely to suffer from miscarriages, bleeding and nausea, and babies of smoking mothers have reduced birth weights or may be premature. These babies are more susceptible to sudden infant death syndrome and may also have lifelong health complications due to chest infections and asthma.

It is never too late to give up smoking, even those who have smoked for 20 years or more can realize tremendous health benefits from giving up the habit.

General Information On Smoking

In the sixties, when the hippies ruled the world, cigarettes were available just about anywhere, and they can smoke pretty much anywhere they please – even in hospitals! Different advertisements of cigarettes filled the streets as well. But nowadays we're more aware about the different effects smoking can bring. It has also come to a point where smoking is prohibited in public places, and cigarette packets are required to include fair warning about their product's ill effects.

Here are some basic information about smoking:

1. Smoking is one of the most common forms of recreational drug abuse. Smoking, once started on, is a hard habit to break. This is thanks to a substance called nicotine which is found in tobacco leaves. Nicotine, like heroin and other addictive narcotics, make the mind and body quickly get used to it that it does not feel normal without it.

2. Nine out of ten tobacco and cigarette smokers taste their first puff before they reach the age of eighteen. And most adults who have started smoking in their teen never thought they would get hooked on the habit when they started. This is the same reason why they advise that it is easier not to get started on the habit.

3. Smoking increases a person's risk of developing heart diseases like heart attacks and stroke. It also increases the chances of having different forms of cancer like lung cancer, throat cancer, and cancer of the mouth. It may give a person lung problems like bronchitis, and emphysema.

4. Smokers are more likely to be absent from work than non-smokers, and their illnesses tend to last longer. This means smokers may incur more medical costs because they see physicians more often. They also have a tendency to be admitted to the hospital more often and for longer periods of time as compared to those who do not smoke.

5. Smokers have a lower survival rate after surgery than non-smokers. This is because cigarette smoking may also affect the body's immune system, which may cause delayed would healing, and reduce immune response. And because the immune response is reduced, there is a great probability that complications may come up after surgery.

6. Periodontitis, a serious gum disease which may lead to tooth and bone loss, may also be caused by cigarette smoking because it smoking affects the body's natural ability to fight off infection and repair damaged tissues.

7. Smokers have a higher chance at developing peptic ulcers, which can be located in the stomach and the duodenum, as compared to people who do not smoke cigarettes. If peptic ulcers are left untreated, this condition may be fatal.

8. Aside from serious medical conditions, smoking may also give a person bad skin. This is because smoking restricts blood vessels, preventing oxygen and other nutrients from getting to the skin. 

9. Cigarette smoking may also leave a person with bad breath. And if it becomes persistent, it may develop into a condition called halitosis. 

10. The smell of stale smoke lingers and sticks to a smoker's clothes and hair. And it is pretty difficult to remove.

Before you start smoking, think it over and ask yourself: “Do I really want all these medical conditions to affect me?” This may as well help you decide whether or not you're going to light that first stick or not.