Smoking Dangers - injurious to health
You must have heard this innumerable times - smoking kills, smoking is injurious to health, smoking is for losers, et al. Why is it then that millions of people across the globe have no qualms about lighting up a cigarette and going through (sometimes) several packs a day? Smoking kills 900,000 people every year in India. “It is common knowledge that cigarette smoking is the single major cause of cancer and cardiovascular diseases, contributing to hundreds of thousands of premature deaths each year, yet so many people continue to smoke and chew tobacco.
Nicotine found in tobacco products is widely considered to be a powerfully addicting drug. Its rapid absorption through the lungs of cigarette smokers is widely-accepted, but its equally ready absorption through the oral mucosa under alkaline conditions normally found in cigar, pipe and smokeless tobacco use is less publicised,” he says. Once in the blood stream, of course, nicotine acts on the central nervous and cardiovascular systems in identical fashion regardless of the method of absorption.
tobacco contains over 4,000 harmful, toxic substances. “Tobacco has been implicated in the etiology of a number of cancers - lung, cheek, tongue, oesophagus, larynx, stomach, uterine cervix, urinary bladder, and some forms of leukemia. Smoking increases coronary atherosclerosis, coronary artery spasms, cholesterol levels and reduces oxygen carrying capacity and acts in a number of ways on the respiratory passages that leads to bronchitis. Smokers are more prone to chest infections and pneumonia. There is also a definite association between smoking and low birth weight babies and an increased incidence of prematurity, spontaneous abortions, still births and neonatal deaths,” he says.
It slows your blood flow, cutting off oxygen to your feet and hands. Changing to low-tar cigarettes doesn’t help because smokers usually take deeper puffs and hold the smoke in for longer, dragging the tar deeper into their lungs. Carbon monoxide robs your muscles, brain and body tissue of oxygen, making your body and your heart work harder. Over time, your airways swell and let less air into your lungs,”
Diseases it causes
There is no such thing as a safe cigarette. It doesn’t matter if it is a light or ultra light; the effects are the same.
Smoking and tobacco cause chronic lung diseases, heart attacks, strokes, different types of cancers, blood and oral cavity, erectile dysfunction, cataracts and gum infections. Smoking also contributes to hip fractures due to reduced bone density, higher incidence of post surgical wound infections and problems conceiving. Tobacco stains teeth, causes bad breath and decreases the ability to smell and taste. Those who use smokeless tobacco, such as chew or use snuff, are likely to develop diseases of the mouth, including cancer of the mouth and gums.
Second hand smoke
Secondhand smoke - the smoke breathed out by smokers and the smoke from the burning end of a cigarette, cigar, or pipe - has twice as much nicotine, and five times the carbon monoxide, as the smoke that is inhaled. Passive smoking is harmful and non-smokers living with smokers have about 25 per cent chance of a heart attack and more likely to suffer a stroke.
You must have heard this innumerable times - smoking kills, smoking is injurious to health, smoking is for losers, et al. Why is it then that millions of people across the globe have no qualms about lighting up a cigarette and going through (sometimes) several packs a day? Smoking kills 900,000 people every year in India. “It is common knowledge that cigarette smoking is the single major cause of cancer and cardiovascular diseases, contributing to hundreds of thousands of premature deaths each year, yet so many people continue to smoke and chew tobacco.
Nicotine found in tobacco products is widely considered to be a powerfully addicting drug. Its rapid absorption through the lungs of cigarette smokers is widely-accepted, but its equally ready absorption through the oral mucosa under alkaline conditions normally found in cigar, pipe and smokeless tobacco use is less publicised,” he says. Once in the blood stream, of course, nicotine acts on the central nervous and cardiovascular systems in identical fashion regardless of the method of absorption.
tobacco contains over 4,000 harmful, toxic substances. “Tobacco has been implicated in the etiology of a number of cancers - lung, cheek, tongue, oesophagus, larynx, stomach, uterine cervix, urinary bladder, and some forms of leukemia. Smoking increases coronary atherosclerosis, coronary artery spasms, cholesterol levels and reduces oxygen carrying capacity and acts in a number of ways on the respiratory passages that leads to bronchitis. Smokers are more prone to chest infections and pneumonia. There is also a definite association between smoking and low birth weight babies and an increased incidence of prematurity, spontaneous abortions, still births and neonatal deaths,” he says.
It slows your blood flow, cutting off oxygen to your feet and hands. Changing to low-tar cigarettes doesn’t help because smokers usually take deeper puffs and hold the smoke in for longer, dragging the tar deeper into their lungs. Carbon monoxide robs your muscles, brain and body tissue of oxygen, making your body and your heart work harder. Over time, your airways swell and let less air into your lungs,”
Diseases it causes
There is no such thing as a safe cigarette. It doesn’t matter if it is a light or ultra light; the effects are the same.
Smoking and tobacco cause chronic lung diseases, heart attacks, strokes, different types of cancers, blood and oral cavity, erectile dysfunction, cataracts and gum infections. Smoking also contributes to hip fractures due to reduced bone density, higher incidence of post surgical wound infections and problems conceiving. Tobacco stains teeth, causes bad breath and decreases the ability to smell and taste. Those who use smokeless tobacco, such as chew or use snuff, are likely to develop diseases of the mouth, including cancer of the mouth and gums.
Second hand smoke
Secondhand smoke - the smoke breathed out by smokers and the smoke from the burning end of a cigarette, cigar, or pipe - has twice as much nicotine, and five times the carbon monoxide, as the smoke that is inhaled. Passive smoking is harmful and non-smokers living with smokers have about 25 per cent chance of a heart attack and more likely to suffer a stroke.
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