Why Smoking Is Bad? - Some Things You Didn’t Know
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Now I know that all of you smokers out there know darned well that smoking isn’t good for you, so I’m not going to go on and on about the main problems that smoking can cause you, these things are already well documented, but I will say this; you can eat five portions of fruit and veg a day and exercise regularly, but healthy behaviour means little if you continue to smoke.
Whilst all the messages of smoking causing ill-health are pretty much ignored nowadays, due mainly to overkill I think, I have included in this article a few of the lesser known problems that are caused by smoking:
Cigarettes contain more than 4000 chemical compounds of which at least 400 are toxic substances, how can you knowingly suck that into your face?? When you inhale, a cigarette burns at 700 degrees C at the tip and around 60 degrees C in the core. This heat breaks down the tobacco to produce various toxins. As a cigarette burns, the residues are concentrated towards the butt, so you get the full dose of toxins as you finish your cigarette.
The most damaging products are:
1) Tar, a carcinogen (substance that causes cancer)
2) nicotine is addictive and increases cholesterol levels in your body
3) carbon monoxide reduces oxygen in the body
The damage caused by smoking is influenced by:
1) The amount of cigarettes that you smoke
2) Whether the cigarette has a filter or not
3) In what way has the tobacco has been prepared
It has been shown that life expectancy can be improved by as much as seven or eight years if you do not smoke, but not only that, recent research has shown that if you continue smoking from a young age, people are dying of smoking related illnesses at much younger ages.
It’s almost unbelievable to say, but there are more people under the age of 70 who die from illnesses related to smoking, than of breast cancer, traffic accidents, drug addiction and AIDS combined.
The more cigarettes you smoke in a day, and the longer you’ve smoked, the higher your risk of lung cancer (OK, you knew that one but I thought I’d sneak it in anyway as it’s kind of important). Similarly, the risk rises the deeper you inhale and the earlier in life you started smoking. For ex-smokers, it takes approximately 15 years before the risk of lung cancer drops to the same as that of a non-smoker.
Other cancers that are not so publicised are cancers of the mouth. If you smoke the risk is four times that of a non smoker to get cancer on or under the tongue, or on the lips. Another illness that smokers do not tend to be as aware of as lung cancer is COPD (Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease), for which smoking is responsible for 80 percent of cases.
It’s estimated that 94 per cent of 20-a-day smokers have some emphysema when the lungs are examined after death, while more than 90 per cent of non-smokers have little or none. COPD typically starts between the ages of 35 and 45 when lung function starts to decline anyway.
Lung fuction declines naturally with age, but when combined with smoking it drops about three times faster, and then breathlessness begins. Severe cases can end up on permanent oxygen before dying a slow and painful death from being unable to breathe.
And now one especially for the guys…did you know that smoking can affect your favourite person…yes, I am talking about mini-you! Men in their 30s and 40s can begin to suffer from erectile dysfunction because smoking can cause damage to blood vessels in various parts of your body. If the vessels are not functioning well in the penis, the blood cannot get there to do it’s job. Nicotine narrows those arteries…that should give you something to think about!
Don’t think that because you have no problems now, that you won’t. Oh no…this narrowing problem increases over time so things could get worse later on (no apologies for scare tactics here). More importantly, a smoker with erectile problems should see a doctor, as this can be an indicator that cigarettes have already damaged other blood vessels, including those that supply blood to the heart.
The smoke that you do not inhale and is released from your cigarette between puffs actually carries a higher risk than inhaled smoke. Maybe it’s time for a little thought for your non smoking partner, kids, friends, etc., (yeah, I’m trying the guilt trip tactic now).
Children who grow up in a home where one or both of their parents smoke have twice the risk of getting asthma and asthmatic bronchitis. They also have a higher risk of developing allergies. Infants under two years old are more prone to severe respiratory infections and cot death.
It has been proven that the risk of lung cancer is increased amongst people who smoke ‘passively’ but as yet there is no proof of whether the risk of heart disease is also increased. You can be sure though, that you can look forward to a much healthier old age if you can stop smoking.
So after all this, what is my message? Well I hope to have given you one or two things that you had never thought of before to think about. There are folks out there who love you, and there are 100’s of stop smoking programmes to help you too. Go on, give it a go…and stop smoking now!
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