TOBACCO smoking is enormously harmful to human health. There is no safe way to smoke. Replacing your cigarette with a cigar, pipe, or hookah would not help you avoid the health risks associated with tobacco products. That is why at the end of every tobacco product advert, there is always this warning that accompanies it, “the federal ministry of health warns that smokers are liable to die young.” This warning from the federal ministry of health is bent on discouraging smokers from the act of smoking but it seems not to scare them away from the act as a mass number of persons still indulge in smoking.
Cigarettes today contain about 600 ingredients when they burn, they generate more than 7,000 chemicals and according to the American Lung Association, most of these chemical are poisonous and at least 69 percent of them can cause cancer. Many of these same ingredients are found in cigars and in tobacco used in pipes and hookahs. According to National Cancer Institute, cigars have a higher level of carcinogens, toxins and far than cigarettes.
When using a hookah pipe you are likely to inhale more smoke than you would from a cigarette. Hookah smoke too many toxic compounds and exposes you to more carbon monoxide than cigarettes does. Hookahs also produces more second hand smoke.
In the United States, the mortality rate for smokers is three times that of people who do not smoke, according to the centres for Diseases Control and Prevention. It is one of the leading causes of preventable death.
Tobacco smoking affects the following system in our body.
(i) Central Nervous System: One of the ingredients in tobacco is a mood-altering drug called nicotine. Nicotine reaches your brain in mere seconds. It is a central nervous system stimulant, so it makes you feel more energized for a little while. As that subsides you feel tired and crave for more.
Smoking increases risk of macula degeneration cataracts and poor eyesight. It can also weaken your sense of taste and sense of smell, so food may become less enjoyable. Your body has a stress hormone called carticosterone, which lowers the effects of nicotine. If you are under a lot of stress, you will need more nicotine to get same effect.
Physical withdrawal from smoking can impair your cognitive functioning and make you feel anxious, irritated and depressed. Withdrawal can also cause headaches and sleep problem.
(ii) When you inhale smoke, you are taking in substances that can damage your lungs. Over time, your lungs lose their ability to filter harmful chemicals. Coughing cannot clear out the toxins sufficiently so these toxins get trapped in the lungs, smokers have a higher risk of respiratory infections and colds.
In a condition called emphysema, the air sacs in your lungs are destroyed and the lining of the tubes of the lungs become inflamed. Over time, smokers are at increased risk of developing some forms of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) long term smokers are also at increased risk of lung cancer.
Also children whose parents smoke are more prone to coughing, wheezing and asthma attach than children whose parents do not. They also tend to have more ear infections. Children of smokers have higher rates of Phemonia and bronchitis.
Withdrawal from tobacco products can causes temporary congestion and respiratory pain as your lungs begin to clear out.
(iii) Cardiovascular System
Smoking damages your entire cardiovascular system, when nicotine hits your body, it gives your blood sugar a boost, after a short time, you are left feeling tired and craving more. nicotine causes blood vessels to tighten, which restrict the flow of blood (peripheral Artery disease). Smoking also lowers good cholesterol level and raises blood pressure, which can result in stretching of the arteries and a building of bad cholesterol (atherosclerosis). Smoking raises the risk of forming blood clots.
Blood clots and weakened blood vessels in the brain increase smoker’s risk of stroke. Smokers who have heart by pass surgery are at greater risk of blood cancer (Leukemia).
There is a risk to non smokers too. Breathing second hand smoke has an immediate effect on the cardiovascular system. Exposure to second hand smoke increases your risk of stroke, heart attack and coronary heart disease.
(iv) Skin, Hair And Hails (Integumentary System
Some of the more obvious signs of smoking under the skin. The substances in tobacco smoke actually change the structure of your skin. Smoking causes skin discoloration, wrinkles and premature aging.
Your finger nails and the skin on your fingers may have yellow staining from holding cigarettes smokers usually develop yellow or brown stains on their teeth. Hair holds on to the smell of tobacco long after you put your cigarette out. It can clings to non smokers.
(v) Digestive System
Smoking are at greater risk of developing oral problems. Tobacco use can cause gum inflammation (gingivitis) or infection (perrodentid). These problems can lead to tooth decay, tooth loss and bad breadth.
Smoking also increases risk of cancer of the mouth, throat, larynx and esophagus. Smokers have higher rates of kidney cancer and pancreatic cancer. Even cigar smokers who do not inhale are at increased risk of mouth cancer.
Smoking also has an effect on insulin, making it more likely that you will develop insulin resistance. That puts you at increase risk of type 2 diabetes. When it comes to diabetes, smokers tend to develop complications at a faster rate than non smokers.
Smoking also depresses appetite, so you may not be getting all the nutrients your body needs. Withdrawal from tobacco product can cause nausea.
(vi) Sexually And Reproductive System
Restricted blood flow can affect a man’s ability to get an erection. Both men and women who smoke may have difficulty achieving orgasm and are at higher risk of infertility. Women who smoke may experience menopause at an earlier age than nonsmoking women. Smoking increases a woman’s risk of cervical cancer.
Smokers experience more complications of pregnancy including miscarriage, problems with the placenta and premature delivery. Pregnant mothers who are exposed to second hand smoke are more likely to have a baby with low weight Babies born to mothers who smoke while pregnant are at greater risk to low birth weight, birth defects and sudden infant death syndrome (SIDs) Newborn who breathe second hand smoke suffer more ear infection and asthma attacks.
Smoking is bad for your health but quitting makes life better and sweeter. The following are ways you will improve your health when you stop smoking.
(1) Longer Life
Half of all long-term smokers die early from smoking related diseases, including heart disease, lung cancer and chronic bronchitis. Men who quit smoking by 30 add 10 years to their life people who kick out the habit at 60 add 3 years to their life. In other words, it is never too late to benefit from stopping. Quitting not only add years to your life, but it also greatly improves the chances of staying disease free, happier old age.
(2) Improved Fertility
Non-smokers find it easier to get pregnant, Quitting smoking improves the lining of the womb and can make men’s sperm more potent. Becoming a non-smoker increase the possibility of conceiving through IVF and reduce the likelihood of having a miscarriage. Most importantly, it improves the chances of giving birth to a healthy baby.
(3) Younger Looking Skin
Stopping smoking has been found to slow facial ageing and delay the appearance of wrinkles. The skin of a non-smoker gets more nutrients, including oxygen and can reserve the sallow, lined complexion that smokers often have.
(4) Better Breathing
people breathe easily and cough less when they give up smoking because their lungs capacity improves by up to 10 percent within 9 months. In your 20s and 30s, the effect of smoking on your lungs capacity may not be noticeable until you go for a run, but lung’s capacity naturally diminishes with age. In later years, having maximum lung capacity can mean the difference between having an active healthy old age and wheezing when going for a walk or climbing the stairs.
(5) Healthier Loved Ones
By stopping smoking you will be protecting the health of your non-smoking friends and family.
Passive smoking increases a non-smokers risk of lungs cancer, heart disease and stroke. Second hand smoke makes children twice at risk of chest illnesses including pneumonia, croup and bronchitis plus more ear infections, wheezing and asthma. They also have three times the risk of getting lungs cancer in later life compared with children who live with non-smokers.
(6) Whiter Teeth
Giving up to tobacco stops the teeth from becoming stained and you will have fresher breath. Ex-smokers are less likely than smokers to get gum disease and lose their teeth prematurely.
(7) More Energy
Within 2 to 12 weeks of stopping smoking your circulation improves. This makes all physical activities including walking and running much easier.
Quitting also boost your immune system, making it easier to fight off colds and flu. The increase of oxygen in the body makes ex-smokers less tired and less likely to have headaches.
(8) Improved Smell And Taste
Kicking out smoking habit gives your sense of smell and taste a boost. The body will recover from being dulled by the hundred of toxic chemicals found in cigarette.
From the above, you will discover that no good comes out of smoking, but smokers will try coming different reasons and benefit they derive from smoking. Even if these reasons or benefits are cogent enough, it is obvious that the negative effect of smoking far outweighs the benefit(s) anybody derives from the act.
Furthermore, we are also endangering not just ourselves, but the lives of people around us (our kids included) so there is no best time to quit smoking, the best time is NOW.
