Tuesday, January 18, 2011

The Harmful Effects Of Smoking

Are You A Smoker? Read The Harmful Effects Of Smoking

Are you among billions of people who think smoking is the most relaxing practice? If yes you really need to read below and get the facts right.

When you breathe in the cigarette smoke, lots of chemicals enter your bloodstream and pass through your whole body. These chemicals harm various body parts. Let's take a look at some of the harms caused by smoking:
  • Bone and muscle: tobacco smoke contains chemicals which slow down the growth of new cell tissues. Smoking harmfully affects bone cells production in male smokers. Smoking women have much lower bone density and more likely to have fractures and are more susceptible to osteoporosis. Smoking interrupts the fracture healing and in some cases bone healing is also delayed.
  • Brain: Smoking builds up fatty substances in main artery which supplies blood to your brain. Blockage in this artery might interrupt blood supply to brain cells, resulting in to cerebral thrombosis or stroke. Also, nicotine increases blood pressure which is dangerous for the brain. Carbon monoxide decreases the oxygen level in your blood which is carried to your brain. Also cigarette's smoke makes your blood thicker and you have more chances of having a clot.
  • Digestive system: Smoking has harmful effects on the whole digestive system, adding to common disorders like peptic ulcers and heartburn. It also enhances risk of gallstones and Crohn's disease. Threat of stomach cancer increases with smoking and total cigarettes smoked.
  • Heart and circulation: Smoking instantly affects heart and circulation. It increases your heartbeat rate as well as the blood pressure. The main reason of this is nicotine which affects the nervous system and causes blood vessels to compress and heart beat rate to rise. The narrowing of blood vessels results in to blood pressure increase and increase of strain on heart. There is carbon monoxide present in the cigarettes which diminishes blood's oxygen carrying capacity which means heart has to push harder to acquire sufficient oxygen to the whole body.
  • Liver and pancreas: Just about 50% of kidney and bladder cancer in men are caused because of smoking. Smoke of the cigarette leads to kidney and bladder cancer. A study shows more than 30% of deaths from pancreatic cancer, is caused due to cigarette smoking.
  • Lungs: The cigarette smoke has the tar content which damages the lung cells and makes cilia incapable to drive out harmful substances. As the result the cells grow in an uncontrolled manner and leads to lung cancer. The dead cells discharge substances which damage the lung and leads to emphysema and chronic bronchitis. Tobacco accounts for more than 80% of the lung cancer cases. The relationship between smoking and lung cancers depend on factors like tobacco's daily dose, duration of smoking and the type in which tobacco is used like in cigarettes, pipes and cigars.
  • Mouth, Throat and esophagus: Smoking is the main cause of all cancers related with oral cavity, larynx and esophagus. More than 90% of patients having oral cancer including cancers of lip, mouth, throat and tongue, are smokers. Also risk of these cancers increases when the number of cigarettes increases. Chain smokers comprise mortality risks of laryngeal cancer, 20 - 30 times more than non-smokers.