Health Risks in Smoking

Most people are fully aware that smoking can lead to lung cancer, but in fact the health risks in smoking are much further reaching.

Cancer of the lungs is only one of the risks run by smokers. Smoking is a high risk factor for several kinds of cancer including mouth, larynx, pharynx, esophagus, kidney, pancreas, bladder, cervix and stomach as well as some types of leukemia.

As well as cancer, smoking can cause other lung diseases as in pneumonia, emphysema and chronic bronchitis. These diseases which come under the term of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease or COPD can cause chronic illness and disabilities and can also be fatal. Long-term smokers carry the highest risk of COPDs

Vascular disease: narrowing or clogging of blood vessels can lead to all kinds of problems.  Peripheral vascular disease affects blood vessels feeding the leg and arm muscles.

Problems in the blood vessels feeding the heart can lead to heart disease and heart attacks, and blocked vessels to the brain can cause a stroke. Men who smoke can find blood vessel disease will cause erectile dysfunction.

 Eyesight can be affected by smoking: health risks in smoking include increased risk of macular degeneration, sometimes leading to blindness. Also premature ageing and wrinkling of the skin, halitosis or bad breath, tooth and gum disease, yellowing and brittle fingernails, not to mention revolting smelling hair and clothes.

 Expectant or nursing mothers have some unique health risks in smoking, to themselves as well as the new life they are carrying. Women (particularly over 35) who smoke and also take oral contraceptives have a very high risk of heart attack, stroke and thrombosis. Smoking carries a high risk of miscarriage or babies born underweight; which are more likely to have physical problems, learning difficulties or even risk of death. Nicotine can be passed into breast milk as well as cervical fluids, amniotic fluids and umbilical cord.

One of the main health risks in smoking is a shortening of life expectancy: the CDC estimates an adult male will lose an average of 13.2 years of life and females 14.5 years, due to smoking. Add to that the risk of diseases during their lifetime which can impair the quality of life long before that. Even without contracting a disease, smoker’s activities are limited by difficulties in breathing and moving around, both at work and play.

The health benefits in quitting are more than just decreasing the health risks in smoking:

Just 20 minutes after quitting your blood pressure will drop and your heart rate decrease

2 hours afterwards the carbon monoxide level in the blood returns to normal

Between two weeks and three months after quitting, blood circulation will improve and lung function increase.

Anywhere between one and nine months after quitting you will notice a marked decrease in coughing and shortness of breath. Lungs will start to regain their normal cilia function (these are hair-fine elements in the lungs that dispel mucus) and increase their ability to handle mucus and reduce risk of infection. The lungs will begin to be cleansed from the inside.

After the first year of not smoking, you have reduced the risk of ordinary heart disease by half, compared to a smoker. Five years on, your risk of stroke is reduced dramatically, and between 5-15 years the risk will be the same as that of a non-smoker. After 10 years the death rate from lung cancer is reduced by half, compared to a continuing smoker.

Apart from the health risks in smoking, what about the money you spend? Look at the price you spend a day on cigarettes and multiply that by 365. Wow! How much do you spend in a year! Multiply it by 10, and think what you could have done with all that money instead of burning it over 10 years!

All this cost, along with the health risks in smoking must surely give you reason to quit. Find yourself a quit smoking plan and start it right away!

Reasons to Quit Smoking

Many committed smokers decline to research the dangers as well as side effects of smoking that hold more than 4000 poisonous chemicals that would sooner or later kill you. Smoking is supposed to be bad than cocaine to the extent that addiction goes as well as is liable for lots of deaths every year.

8 Reasons to Quit Smoking


1) Heart Disease - Coronary heart disease is a leading cause of death in U.S., and the important reason of death reasoned by smoking. The poisons in cigarette smoke reason plaques to produce in the arteries that lead to atherosclerosis, or else recognized as hardening of arteries. Smoking is tough on heart.

2) Stroke - According to U.S. Dept of Health, stroke is a third major cause of death in US, killing more than 150,000 people every year. For smokers, the danger of stroke is almost 2-1/2 times that of the nonsmokers.

3) Lung Cancer - According to American Cancer Society, a predictable 213,380 fresh cases of lung cancer would be diagnosed - as well as 160,390 deaths would take place in 2007 from lung cancer in United States only. Lung cancer is a leading reason of cancer death for both women and men, and with 87% of all lung cancer cases concerning tobacco; it is one type of cancer that is avoidable.

4) COPD - Tobacco use is a number one reason of COPD (which comprises chronic bronchitis as well as emphysema), and giving up smoking is a best method to stop more damage. It is predictable that as many as ten million Americans experience from COPD, with more than 14 million others who might have it however are undiagnosed. In US, it was the 4th leading reason of death in the year 2000 and projections put it as a 3rd leading cause by year 2020.

5) Oral Cancer - Mouth cancer or Oral cancer is included in a particular group of cancers known as oral and neck and head cancer. It is estimated that 70 - 80 percent of all the cases of OHNC are because of tobacco use as well as heavy alcohol intake.

6) You will smell much fresher, tobacco smoke will make your hair, breath as well as clothes smell stale - it is a difficult smell to eliminate when you are still smoking.

7) You will look much better - When you stop smoking, you are likely to have shiny hair, whiter teeth as well as brighter skin because cigarettes affect all such areas of your look. Additionally, repetitive action of smoking could reason fine lines to expand around the eyes and mouth earlier than they usually would.

8) Your finances would get better. Work out how much you invest per month on cigarettes. Promise to put the cash you save towards something particular or a monthly treat. You will even save money on costs like private medicinal insurance. Private health insurance suppliers generally charge considerably high health insurance premiums to the smokers since they are seen as the greater health danger.

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.