Smoking Effects: Immediate and Adverse

Cigarette smoking is the act of burning dried tobacco leaves and inhaling the smoke. As stated by the World Health Organization (WHO), one-third of the total population of the male in the world smokes. On the other hand, non-smoking women are exposed to passive smoking or secondhand smoke. This is basically the inhalation of the smoke exhaled from a person’s cigarette. Smoking comes with a variety of reasons, according to the needs or perhaps the social status of a person. The fact is that smokers come from all walks of life. There are people who smoke for pleasure; others think that doing so would make them look cool. Those who start smoking at an early age can be due to the influence of their friends or family members. However, the danger is when one starts smoking it often ends up being a habit without thinking about the effects.

Every time a person smokes, the heart rate temporarily increases due to the smoke that has a mixture of nicotine and carbon monoxide. It then results to the straining of the blood vessels and the heart, which leads to hypertension. In addition, smoking is the cause of the fat deposition in the blood vessels and it narrows them which are the cause of stroke and heart attack. In some instance, there are cases of paralysis of hands and feet as a result of a lack of oxygen and reduced blood supply. When it comes to deaths of heart disease, 30% of it is due to smoking.

Emphysema is a chronic disease wherein the walls of the alveoli in the lungs get damaged, and smoking is the major cause of it. Cigarette smoking also enhances the production of a substance that may reduce the elasticity of the alveoli in the lungs. As a result, the ability of the lungs to inhale oxygen and exhale carbon dioxide is reduced. On the other hand, smoking is the leading cause of the different cancers such as stomach, throat, lung, and bladder. Lung cancer is triggered by the tar from a tobacco smoke. It has been found out that males have up to 10 times chances to develop lung cancer.

Smoking has detrimental effects on the digestive system of the body which leads to peptic ulcer and heart burn. The lower esophageal sphincter weakens and allows the entry of the natural acidic juices of the stomach to the esophagus, the cause of heartburn. Moreover, smoking increases the chances of the stomach lining for infection and results to an excessive stomach acid secretion.

Smoking has adverse effects to all parts of the body, from inside to outside. Some of these effects may be immediate, others arise after some time. Smoking puts the life of the people in danger; both men and women, young and old by letting them suffer the different diseases and serious health conditions that will change their way of life in the most negative way. And the only way to be spared from these detrimental effects is to quit smoking, never smoke, and to stay away from people who smoke.

~ by ammygage on July 16, 2013.