This isn't going to be one of those articles that preaches (well, that's not my intention anyway) and I'm sure that you are already au fait with the dangers that smoking brings. But I reckon that there are still quite a few of you out there that think that by eating a healthy diet and getting some good and regular exercise, that you can be healthy even though you still 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 products that are most damaging are:
1) Tar, a carcinogen (substance that causes cancer)
2) nicotine is the addictive substance and raises cholesterol
3) carbon monoxide reduces oxygen in the body
Smoking causes differing levels of damage depending on:
1) How many cigarettes you smoke
2) Whether the cigarette has a filter
3) How has the tobacco been prepared
Although it is well known that smoking kills, what many smokers do not realise is that of the 300 people who die daily in the UK due to smoking, research has now shown that many of them are rather much younger than ever before.
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.
Oral cancers (cancers of the mouth) are four times more common in smokers than non smokers, a fact that many smokers are unaware of. A disease called Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) is also affected very badly by smoking, which is responsible for 80 percent of cases.
Emphysema is also a disease caused by long-term smoking, and here are a couple of scary numbers for you. If you smoke 20 a day, when you die and your lungs are examined, you will have a 94 percent chance of there being emphysema present. As a non smoker, however, that percentage drops to 90 who have little or no emphysema at all.
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.
Nicotine itself is known to cause narrowing of the arteries all over the body, but there is one particular problem that affects you guys out there. Men in their 30s and 40s, who smoke, are much more likely to have erectile dysfunction...now you're listening aren't you?! Erection cannot happen if the arteries that lead to the penis are not functioning properly, as the blood flow would be reduced, so stopping your performance before it even gets started.
I can't stress this enough, but this a serious problem for you guys out there, not only for the obvious reason (as I'm sure you are with me there...). If you are a smoker and begin to have problems achieving or maintaining an erection you should go and see your doctor. A problem with the blood vessels in the penis could also mean that damage has been done to vessels in other parts of the body too.
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).
When a child is brought up in a home where one or both parents smoke, the instances of asthma and bronchitis are twice that of non smoking households. The prevalance of allergies is also much higher. There is a much greater risk of cot death and chest infections amongst the very young.
Passive smoking has also been widely documented and the link between that and lung cancer is pretty well established, although the link between passive smoking and heart disease is not conclusive. What you can be sure of though, is that as a non smoker or an ex smoker, you can look forward towards a happier and healthier old age.
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!
About the Author:
About the Author: Clare Innes has a number of health, fitness and lifestyle websites, including one showing the world's Top 3 ways to give up smoking. Look out for more of her websites in the 'First For...com' series that is presently under development.
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