Dr. Ahmed
Smoking is associated with a number of adverse medical conditions. The hazards of smoking range from lung-related direct toxicity to infertility and cancer.
Commonly, people used tobacco for smoking. However, other harmful and so-called less-harmful methods are being increasingly used.
E-cigarettes or Vaping is another method of smoking that has been associated with severe lung injury called EVALI (e-cigarette or vaping-use associated lung injury).
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Introduction:
People and their lifestyles differ a lot from others. With the passage of time, more and more people are indulging in a very unhealthy and detrimental lifestyle.
Such lifestyles may include habits that are considered fashionable but are absurd when it comes to their health. These habits may not only influence their own health but also the health of other people around them.
In addition to this, the environment may also suffer from the consequences of these actions. Immediate action must be taken against such behaviors and people should try their best to avoid and refrain from them.
Otherwise, the side effects that these habits have are uncontrolled and can lead to a number of medical disorders and they can also affect your social life.
Hazards of Smoking
One such habit is smoking which affects millions of lives every day. People typically adopt this habit at a very young age and stick to it for the rest of their lives.
This habit can be an influence of their peers or sometimes family members and the number of side effects that smoking carries is shocking.
Despite knowing about the hazards of smoking it is upsetting how people do not refrain from it.
Here we have a list of hazards that accompany smoking.
Smoking Damages Your Lungs:
One of the most typical and well-known outcomes of smoking is what it does to one’s lungs. The injury that smoking induces to the lungs is rather noteworthy.
One way that smoking affects your lungs is by increasing the number of cells that are responsible for producing mucus.
This will result in clogging since your lungs are not capable of removing an excessive amount of mucus.
Smoking can also hinder the efficiency of your immune system and since this mucus is also quite susceptible to infections then logically your immunity will not be able to fight them.
A prominent consequence of smoking is that it may reduce the airflow, since clogging of the airways through mucus accumulation may result in coughing then this will reduce the supply of oxygen to crucial parts of the body as the lung is damaged. [Ref]
Smoking may also lessen the numbers of cilia in your lungs, cilia are responsible for keeping your lungs neat and cigarettes can reduce the functionality of cilia and contribute to lung damage.
Smoking contributes to Cardiovascular Disorders:
According to the findings of the 2014 Surgeon General’s Report, one out of every 4 deaths from cardiovascular diseases is caused by smoking.
Smoking can enhance the development of heart diseases causing smokers to exhibit early signs of cardiovascular diseases.
The chances of developing CVD are directly proportional to the number of cigarettes being smoked. Not just smokers but non-smokers may face the same threats of developing CVD, like stroke or myocardial infarction, because of secondhand smoking.
This scenario is common enough to cause 33,000 deaths in the United States from coronary heart disorders induced by secondhand smoking.
Smoking and Atherosclerosis:
Atherosclerosis is induced by the development of plaque and smoking plays a prominent role in plaque formation and narrowing of the arteries.
Stroke:
Strokes are also more typical among smokers than ex-smokers or non-smokers.
Peripheral Arterial Disease:
Peripheral vascular disease as well as peripheral arterial disease occurs when the gush of blood is lessened to the peripheries like hands, arms, and feet. Smoking is the most typical preventable reason for these ailments. [Ref]
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Smoking and Fertility:
Another major concern is the ability to conceive which deteriorates with the number of cigarettes being smoked.
Smoking women reduce their chances of getting pregnant by half each month as their efficiency to conceive lessens.
Other methods to assist conception like In-vitro Fertilization (IVF) become ineffective as well. [Ref]
Women who smoke need a higher ovary stimulation for IVF and they usually have fewer eggs and chances of conception than non-smokers by 30%.
Smoking affects pregnancy to the extent that instead of you if your partner is the one who indulges in smoking, the chances are still quite low for you to get pregnant due to passive smoking.
Not only does it affect the reproductive capabilities but it also induces mutations in the genetic information of sperms and eggs resulting in frequent birth defects, preterm labor, miscarriages, or stillbirths among people who smoke. [Ref]
Smoking Reduces Life Span:
According to several studies, smoking reduces one’s life span by as much as 10 years in comparison to people who do not smoke.
The effects of smoking on one’s health might be able to explain why this happens.
Men who indulge in smoking increase their chances of death from bronchitis and emphysema by 17 times and women by 12 times.
Middle-aged men who smoke increase their chances of death from coronary heart disease by 4 times and middle-aged women increase their chances of death by 5 times. [Ref]
Quitting smoking before turning 40 can reduce the incidence of death by any disease by as much as 90%.
Smoking and Cancer Risk:
Smoking plays its role in almost every type of cancer as it contains many carcinogens (cancer-inducing agents). Such cancers include the oropharynx, liver, lungs, esophagus, colon, etc.
Research has proven that nearly 20% to 30% of pancreatic cancers are induced by smoking [Ref]
People who smoke can increase their risks of developing stomach cancer by almost 2 times as compared to non-smokers. [Ref]
Importance of Cessation:
In order to improve your health and enhance the quality of your life, quitting smoking will do wonders for this.
One of the most preventable causes of many diseases is smoking which again stresses the importance of refraining from it.
Quitting can increase your life span by as much as 10 years.
A common misconception regarding quitting smoking is that people believe that quitting will yield no benefit for chronic smokers, however, that is not true, and refraining from smoking will yield significant health benefits for anyone who smokes at any time.
Close attention must be paid to teens who smoke since peer influence makes a great impact upon teenagers and they start indulging in smoking.
Second-hand smoking must also be avoided as it also can lead to some similar disadvantages.
