Cigarette smoking is the greatest single cause of illness and premature death in the world. Smoking-related deaths are mainly due to cancers, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease(COPD) and heart disease.
About half of all smokers die from smoking-related diseases. If you are a long-term smoker, your life expectancy is about 10 years less than a non-smoker. The younger you are when you start smoking, the more likely you are to smoke for longer and to die early from smoking.Many smoking-related deaths are not quick deaths. For example, if you develop COPD, you can expect several years of illness and distressing symptoms before you die.
Stopping smoking can make a big difference to your health. It is never too late to stop smoking to greatly benefit your health. For example, if you stop smoking in middle age, before having cancer or some other serious disease, you avoid most of the increased risk of death due to smoking.
Cigarette smoke contains nicotine. Nicotine is a drug that stimulates the brain. If you are a regular smoker, when the blood level of nicotine falls, you usually develop withdrawal symptoms, such as craving, anxiety, restlessness, headaches, irritability, hunger, difficult with concentration or just feeling awful. These symptoms are relieved by the next cigarette. So , most of smokers need to smoke regular to feel normal, and to prevent nicotine withdrawal symptoms.
Smoking tar deposit in the lungs can get into the blood vessels and be carried to other parts of the body. Cigarette smoke contains over 4,000 chemicals including carcinogens and other poisons.
These chemical affects the oxygen-carrying capacity of the blood. In particular, in pregnant women who smoke, this causes a reduced amount of oxygen to get to the growing baby. This is thought to be the most important cause for the bad effects of smoking on the growing baby.
The smoking-related diseases are the following---
1. lung cancer----more than 8 in 10 cases are directly related to smoking.
2. chronic obstructive pulmonary disease(COPD)----more than 8 in 10 of these deaths are directly linked to smoking. people who die of COPD are usually quite unwell for several years before they die.
3. Heart disease--about 1 in 6 of these is due to smoking.
4. other cancers of the mouth, nose, throat, larynx, gullet, pancreas, bladder, cervix, blood and kidney are all more common in smokers.
5. circulation---The chemicals in tobacco can damage the lining of the blood vessels and affects the level of lipids in the bloodstream.This increases the risk of atheroma forming. Atheroma is the main cause of heart disease , strokes, peripheral vascular disease and aneurysms. All of these ateroma-related diseases are more common in smokers.
6. sexual problems---smokers are more likely than non-smokers to become impotent.
7. rheumatoid arthritis-- smoking is known to be a risk factor of developing rheumatoid arthritis. One research study estimated that smoking is responsible for about 1 in 5 cases of rheumatoid arthritis.
8. ageing--smokers tend to develop more lines on their face at an earlier age than non-smokers. This ofter makes smokers look older than they really are.
9. fertility
10. menopause--on average, women who smoke have a menopause nearly two years earlier than non-smokers.
11. other conditions where smoking often cause worse symptoms include: asthma, colds, flu, chest infections, tuberculosis, chronic rhinitis, diabetic retinopathy, hyperthyroidism, multiple sclerosis, optic neuritis, and Crohn's disease.
12. smoking increases the risk of developing various other conditions including: dementia, optic neuropathy, cataracts, macular degeneration , pulmonary fibrosis, psoriasis, gum disease, tooth loss , osteoporosis and Raynaud's phenomenon.
Smoking affects children. Children and babies who live in a home of a smoker
1. are more prone to asthma and ear, nose and chest infections
2. have an increased risk of dying from cot death
3. are more likely than average to become smokers themselves when older
4. on average, do less well at reading and reasoning skills compared with children in smoke-free homes.
5. are at increased risk of developing COPD and cancer as adults.
The benefits of stopping smoking begin straight away. You reduce your risk of getting serious disease no matter what age you give up. However, the sooner you stop, the greater the reduction in your risk. If you have smoked since being a teenager ,
1. if you stop smoking before the age of 35, your life expectancy is only slightly less than people who have never smoked.
2.if you stop smoking before the age of 50, you decrease the risk of dying from smoking-related disease by 50%.
But it is never too late to stop smoking to gain health benefits. Even if you already have COPD or heart disease, your outlook is much improved if you stop smoking.
References--centers for disease prevention and control, USA
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| Later, you can cost much due to the diseases caused by smoking |
