What is Smoking?
This term relates to the inhalation and exhalation of smoked air which have sizeable amount of very toxic substances. Often people smoke via cigarettes, cigar and pipe.
Smoking is an addictive habit. Persons that are addicted by smoking face many health problems. Actually, smoking is a way to death. It reduces the life about 10 years or more. On average, about 81% adults people ( with age 30 years or more) died via smoking in US in year 2014. Inhalation of insane amount of smoke causes numerous health problems.
Types of Smoking:
- Active Smoking:
Smoking from the filter end of cigarettes. Frequently, cigarettes filters are made of cellulose acetate, fibers, or activated charcoal. It just filters the large tar particles that can travel deeper into the lungs. However, small irritant particles of smoke like carbon monoxide can pass through it easily.
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| Active smoker |
Passive Smoking:
The breathing in other’s people smoke said to be passive smoking. It is inhalation of smoke without any filter. Thus, it has some more bad effects on lungs than that of active smoking. So, usually it is said to avoid the smokers. So that we would not harmed by passive smoking.
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| Baby is passive smoker in image |
Smoking and health issues:
Smoking is very destructive to human health. It causes serious damage to many organs. It is the basic reason of heart problems, asthma, high blood pressure, bad breathing and can cause considerable lungs damage. As smoke air is inhaled into the body it disturbs the natural functioning of many organs. From its highly toxic substances human body is badly affected and as result of which person becomes susceptible to many dangerous diseases.
Overview of 7 most dangerous diseases caused by Smoking:
1) Lungs Cancer: (lungs cancer is the leading cause of cancer):
- About lungs:
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| Image provided by Robina Weermeijer on unsplash |
Lungs are spongy (air filled) organs, as they have millions of alveoli. They are present in chest cavity. Air from outside is carried by the trachea, into the lungs by the means of bronchi (tubular branches).
- Cigarettes contents that cause lungs cancer:
Tobacco cigarettes hold nicotine, carbon monoxide (CO) and tar as their main contents. All these contents are carried to lungs via smoking then they badly affect the bronchioles and alveoli in lungs. These damages of lungs are the leading cause of lungs cancer.
Symptoms of lungs cancer:
- Long lasting cough (more than 14 or 21 days).
- Coughing with blood.
- Severe pain in chest.
- Shortness of breathing or difficulty in breathing.
- Wheezing.
- Hoarse voice while breathing.
- Pain in ribs.
- Sudden weight loss.
- Loss of appetite.
- Severe headache.
- Feeling of pain while breathing.
Rare symptoms of lungs cancer:
- Swelling around neck.
- Clubbing of the fingers.
- Loss of energy without any work.
- Feeling exhausted after a little work.
- Pain in chest and shoulder.
- Bleeding from nose without any injury.
- Difficulty while Swallowing the food.
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| A comparison between healthy lungs (left side) and lungs damage by cancer (right side) |
- Treatment of lung cancer:
However, Lung cancer is treated by Chemotherapy, Radiation therapy but often majority don’t survive in lung cancer. So, smoking leads to the death of its addict.
- Mortality rate:
A large number of people in world died due to the lungs cancer as it is a leading cause of cancer. It leads to the breast cancer in females. 99% patients don’t survive in the lungs cancer and ultimately die. Almost 17,000 cases of men while 5,000 cases of women death's due to lungs cancer were reported in 2019. Following are the top 5 countries that are adversely affected by the lungs cancer and their death rate in 2020.
Country | Deaths |
China | 715,000 |
America | 606,520 |
India | 67,475 |
UK | 35,000 |
Canada | 21,200 |
2)Asthma:
Smoked air makes the air ways in lungs inflamed and filled them with sticky mucus. So, Lungs feel difficulty to support the mechanism of breathing. This condition leads to the asthma. A whistling sound (wheezing) is made when asthma patients breathe. Tobacco in smoke is common cause of asthma. Patients might be recovered by giving up smoking habit.
Symptoms of asthma:
- Coughing.
- Wheezing.
- Shortness of breath.
- Fast breath.
- Blue finger or lips.
Treatment: Asthma is treated by following measures:
- By proper medication (inhalation of corticosteroids).
- By using Quick-relief inhalers.
- By First-line therapy (Beta-agonists).
- Avoid smoking either active or passive.
3)Cardiovascular disease (CVD):
Lungs inhaled oxygen from atmosphere and then transmit it to deoxygenated blood in order to convert it into oxygenated blood. While this oxygenated blood is actually pumped into the body through heart. When this oxygenated blood is contaminated by smoked air then it in heart defects the veins, arteries and provide basis for cardiovascular disease (CVD). In the year 2019, there was about 167.63 deaths per 100,000 population, mortality rate in China due to heart diseases.
Symptoms of cardiovascular disease (CVD):
- Heart attack.
- High blood pressure (Hypertension).
- Coronary heart disease.
- Failure of heart.
- Peripheral artery disorder.
- Aortic aneurysm.
4)Stroke:
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| Stroke damage on brain |
Smoked air damage the quality of blood. Increasing in toxic substances in blood and considerable decrease in the oxygen concentration of blood often cause devastating diseases. Stroke is one of these devastating diseases. Blood contaminated with nicotine, tar and carbon monoxide prevent the brain tissue from getting essential amount of oxygen and nutrients and eventually brain blocks or reduces the supply of this harmful blood. This one is a chief cause of stroke.
Symptoms:
- Include migraine
- Headache
- Blindness in one or both eyes
- Loosing of body balance while walking and suddenly blackened vision. These are some general symptoms of stroke.
Early medical can actions reduce the brain damage.
5)Diabetes:
In consonance with the 2014 Surgeon General’s Report smokers have more risk of developing type 2 diabetes than nonsmokers. Actually, toxic chemicals defect the quality of oxygen in blood as they are the chief cause of oxidative stress. In this way, they harm the blood as well as almost all components in the blood. Insulin (hormone secreted by pancreas) is present in the cell which serves as to manage the blood sugar (glucose) level. Nicotine in blood reduces efficiency of insulin and cause Type 2 diabetes.
Symptoms of type 2 diabetes:
- Blurred vision.
- Sluggish healing wounds.
- Fatigue.
- Sudden weight loss.
- Repeated infections.
- Ravenous.
- Increase in appetite.
- Dark skin areas usually around neck or armpits.
- Frequent thirst.
6) Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease:
Long term smoking causes accumulation of smoked particles in bronchioles eventually this accumulation inflamed the bronchioles. When this inflammation becomes chronic it obstructs the airflow in lungs leads to situation called COPD (Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease). Air pollution, dust in work places and passive smoking often leads to COPD. There are two most common types of COPD.
1.Emphysema:
Emphysema is a respiratory disorder. There is a considerable damage of air sacs (alveoli) in lungs. It reduces the surface area of alveoli so lungs face difficulty to support the mechanism of respiration. It causes shortness of breath, irritation and suffocation. Severe condition of emphysema can cause pneumonia. Patient with emphysema should avoid dirt air places, smoked places and the act of smoking. Emphysema can be cured by proper medication, oxygen therapy, steroids (on doctor advice) lungs transplant or surgery and by vaccines. 2.Chronic bronchitis:
In second common type of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) bronchi are contaminated with very amount of mucus which cause inflammation in the bronchi as well as in bronchioles. Chronic bronchitis might be acute. Acute attack of bronchitis, termed as chest cold, recovers within 10 weeks without any lasting damage. Avoid smoking is one of the best solution to prevent from chronic bronchitis. Treatment of emphysema is quitting smoking either active or passive, proper medication, steroids and oxygen therapy.
7) Cataracts:
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| Left side eye is damaged with cataracts while right one is normal eye |
Irritant particles of smoke damage the retina which is the coloured part of the eyes. Lens of eye serve to focus the light to produce clear image of an object. Smoking reduces flexibility of lens and also makes it thicker and cloudy. This condition is called Cataracts. It makes difficult for lens to focus the light as it blocks the light to pass through the lens. If it is left to continue then it will make the vision more cloudy and blurred. . It is not essential that cataracts affect the both eyes. Often individually eyes are affected by cataracts. Symptoms that appear in cataracts are blind vision, sensitivity to light, night blindness etc. Cataracts are surgically treated. Fortunately, there are negligible risks in the cataracts surgery.
How to quit smoking?
One of the most major problems of smokers is that they don’t know how to prevent from smoking?
As smoking is an addict habit so, quiet smoking is a long term process that requires lot of determination and will power. . One of the most important issues that smokers have to face is bad image in society. Here we shall provide you some easy way to avoid smoking.
- Avoid bad Company:
Bad Company is the chief cause of bad habits like smoking, drug addiction and alcoholic consumption etc. In order to avoid smoking you must have to leave bad guys. Actually they are not bad but their habits are bad these habits not only defect them but also cause many problems for other fleshes. Instead of waste your time in such bad companies play physical games, read books, make some sensible and honest friend those that can guide you about wrong and true. These measures will provide you lot of support to avoid smoking.
- Keep in mind health problems caused by smoking:
Above discussion on the health problems and diseases caused by smoking have make it clear that smoking is very much dangerous to health. Often we leave any habit when we have come to know about the devastating effects of that habit. Mostly people don’t know about severe diseases caused by smoking like lung cancer, heart attack, stroke and respiratory disorders. When they fall in one of them disease then they knows that how much smoking is dangerous to health. So, to avoid smoking you must have to know about health problems from this habit.
- Be happy:
Number of people smoking to overcome from depression, anger, sadness, Negative thinking and rude behavior also leads to smoking. Keep yourself happy is the best way to prevent from smoking. This attitude not only helps you to avoid smoking but will increase your self confidence. Being happy will prolong your life.
- Devise a plan:
Quit smoking is long term process so it demands a complete plan. If you smoke a cigarette after break of every 20 minutes then increase your break period from 20 minutes to an hour and then continue to increase your break at regular intervals. If one week you set your break time 1 hour then next week increase it to 2 hours. From this one day you will succeed to leave smoking.
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