"I only smoke a few cigarettes a day," I just smoke on occasions, "I want to stop but I can't." Sounds familiar? Be careful, every cigarette a person decides to smoke shortens his life and is associated with the dangers of smoking.
With a simple calculation, one can smoke a single packet every day for more than twenty years to shorten his life by 10 years. Also smoking three cigarettes a day creates a harmful effect for smokers and their environment.
Introduction to the dangers of smoking
The
dangers of smoking stem from the fact that there are about 4,000
different substances in cigarette smoke, of which about 400 are found to
be harmful and about 200 are carcinogenic (carcinogens).
In summary, from the dangers of smoking
, harmful substances in cigarette smoke generally weaken the body's immune system , thus exposing smokers and their environment to diseases at a more and more serious rate.
Date of smoking
The origin of tobacco from the United States (Central America). It was brought to Europe by Columbus sailors, i.e. at the end of the 15th century.
The source of the name "tobacco" comes from the term "Tobago", which is a giant flute in which Indians smoked tobacco.
In the 16th century and 17, smoking was considered to have some positive advantages, including the subject of obesity,
when doctors claimed that cigarette smoking could be useful in reducing
weight, and today it is known that this is not necessarily true.
Despite what is commonly believed, smoking has become particularly common in World War I and II. At the end of the Second World War, nearly 50% of the world's adult population became smokers.
In 1958, for
the first time, a warning from the dangers of smoking by the US
Department of Health showed that smoking could be harmful to health.
Since then it has been demonstrated in many studies that the damage caused by smoking is very large and has started a worldwide campaign to provide awareness of the harms of smoking. Today about 25% of the world's population smokes.
Smoking damage
The harmful
substances found in cigarette smoke have many different effects on the
possibility of contracting various diseases, the vast majority of which
are serious and chronic diseases, including:
1. Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD)
Chronic bronchitis. A disease in which there is a growing shortness of breath due to the destruction of functional units in the lung. About 15% of smokers develop sharp COPD during their lifetime which worsens with age.
This disease often occurs in smokers in the fifth decade of life and leads to frequent infections in therespiratory tract.
This makes the
patient reach a frequent hospital condition due to the deterioration of
the respiratory system, due to the need to receive oxygen outside and
even to implant the lung.
The lung
clinics in the medical centers are due to the risk of smoking every year
a large number of patients with this disease to varying degrees.
Between 10% to 30% of the total patients who are treated suffer from pulmonary embolism COPD.
It should be
noted that in terms of health data, when a person is infected with the
disease, there is no way to completely recover from it.
However, quitting smoking completely prevents the patient from deteriorating and stabilizing his condition.
2. Cancer
cancer that tops cancer diseases caused by the dangers of smoking is lung cancer. This is the cancer that occurs almost exclusively in smokers.
Smoking one cigarette pack a day for more than 30 years increases the risk of lung cancer by-25 times.
This is a type of cancer, in which even early detection does not necessarily help to heal it. Today lung cancer has become the number one cause of death among smokers worldwide.
Other types of cancer commonly caused by the dangers of smoking are colon cancer, oral and pharyngeal cancer, bladder cancer, esophageal cancer and kidney cancer.
However, it is
important to stress that all other cancers are significantly affected by
the fact that the person is smoked, and that cancers (such as
testicular cancer, uterine cancer) are highly affected by smoking and
are more common in smokers.
3. Dangers of smoking on the heart
The prevalence of peripheral cardiovascular disease has proven to be twice as high in smokers as compared to non-smokers.
Similarly, the incidence of stroke (CVA) is almost three times greater for smokers than for non-smokers.
4. Fertility and pregnancy
Different studies suggest that there is a direct link between the dangers of smoking during pregnancy and the high rate of abortion.
Also, women who smoke during pregnancy have smaller embryos and give birth to children of less than average weight. Similarly, men smokers may be less fertile.
5. Accelerating ageing
Smoking affects the cardiovascular system, which provides blood supply and oxygen to the body. This mode "encourages" the hardening of the arteries, reduces blood access to the various organs in the body and results in the deterioration of their functional performance.
Also, over the years there has been a noticeable decrease in smokers in everything related to intelligence and memory.
In addition, smokers have a phenomenon called "smoker's Face". What is meant here is the appearance of a lot of fine lines of wrinkles on a person's face, especially around the mouth, which dramatically affects its exterior appearance.
Another phenomenon is the phenomenon of yellow skin more in the area of the face, hands and nails.
It's not too late to quit smoking .
In various
studies, as well as campaigns announcing the dangers of smoking in
recent years, it has been explained to smokers beyond reasonable doubt
that the damage caused during smoking is a multiplier-for smokers and
for their environment.
The concentration of harmful substances inhaled by the passive smoker
compared to the active smoker (who inhale toxins through the filter)
has been shown to be much higher, because the passive smoker does not
use the filter naturally present in cigarettes.
In some of
them, the concentration of harmful substances in cigarette smoke is
sometimes higher up to B-16 and-30 times the concentration of direct
smoke inhaled by the active smoker.
In addition, the large amount of CO (carbon monoxide) found in cigarette smoke is absorbed through the lungs. The-CO usually connects to the blood in the same way as it binds to the oxygen.
When this happens, shortness of breath and heart rate problems may occur
.
Also for the
concentration of the Co, its concentration in the smoke inhaled by the
passive smoker is greater B-2.5 times than the concentration of the co,
which is inhaled by the smoker itself.
Light Cigarettes "lite" can be defined as "deceiving" from cigarette companies. These
cigarettes do not reduce harmful substances, but the amount of
nicotine, which is the addictive substance in tobacco, is reduced.
Typically, smokers who smoke light cigarettes smoke more to get the same amount of addictive substance (nicotine). In other words, the damage is exactly the same as the damage.
In
conclusion, it is important to remember that quitting smoking at any
moment improves the health of a person, even if he smokes "heavily" for
years. Even if the damage occurs, further deterioration can be prevented once smoking is stopped.
For example, if a person stops smoking, the chances of heart disease become equal within two years of quitting to those of the person who is not smoking at all.
