Disadvantages of Smoking
Smoking is currently the most popular addiction in the United States, with more than 40% of adults in the United States have tried smoking at some point in their lifetime. But smoking can cause a wide range of different health problems, including lung cancer, emphysema, chronic bronchitis, and heart disease.
The act of smoking is a harmful habit can also cause several secondary issues, including lung infections, chest pain, mouth ulcers, and smelly breath. Every year smoking kills 50,000 people under the age of 35. Over 1.1 million percent of those deaths occur in developing countries.
To the point- cigarettes have an enormous number of bad effects that are not worth experimenting with. Smoking remains one of the most popular destructive behaviors in the modern world. This article goes over some of the bad effects that come along with smoking, they are: it shortens lifespan, harms the heart, increases chances of developing cancer, it increases chances of getting a stroke.
What is Smoking?
Smoking is one of the leading causes of mortality in the world. There are thousands of smoking-related deaths per day and millions more that are infected with smoking-related life-threatening diseases. Even smokers themselves may experience death due to smoking-related cancers, caused by both the toxins in the smoke or by the damage done to the body by the inhaling smoke.
Smoking is a harmful habit defined as inhaling smoke or fumes directly into the lungs in a way that allows the introduction of smoke into the bloodstream. The term smoking also refers to tobacco products such as cigarettes, cigars or pipes, and other substances that are burned and “smoked” through inhalation.
It’s not always easy to quit smoking and if you’ve been used to smoking for a long time it can be tough for your body to adapt.
How does it affect your body?
There are many elements of smoking that are important to consider, but at the very center of health, the debate is the harm that cigarettes have on the lungs. Cigarettes can cause serious damage to the lungs because they release many chemicals that harm cells and cause inflammation in the lungs. This leads to an increased risk of COPD, lung cancer, vascular disease, and heart disease.
Nicotine isn’t just in the nicotine patch; it’s also in cigarettes, cigarillos, chewing tobacco, pipes, and hookahs. Cigarette smoke can contain high levels of free radical species that convert all of the cells in the body, including skin cells, into free radicals. Because of this, cigarette smoke can cause or worsen skin damage and premature aging.
In a study by the University of California, scientists found that smoking cigarettes could both cause high blood pressure and lead to an increased risk of heart disease. Moreover, smoking cigarettes speeds up the aging process. The study using a mouse model demonstrated that mice exposed to cigarettes had premature aging.
Following are the diseases caused by smoking:
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Emphysema:
Emphysema is a lung condition that causes difficulty in breathing, typically with shortness of breath. It is result of emphysema is an irreversible, progressive disease that damages the small air sacs and replaces them with scar tissue. The condition is frequently caused by prolonged exposure to tar, nicotine, or other lung irritants like second-hand smoke.
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Chronic Bronchitis:
Cigarette smoking is the leading cause of bronchitis, a chronic disease of the lungs. Smoking causes a buildup of sticky mucus that attacks the cilia and bronchial tubes. These mucus cells also secrete a protein called beta-defensin-1. This anti-microbial compound is thought to be responsible for chronic bronchitis.
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Lung Cancer:
The lungs are the organs that allow us to process oxygen and produce carbon dioxide, two gases that are necessary for the survival of our body. If these two gas levels are not regulated in the lungs, the body will die. This type of lung cancer is the first and most frequent type of non-small cell lung cancer, which is caused by smoking cigarettes.
Conclusion:
Cigarette smoking is responsible for smoking-related diseases and conditions, with tobacco smoking being the most significant risk factor. Cigarettes contain over 7,000 chemicals, in addition to tar and nicotine. Some of the chemicals are toxic, many are cancer-causing, and others are thought to damage the lungs. Cigarette smoke also produces formaldehyde, a chemical that can cause damage to the epithelial cells in the lungs, leave behind cancerous cells, and cause a wide range of other diseases.
